BD's Embecta diabetes spinoff leaves the nest as standalone billion-dollar company

 No, it’s not an April Fool’s joke—BD officially bid farewell to its longstanding diabetes business on Friday, as the newly formed Embecta made its public debut on the Nasdaq.

The separation was nearly a year in the making. BD announced its intent to spin out its diabetes device-making operations into a separate company last May, when it said the scheme would allow BD to double down on its other core businesses.

The company was christened Embecta in December, with the name paying homage to its parent company Becton, Dickinson and Company with the “bect” at its core.

“While BD is proud of its heritage in the diabetes care category, we are just as excited to see our legacy advanced by Embecta as a newly independent, publicly traded corporation,” CEO Tom Polen said in a statement.

“Moving forward, each of our organizations will be able to focus on investment and innovation in our respective core businesses, support our customers and the patients they serve, drive strategic growth and enhance long-term shareholder value,” Polen said.

Embecta comprises BD’s entire diabetes business, which first launched in 1924 with the development of a specialized insulin syringe. Nearly a century later, the portfolio includes a range of syringes, insulin pen needles and a handful of accessories for both delivery methods, as well as the BD Diabetes Care app.

In total, for the 2021 fiscal year, the diabetes care segment brought in $1.16 billion in revenue for BD, up 7% from 2020’s $1.08 billion in earnings. Last year’s total represented just under 7% of BD’s total annual revenues.

In the spinout, BD shareholders received one share of Embecta’s stock for every five BD shares they held as of March 22. BD didn’t hold on to any ownership stake in its progeny.

When trading began on Friday, Embecta—using the ticker symbol “EMBC”—opened at a stock price of $32.50 but quickly dropped below the $30 mark in the first few minutes of trading.

The standalone company is led by CEO Devdatt Kurdikar, who joined BD in February 2021 as worldwide president of the diabetes business. He’s joined on the executive team by a handful of alumni from BD’s diabetes segment.

Embecta is headquartered in New Jersey and Massachusetts, with manufacturing sites located throughout the U.S., Ireland and China.

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/bds-embecta-diabetes-spinoff-leaves-nest-standalone-billion-dollar-company

ACC: Massive Chinese smartwatch study screens millions for signs of AFib

 A truly massive screening study in China spanning more than 2.8 million participants found that consumer smartwatches could help accurately detect the signs of an abnormal heart rhythm in the background of everyday life. 

Using Huawei devices equipped with photoplethysmography sensors—the same light-based readers found on the undersides of Apple Watches, Fitbits and more—researchers found that a free downloadable app could track a person’s pulse and alert them when it falls out of sync. That’s one of the hallmarks of atrial fibrillation, the most common arrhythmia, which if left untreated can raise a person’s risk of stroke and heart failure.

At the same time, the app was used to screen a smaller number of users for signs of sleep apnea, about 960,000, and found that people who had the condition were 1.5 times more likely to also have AFib compared to those who did not, suggesting that tools for detecting the two conditions could work together. Previous studies have suggested that about half of people with AFib also have sleep apnea, the researchers said.

“Digital technologies make it possible to increase general awareness about AFib and its risk factors as well as to improve prevention of AFib and its complications,” the study’s lead author, Yutao Guo, a professor of internal medicine at Chinese PLA General Hospital in Beijing, said in a statement.

“With the global surge of wearable technology for AFib screening, especially in the challenging setting of the COVID-19 pandemic, the present study provides a possible solution to help people identify possible signs of AFib and get diagnosed and treated earlier,” said Guo, who presented the results at the annual meeting of the American College of Cardiology.

In the four-year-long study, 93.8% of people who received a smartwatch alert for possible AFib later had it positively confirmed by standard diagnostic tools, such as an electrocardiogram and 24-hour monitoring with Holter heart recorders. 

The project, funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, saw nearly 3.5 million people download the screening app, with more than 2.8 million providing heart rhythm data for the final analysis. About 12,000, or 0.4%, of participants received a notification for suspected AFib.

While some participants refused a follow-up meeting—including younger people without other symptoms—about 5,000 effectively completed telehealth appointments and had their results confirmed.

“Future studies will be needed to move toward using ‘smart’ technology to help manage AFib and the risk factors that increase AFib susceptibility, as well as to evaluate attitudes and concerns related to this digital health tool,” Guo said.

