Host Rasmus Cloes speaks with Dr. Nadine Wagener of the PPC Group at OFFIS—Institute for Computer Science—about virtual reality as a tool for mental health: Participants use it to build their own “happy place,” resolve conflicts with their boss in a digital fire world, and learn to name emotions they otherwise cannot put into words. In the end, the discussion turns to the flip side: When does smartphone use actually become problematic—and how does AI recognize this sooner than we do ourselves?
Nadine Wagener develops VR applications in which users build their own “happy place”: using 3D objects, drawings, and animals, they create a world that makes them happy. The effect extends into everyday life—some people only discover what’s truly important to them in the virtual world. The same principle also gives rise to a tool for managing conflicts: users recreate negative emotions as a virtual world—such as fire—and learn to dissolve them using emotion regulation techniques.
The second part of the conversation focuses on the downside of digitalization: problematic smartphone behavior. Wagener explains why the term “cell phone addiction” is not yet scientifically recognized, what warning signs do exist nonetheless, and how an AI-supported risk score could, in the future, indicate exactly when our usage crosses the line.
Dr. Nadine Wagener heads the PPC Group (Personal Pervasive Computing) at OFFIS – Institute for Computer Science in Oldenburg. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Bremen on the use of virtual reality for mental health and has been conducting academic research for seven years on the intersection of everyday technology, well-being, and health.
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