Artificial Intelligence affects Mental Health
In the modern era, technology has been a boon. Artificial intelligence has proved this. But it also gives rise to many concerns related to the human mind. In this blog, we will look deeper. We want to understand how complex people are.
Can artificial intelligence replace it?
AI became a help in Ecommerce. It also helped in engineering, data science, and more. It also helps in hospitality and other industries. This is because it boosts productivity. It gets rid of micromanagement and uses time well. But, AI’s impact on mental health care gets less attention.
So, let’s have a look into the impact of AI on mental health
Communication:
Life becomes easy with one tap. All you need is at your fingertips. But in many instances AI fails to comprehend what the user is trying to say. So, it fails to reduce isolation via communication or get work done. It does not understand human language and emotions.
Cognitive Abilities:
Artificial intelligence can hamper cognitive abilities where analytical thinking plays a vital role in mental health. Everything is programmed. Relying on it gives less chance to analyze the given information. It keeps us from making essential decisions, as we strongly depend on the inputs in front of us.
Divergent thinking:
With advancement in the fields of AI there can be gradual decline in divergent thinking. In simple words divergent thinking means using imagination to create multiple ideas to solve a problem. This in turn facilitates problem solving skills, stress reduction & increased productivity.
For instance if a student is given an essay to write on a unique topic he may just be more inclined to use software that can compile different types of information & thereby divergent thinking may not expand for that student.
Job-related stress:
One side when automation in industry is possible due to artificial intelligence, but on the other hand there is job stress experienced by employees for two specific reasons. Many of them have to develop those skills of operating machines that facilitate AI related work.
Secondly their job is in danger where many employees are replaced due to the robot substitution at work. This generates fear in the people. The careers which were highly in demand have now become more in demand due to automation possible due to AI. So generating job vacancies also is an issue.
Due to this ongoing turmoil & fear of uncertanity in terms of job sustainability & future it creates a lot of mental health issues such as chronic stress, mood disturbances, disturbed work-personal life balance, and taking shortcuts to generate second hand income.
Artificial intelligence & Gaming:
When Artificial Intelligence is used in gaming it can be detrimental to the mental health of the player as it continues to track the location & can sense behavior of the player. Accordingly it generates notifications which can be more addictive for the game player.
Artificial Intelligence & Mental Health Therapy:
For decades seeking Mental Health related therapy has been a taboo in our society. But, from the past few years with an increase in awareness about therapy people are more receptive to seek help. Interesting question is if offered a choice to choose between online chatbox v/s therapist then a client would prefer chatbox to seek therapy.
There are various reasons behind this preference are fear of judgment, tailormade answers or expecting a quick fix response. But the limitations to this approach are lack of empathy from chat bots. Many times it is difficult to understand complex emotions and may not give accurate help.
Hence one for all approach through programming may not fit when it comes to seeking therapy via artificial intelligence.
Artificial Intelligence & Hospitality Industry:
In the past few years the Hospitality & hotel industry had started recruiting people with special needs on job to do the designated serving or kitchen work. Now with the commencement of Robots in place of helping staff & kitchen staff it creates less opportunity of employment for people with special needs.
Not only that with this new advancement many low level jobs such as waiters & crew will be replaced thereby creating job shortages which inturn creates stress in the working population.
From the above point of view we can understand that AI can be immensely helpful but it is still a dream where we can start using it for the mental health sector. Due to its complexity of human mind, cultural factors, lifestyle related concerns there can not be one programme helpful for unique individuals.
Artificial intelligence & Window Shopping:
As we know that AI has left no stone unturned in reaching almost all industries. So is the case with Ecommerce. Artificial intelligence collects the potential information from buyers browsing history & suggests similar products on different websites.
This makes buyers spend more & more time in window shopping or indulge in excessive shopping which again leads to mental health concerns such as going on guilt trips, hoarding etc.
Food for Thought:
It is true that Artificial Intelligence has helped in developing various industries & sectors. It has reduced our extra work and made things more smart & handy. It has reduced repetition of processes & extra long waiting hours at hospitals or hotels.
So here are some of the tips which one can follow to be more productive:
- It’s very important to keep yourself updated in terms of technology & machine learning which is needed for an hour inorder to sustain a job and enhance productivity.
- Less focus on managing skills and more focus on creating expertise in one’s area of specialization can help in working hands in hand with AI.
- Now is not the time to debate on whether specialization or generalization is important to survive in a field but how quick and flexible we are in adapting to the new surroundings & demands of work is the need for an hour.
- When it comes to the Mental Health industry more work is to be done to make a chat box or robot to be as accurate as seeing a therapist in person.