Companies such as Fitbit have also shown they can detect AFib with a wrist-worn wearable—and that consumer devices can quickly be used to scale up large screening studies.

The company signed up more than 455,000 Fitbit users in less than five months, and showed similar rates of alerts, with about 1% receiving a notification of AFib’s previously invisible symptoms.

And in addition to the light-based PPG sensors, Apple has been testing out its smartwatch’s built-in ECG. The Apple Heart Study, which began in 2017 and enrolled more than 400,000 participants, found that about 84% had their results confirmed in a follow-up clinical consultation. 

Later analyses of the study’s data assessing whether the Apple Watch could also be used to identify arrhythmias other than AFib, such as tachycardia rhythms where the heart beats too quickly.

https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/acc-massive-chinese-smartwatch-study-screens-millions-signs-afib

Shanghai asks entire city to self-test for COVID as frustration grows

 Shanghai on Sunday ordered its 26 million residents to undergo two more rounds of tests for COVID-19 as public anger grows over how authorities in China's most populous city are tackling a record coronavirus surge.

Residents should self-test on Sunday using antigen kits and report any positive results, Shanghai government officials told a news conference, while a nucleic acid test would be conducted citywide on Monday.

"The main task is to completely eliminate risk points and to cut off the chain of transmission so that we can curb the spread of the epidemic as soon as possible," said Wu Qianyu, an inspector from Shanghai Municipal Health Commission.

Essentially all of China's financial capital is locked down after the city began curbing movement in its eastern districts last Monday, extending the restrictions to the entire city days later

Shanghai's lockdown has massively disrupted daily life and businesses, even as healthcare workers and volunteers work round the clock trying to test the entire population and supply residents with groceries.

China's COVID caseload remains low by international standards, but spikes in places like Shanghai are testing its previously successful approach of stamping out the virus through strict curbs and aggressive testing and tracing.

Most of Shanghai's infections have been asymptomatic, according to official data, but China's "dynamic clearance" approach requires authorities to test, trace and centrally quarantine all positive cases.

Shanghai on Sunday reported 7,788 daily locally transmitted asymptomatic cases, up from 6,501 the day before, while symptomatic cases rose to 438 from 260.

The city accounted for the bulk of mainland China's 11,781 daily locally transmitted asymptomatic cases and nearly one-third of its 1,506 symptomatic cases. This was the highest national case count since the early days of the pandemic in February 2020.

China is also battling a large outbreak in the northeastern province of Jilin.

Sent to Shanghai by the central government, Vice-Premier Sun Chunlan urged the city on Saturday to "make resolute and swift moves" to curb the pandemic.

GROWING ANGER

Stories of how Shanghai separates COVID-positive children from their parents have gone viral in the country and triggered widespread public anger.

Some have also demanded clarity over the testing regime, after a recorded phone call, reportedly between a Shanghai health official and a resident, was widely shared on Chinese social media.

Shanghai health officials said on Saturday they were investigating the case, in which the resident said his father had tested negative, according to his personal health app, but was told he was positive and had to be centrally quarantined.

In a rare instance of grassroots lobbying, several residents reposted a statement on the WeChat and Weibo social media platforms saying they wanted asymptomatic or mild cases to be allowed to isolate at home, after reports of unsanitary and crowded conditions at quarantine facilities.

Jane Polubotko, a Ukrainian marketing manager quarantining at the Shanghai New International Expo Center, told Reuters there were no showers at the facility and she had only seen people with light symptoms, such as sneezes and coughs.

Supply chains and businesses are also being tested.

River congestion for containers and oil tankers off Shanghai has been easing since Thursday, but the number of bulkers queuing in outer Yangtze estuary anchorage jumped to nearly 90, the most since early October, Refinitiv data showed.

Nearby ports, such as Ningbo in Zhejiang province, are experiencing an acute surge in waiting vessels waiting, as companies divert cargos to avoid prolonged logistics turnarounds.

Still，some are hoping that lockdowns could start to ease soon.

Tesla Inc hopes to resume production at its Shanghai factory on Monday, two people familiar with the matter said, as it expects to see its first batch of workers released from lockdown.

https://www.todayonline.com/world/shanghai-asks-entire-city-self-test-covid-frustration-grows-1862956

Taliban Bans Drug Cultivation, Including Lucrative Opium

 The Taliban announced on Sunday a ban on the cultivation of narcotics in Afghanistan, the world's biggest opium producer.

