Technology is a constant presence in our lives. It’s woven into our academic and professional work and our personal relationships. It shapes the way we build community, how we make sense of who we are, and even how we work through difficult moments.
This year, Connections Health has taken part in research and local symposiums exploring how artificial intelligence and digital technology affect our collective socio-emotional wellbeing, as well as the evolving practice of mental health. In this blog, we wanted to share what we’ve found, through research, discussions, and our own work with clients – and what we’ve been wrestling with.
Setting The Stage: The Impact of Digital Technology on Clients
Inspired by this burgeoning topic, we surveyed our clients and colleagues about their perspectives earlier this year about artificial intelligence and digital technology in the context of mental health care. We are grateful to everyone who took the time to share their thoughts. These responses are anonymous, and included as part of our aggregate findings below.
We began by exploring digital technology’s broader influence on our clients’ mental health. Overall sentiment was mixed, but leaned negative. Every respondent named social media as the category of technology with the most harmful effects, while wellness and messaging apps were rated as the most beneficial. Many respondents noted that these tools allow people to stay connected with friends and family, find entertainment, and even support self-care. On the other side of the ledger, the most commonly reported harms were sleep disruption, social comparison, difficulty concentrating or staying present, and overstimulation.
Maybe you have felt some of these effects in your own life. Many of us have picked up our phone to check the time before bed and looked up forty minutes later, maybe even more wired than when we’ve started. Many of us have scrolled past a friend’s vacation photos, or a colleague’s career announcement and felt a quiet pang of falling behind. These experiences are so common, which is part of what makes them worth naming.
Entering The Frontier of AI: Chatbots, Support, and An Uncertain Future
After these broader questions about digital technology, we turned to artificial intelligence specifically, and the answers were a bit more divided. Two thirds of client respondents said AI tools had a negative impact on their wellbeing. Two thirds also shared they were worried about its broader impact, and the remaining third described themselves as cautiously optimistic or even hopeful. Rather than a clear consensus, we see a spectrum of experience, and considering the diversity of our sample, we’re curious how factors like age, life stage, and gender might shape where people fall along it.
Beyond the numbers, these findings prompted us to reflect on the value of asking these questions in the first place. We believe it’s worth inviting our clients about their AI use openly and without judgment, since shame or ambivalence can keep them from raising it on their own. Asking creates room for honest exploration, and it also invites us as therapists to examine our own perspectives and feelings about AI and technology.
Our interactions with AI can take many forms. Some may use it for everyday tasks like schoolwork rather than for emotional support, and still want to talk about that in therapy. Others may be grappling with larger questions: the existential risks of artificial intelligence, its toll on the climate, or what it may mean for their professional prospects or their creative lives. Clients and healthcare providers alike are processing this uncertainty in real time. As a client, you may also bring concerns about AI in mental health care itself, regarding privacy, confidentiality, and accuracy, particularly when therapy sessions are recorded or transcribed.
Taken together, these questions have made AI a difficult ethical arena for all of us, one we will need to navigate thoughtfully, humbly, and alongside each other.
Staying Curious in a Changing Moment
In this evolving era, it can be helpful to return to something simpler. Many of us use screens to regulate our emotions – perhaps we scroll as a distraction, or reach for a device to avoid discomfort. Some may even turn to a chatbot, that can simulate connection in an age of loneliness. Whether it is a TikTok feed, or an AI chatbot, these applications are ultimately designed to maximize our engagement with them, keeping us scrolling for longer, and driving growth for the companies behind them.
For all of us, it can be more useful to move beyond the familiar question of “How much screen time?” toward something like: “When you’re distressed, where do you go first, inside yourself, to another person, or to a screen?”
There is no “right” answer – just information that helps us understand ourselves better. As mental health providers, this evolving moment asks us to stay informed, meet our clients where they are at, and to be curious and adaptive. At Connections, we want to ensure our approach to technology, including artificial intelligence, stays evidence-informed, ethical, and honest about all that we don’t yet know. What won’t change is the foundation of our work: the powerful relationship between therapist and client.
We look forward to continuing this conversation with our colleagues, our clients, and our community.
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