Technological Nature

Technological nature refers to those technologies that mediate, simulate, or augment the human experience of nature, such as nature photos, nature videos, nature webcams, VR nature, and robot pets. Our lab’s two decades of research show this trend: in terms of psychological wellbeing, interacting with technological nature is better than nothing but not as good as interacting with actual nature. In today’s world, as nature continues to be depleted if not destroyed, and technologies become ever more sophisticated and pervasive, the focus of this research topic gains ever more urgency.