Students, Faculty Weigh Impact of Artificial Intelligence, Social Media on Mental Health
Image by Ed Brennen
10/01/2024
By Ed Brennen
Whether it鈥檚 analyzing large amounts of data to identify risk factors for disease, monitoring patients remotely using wearable devices or improving communication with doctors through virtual assistants, artificial intelligence (AI) is already being used to improve health care.
But with transformative technology comes ethical concerns 鈥� and potential consequences for people鈥檚 mental well-being.
That was the focus of a recent interdisciplinary research symposium, 鈥淔riend or Foe: Transforming Social Media & AI for a Healthy Future,鈥� co-hosted by the Manning School of Business and the Center for Accelerating Practices to End Suicide ().
鈥淭echnology is our friend, but sometimes it feels like it鈥檚 our foe. We have to try to balance the two, because we鈥檙e always going to be dealing with the impact,鈥� said Assoc. Prof. of Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Innovation听Denise Dunlap, who organized the event with Lani Faith Gacula, a Ph.D. student in entrepreneurship.
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That work, along with her role as business PI on the NIH-funded Center of Advancing Point of Care Technologies (), has made Dunlap 鈥渁cutely aware of the need to bridge the gap between physical and mental health care in the digital health care space.鈥�
The symposium featured a research showcase at University Crossing, where faculty experts, doctoral students and undergraduates from UML, UMass Chan Medical School and WPI shared their work in the fields of digital technology and mental health.
Cintya Gajardo V茅jar, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in entrepreneurship at UML, is researching how people with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are more susceptible to 鈥渢ime blindness鈥� 鈥� and are less likely to manage their time on social media.
鈥淚t was surprising to see how many people felt represented by time blindness and told me the same thing happens to them,鈥� said Gajardo V茅jar, whose research poster 鈥渙pened the conversation for other issues people had, like doomscrolling鈥� 鈥� the act of consuming negative news online that makes you feel sad, anxious or angry.
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鈥淭here鈥檚 definitely good and bad implications of technology with mental health,鈥� Richard said. 鈥淪ocial media today is really draining, but we鈥檙e trying to use it in a more positive and supportive way.鈥澨�
Healthy sleeping habits can improve mental and physical health. According to a by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, 35% of Americans have used an electronic sleep-tracking device to optimize the quality of their sleep.
Assoc. Prof. of Marketing Ann Kronrod is researching whether a sleep app that uses figurative language (for instance, telling a user 鈥淚t鈥檚 time to hit the sack鈥� instead of 鈥淚t鈥檚 time to go to bed鈥�) will be more successful.
鈥淟ack of sleep can cause some really difficult mental problems, so the connection is absolutely vital,鈥� said Kronrod, who is collaborating on the work with Yuan Zhang, an associate professor of nursing in the Zuckerberg College of Health Sciences. The project is supported by an interdisciplinary faculty research grant from the Donahue Center for Business Ethics & Social Responsibility.
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鈥淪ocial media can make you feel like you鈥檙e so far behind, because you鈥檙e seeing everyone鈥檚 highlights and how successful they are,鈥� said Carroll, who has worked with 鈥渉undreds鈥� of companies to promote their goods and services online. 鈥淵ou have to be realistic with yourself and find things to ground yourself, like spending time with family.鈥�
After struggling as a first-year student at the University of New Hampshire, Carroll took business classes online at UML before transferring to UMass Amherst. Assoc. Teaching Prof. of Marketing Deborah Casey had Carroll in one of her online classes and suggested to Dunlap that she speak at the symposium.
鈥淚 honestly think this type of event should be mandatory at schools,鈥� Carroll said. 鈥淗earing about other people鈥檚 experiences with social media and the downsides to it can be eye-opening.鈥�
As a Ph.D. candidate in entrepreneurship, Gacula said the symposium epitomized how collaboration across fields can drive innovation.
鈥淚 hope students took away the need to openly address mental health struggles and break the stigma surrounding them,鈥� she said.