The Future of Therapy Includes Our Digital Diet

The average therapy session costs between $100-$250, though Medicare and Medicaid can help cover it. Meanwhile, AI chatbots and large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT are free and growing in popularity. A Google search of “free ai therapy chatbot” yields website after website designed to be a person’s emotional/mental health assistant.

Now, imagine it’s 2035. A patient who’s been in therapy for 3 years is sitting with their clinician, with a history of self-esteem and imposter syndrome after starting a new job. They are not only discussing their feelings but reviewing their algorithm. What they’ve watched, clicked, and consumed since their last session is now a part of the conversation. The treatment plan includes tools for the patient, ranging from thought reframing and mindfulness to a mutually agreed-upon alteration of their algorithm on all platforms. All content related to politics is muted while inspirational and nature-based content is up. The patient now has their therapist as a trusted source of accountability and moderation from content that reinforces negative self-talk while allowing the ability to still use social media.

This (slightly late) article is inspired by the adage “we are what we eat.” But in today’s digital age, a new question I wonder is:
Are we what we watch?

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Digital Diets & Mental Health

According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), more than 1 in 5 U.S adults live with a mental illness. This ranges from zero to severe impairment, showing that the need is vast and varied (NIMH). From depression to addiction to loneliness to eating disorders, we are realizing the importance of mental health providers in the United States.

Despite the growing demand for mental wellness, three major barriers stand in the way of many people. Let’s call them the 3S’s:

Shame — The stigma around seeking help

Spending — The high cost of traditional therapy (especially over time)

Scheduling — Limited appointment availability and long wait times

These barriers are embedded in our American healthcare system, which, on the surface, values profit more than sustainable solutions for patients. And they’re part of why alternative tools like AI therapy are gaining traction.

As someone who studied public mental health, one thing that stands out to me is the disconnect in recognizing early signs of a problem versus the human tendency to want tangible evidence, data, and non-avoidable signs for action. Mental health has stigma for many reasons, and one I’ve become very familiar with is the belief that it doesn’t exist and is a sign of weakness, not an opportunity for support. Therefore, the methods of diagnosing the threshold for a mental health disorder and other tools of measurement are extremely important, highly scrutinized, and rightly so. Objectivity and mental health seem at odds, but it could be the direction of the future. Our mental health is based on our recollection and interpretation of our experiences. This makes recording and patient understanding important, as recall bias is possible. Mental health clinicians use holistic frameworks like the Perspectives Approach at Johns Hopkins or the Biopsychosocial Model that prioritize understanding a patient’s life story to inform the provider and assist in making an evidence-based diagnosis. These approaches take in the whole person by learning about their determinants of health.

To adapt in the world of AI therapy, I believe we need mental health professionals to learn about digital determinants of health (DDOH) or the ways technology shapes our well-being. I wrote more on this in a previous article if you’re curious here.

One way technology impacts our well-being is through what I call our digital diet: the content we consume, relate to, scroll past, or linger on. In the same way our diet affects our health, I believe our digital diet influences our mental and physical health.

As more people seek help, our watch history should become part of our records for our clinicians. Not for scorning or paternalist recommendations, but I believe it could help clinicians understand mood shifts, triggers, and identify more objectively early signs of distress.

One group especially vulnerable to the effects of digital diets is the youth, aka the digital natives, whose identities are being shaped by algorithms.

Youth, Algorithms & Identity

Algorithms serve content and they shape norms. From dating opinions, beauty trends, to slang, young people absorb multitudes of opinions of varying realities, often without context. This can affect how they see themselves and others.

Examples include:

• Pressure to ‘keep up’ with curated lifestyles (take the Classy/Soft Life Trend)
• Exposure to misinformation and radical ideologies (Red Pill Leaving Testimony)
• Low self-esteem from idealized/vain beauty content (Self Comparison & Pretty Privilege) (Men & ‘Attractive’ Heights)

Scrolling past content on these subjects repeatedly reinforces these beliefs subconsciously, making it harder to recognize real-world evidence that challenges them. There are varying reports of daily screen time for Gen Z, but on average, 12–17-year-olds spend over four hours of screen time daily.

When social media consumption becomes a daily habit, there’s an opportunity to classify and understand our digital content.

Social media, ironically, is more personal than public. It gives individuals a chance to identify their symptoms in real time, and many young people are turning to new forms of support such as AI therapy tools.

Benefits of AI Therapy & My Thoughts

After scrolling through Reddit, Instagram, and other sources, these are the 5 top reasons people feel compelled to use AI for therapy.

1. It’s Free — No insurance or financial barrier
2. It’s Non-Judgmental & Supportive — No fear of being misunderstood when AI is trained to understand your inputs and give appropriate responses
3. There’s Room to Share All of the Context — You can text or say everything without worrying about time limits
4. It Prevents Emotional Dumping — Helps avoid burdening loved ones or turning venting into gossip
5. It Provides Immediate Comfort — Available 24/7, offering a sense of relief in the moment

If we can’t beat AI in the next 5 years, maybe it’s time to join the people where they are.

A Short Note on Lived Experience

Growing up without social media, I noticed subtle shifts in how my peers interacted as they adapted to online platforms. What I can only describe as being more photo-aware and conscious of their self-image now feels like an early sign of digital influence. Today, young people are navigating a landscape where avoiding digital culture is nearly impossible. From beauty standards to self-worth and identity, much of how youth see themselves is shaped by the content they consume online.

I believe we are only starting to understand how digital diets influence real-world decisions, and I’m sure I’m not the only one with examples.

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Summary

Understanding our digital diet is just the beginning of shifting the future of mental health in the United States. As we are in a growing mental health epidemic (like with loneliness and addiction), businesses are using this opportunity to profit. I believe with AI threatening jobs, we need fresh ideas that shift the needle and point us in a new direction. Tools that can condense our watch history as an objective metric to be used in therapy or other fields can help people. Our devices are an incredible tool, but for others, they’re a crutch. This is a statement I offer as inspiration. Whether for you, the reader, to consider your screen time habits, or to reflect on how you can be the change we need.

There’s always more to write, but I’ll stop here.

Thanks for reading. Till Next Time

-The Parasocial Paradox