Three Ways Chatbots May Be Affecting Your Mental Health

Beware! They're not human.

- Mehak Siddiqui

From virtual assistants such as Siri and Alexa to messenger bots that help you communicate with brands online, chatbots are changing the way we interact with computers today. In 2016, global tech leaders including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Facebook’s head of Messaging Products David Marcus said that chatbots are the new apps. That is, just as apps were once the hot new thing that could solve all kinds of problems for businesses and individuals, we’re now in the age of chatbots.

A chatbot is defined as a computer programme that you interact with through “chat”. The programme mimics conversation with users to achieve a variety of purposes, from helping to resolve customer service issues to ordering food, booking tickets, and even providing mental health counselling. As one can imagine, such functionality means that chatbots make life easier in myriad ways.