The Future of Telematics

Transcription

1 Teuvo Peltoniemi Head of Information Department, A-Clinic Foundation, Helsinki Vice President, Prevnet Network VIRTUAL REALITY: A WONDERFUL TOOL AND A SCARING ADDICTION Nordisk storstadskonferens i Helsingfors, 9-11 October 2005 Virtual community vrs. traditional community Abbreviated version Virtual GSM and SMS community in a summer scene at a Helsinki park. Picture from the Wired

2 Why telematics? - and especially the Connections between drugs and telematics: - Pro drug activities - Controlling Internet - Net Telematic drug Examples of the future: locating Virtual Reality (VR)

3 Abstract Nordisk storstadskonferens i Helsingfors, 9-11 October 2005 Mr. Teuvo Peltoniemi, Lic. Soc. Sc., Head of Information Department, A-Clinic Foundation, Helsinki, Vice President, Prevnet Network Address: Paasivuorenkatu 2A, FIN Helsinki, Finland, Phone , fax , VIRTUAL REALITY: A WONDERFUL TOOL AND A SCARING ADDICTION Like all utopias Internet is anarchic, egalitarian, and impossible to control. Telematics has been seen as having the potential for providing us with unlimited prosperity and wellbeing or, as a competing vision, as marking the beginning of the end for mankind. ICT - information and communication technology - has the same three characteristics, a good method, a symbol, and a potential harm, that the great utopian ideologies do. All these three sides must be taken into consideration and they may all be valid at the same time. Telematics has many features, which are especially suitable for prevention in mental health, relationship and addiction problems. It offers interactivity, feedback and democracy. There is a possibility for anonymity, and closeness at will. Internet and other telematic services offer a low threshold to evaluate, motivate and seek help. They help in empowerment to use one's own resources. And they make possible simplification of the continuously more complex society by giving availability and freedom of choice. The great potential of telematics especially in the prevention and treatment of psycho-social problems have been used in Finland by the A-Clinic Foundation since The web services of the Foundation now have about different visitors a month. The main service, Päihdelinkki (AddictionLink) is now in its fourth design. The SMS service for assessing blood alcohol contents Promille was launched in A similar service was opened in September 2005 in Czech Republic in connection of the addiction telematics EU Network, Prevnet. The Foundation also coordinates early-stage counselling and crisis portal (help.info). It is maintained by more than 20 mental health, addiction work, children's welfare, domestic violence and public health organisations in Finland. For practical reasons, one could say that most of the future telematic tools (as we know them now) already exists. The future is already here though a little delayed. Unlike many, I really believe that telematics can replace a part of our face-to-face work and that is a development that can be simultaneously preferred by the clients and also produce better and cheaper results. Also the possible harms of telematics must be taken into consideration. These include also net addiction and Virtual Reality. In a Chinese story an artist paints a picture of a house so real that he can finally open the door and enter the house to vanish for good or, to use a recent term, move into virtual reality. We can step into a virtual world through chemicals, movies or books, even if these only stimulate a few senses. The human imagination fills in the gaps. In telematics the term virtual is used in a very vague and broad sense. More strictly it means artificial stimulation of all five senses by means of a computer. As a little example of what the virtual world may bring us later on is the toy of Tamagotchi. It is a virtual chicken that requires all the care, feeding, cleaning and playing a living bird does. In the future we can live in a world where the real and the imaginary mix totally. Most people will use virtual reality in the same way than we now use movies. It will also be a excellent tool for prevention and treatment. But surely there will also be those who like virtual reality so much that they do not want to come back to the dull realities of ordinary life, especially if they are marginalised people. It is possible that this complete addictive behaviour takes over all partial virtual experiences that we can now achieve with substances or other means. This may develop into a real challenge for the prevention and treatment of addictions. More information: Peltoniemi, Teuvo: Experiences and perspectives in using telematic prevention on sensitive health issues. In: Latifi (ed.): Establishing telemedicine in developing countries. IOS Press. Amsterdam 2004., (Finnish site with a smaller English part), (EU network site), (downloadable papers)

4 SUMMARISING: WHY TELEMATICS? Features of telematics especially suitable for alcohol, drug and mental health Simplification of the continuously more complex Interactivity, feedback and Anonymity, and closeness at Low threshold to evaluate, motivate and seek Empowerment to use one's own Return of written (and pictorial) Freedom from time and Cost effectiveness More freedom for individual choices

5 Pro drug sites and drug Advocating free drug Illicit drug trade in the Pharmacies in the net EU project Psychonaut2000 will soon publish exact data on this issue

6 Net addiction (Uncontrollable or compulsive use of net) 1. Chat addiction (also SMS) 2. Net games addiction 3. Net gambling addiction (also day shares trade) 4. Net relationships addiction (dating sites) 5. On-line sex addiction (also phone) 6. Surfing addiction 7. Information addiction (news; cf. info-glut) 8. Mobile phone addiction (calls, messages, games) 9. General addiction on computers and ICT

7 Self-help: diary Main page of the Finnish AddictionLink in the spring of 2005 For parents: How to meet drug and alcohol problems English, Swedish and Sign language versions News from media Facts; data bank Individual professional counselling Tests Referral to professional face-to-face services Peer group discussions Sauna - drugs Slowing down - alcohol Home channelparents Hooked net addiction Since 1996 the most popular addiction site in a country with only five million people now nearly individual visitors a month.

8 @ Examples of new ICT features New: positioning services, ubiquitous computing, electronic tags - Privacy questions, copyrights: can phone cameras be used everywhere? - Targeted commercials (Ubiquitous computing) - Identification cards, RF tags, networks Map diagram of movements of one particular mobile phone in Japan Do you want your wife/husband/parents/ children/employer/poli ce to know always where you are?

9 Virtual reality: to experience other realities with new methods: tamagotchi and virtual helmet Virtual life pet Real virtual reality: connected with all the senses

10 Forecast Telematics will replace much of the psycho-social prevention and treatment work yielding great benefits to the citizens! This possibility for a virtual reality greatly outweighs the negative aspects but also these shall be paid attention to in order to making optimal use of the new information society