"As per the decree of the supreme leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, all Afghans are informed that from now on, cultivation of poppy has been strictly prohibited across the country," according to an order from the Taliban's supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada.

"If anyone violates the decree, the crop will be destroyed immediately and the violator will be treated according to the Sharia law," the order, announced at a news conference by the Ministry of Interior in Kabul, said.

The order said the production, use or transportation of other narcotics was also banned.

Drug control has been one major demand of the international community of the Islamist group, which took over the country in August and is seeking formal international recognition in order to wind back sanctions that are severely hampering banking, business and development.

The Taliban banned poppy growing towards the end of their last rule in 2000 as they sought international legitimacy, but faced a popular backlash and later mostly changed their stance, according to experts.

Afghanistan's opium production - which the United Nations estimated was worth $1.4 billion at its height in 2017 - has increased in recent months, farmers and Taliban members told Reuters.

The country's dire economic situation has prompted residents of south-eastern provinces to grow the illicit crop that could bring them faster and higher returns than legal crops such as wheat.

Taliban sources told Reuters they were anticipating tough resistance from some elements within the group against the ban on poppy and that there had been a surge in the number of farmers cultivating poppy in recent months.

A farmer in Helmand who spoke on condition of anonymity said that in recent weeks prices of poppy had already more than doubled on rumours the Taliban would ban its cultivation. But he added that he needed to grow poppy to support his family.

"Other crops are just not profitable," he said.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2022-04-03/taliban-bans-drug-cultivation-including-lucrative-opium

Battle heats up over remaining federal rental assistance

 In her office at a nonprofit in central Nebraska, Karen Rathke routinely encounters residents still stung by the pandemic and hoping to get help with their rent.

Rathke, president of the Heartland United Way, was hoping to tap into an additional $120 million in federal Emergency Rental Assistance to help them. But that money, part of what’s known as ERA2, is at risk after Republican Gov. Pete Ricketts said he doesn’t want it.

Many other states have in recent months returned tens of millions of dollars in unused rental assistance because they have so few renters — but only Nebraska has flat out refused the aid.

“I’m very concerned about not having anything,” Rathke said of the federal money, which can be allocated over the next three years for everything from rent to services preventing eviction to affordable housing activities.

“All these nonprofits, when people come to them asking for help, the bucket will be empty,” she said. “It is hard to tell people no, to tell people that we don’t have the funds to help them.”

The debate is playing out across the country as the Treasury Department begins reallocating some of the $46.5 billion in rental assistance from places slow to spend to others that are running out of funds.

States and localities have until September to spend their share of the first $25 billion allocated, known as ERA1, and the second $21.55 billion, known as ERA2, by 2025. So far, Treasury says $30 billion has been spent or allocated through February.

Treasury announced earlier this month that over $1 billion of ERA1 funds would be moved, for a total of $2.3 billion reallocated this year. Larger states like California, New York, New Jersey and Texas are getting hundreds of millions of dollars in additional money. Native American tribes, including the Oglala Sioux Lakota in South Dakota and Chippewa Cree in Montana, are also receiving tens of millions of dollars in additional help.

Those losing money are almost all smaller Republican states with large rural populations and fewer renters. Many were slow to spend their share as required by program rules, so they either voluntarily returned money or had it taken. Some, like South Dakota, Wyoming and New Hampshire, unsuccessfully pitched to use the money for other things like affordable housing.

Treasury officials, housing advocates and many Republican governors argue there is still plenty of money to help renters in these states and that the reallocation gets money where it’s most needed. Montana, for example, returned $54.6 million but still has $224.5 million. West Virginia returned more than $42.4 million but still has $224.7 million, according to Treasury.

“We are trying to reallocate the best we can,” said Gene Sperling, who is charged with overseeing implementation of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus rescue package. “This is a balancing act, but one that is rooted in commitment to getting the most funds to the most people in need as possible.”

North Dakota returned $150 million of its $352 million, saying it couldn’t effectively spend all the money by the deadline. The state believes the remaining funds are sufficient to meet the needs of those who are eligible.

Some Democratic lawmakers disagree.

“Outrageous and unacceptable: turning back rental assistance funds when applications are piling up and people are being evicted,” tweeted Democratic Rep. Karla Rose Hanson, of Fargo.

South Dakota was forced to return more than $81 million — though more than $9 million went to Native American tribes in the state. Gov. Kristi Noem suggested the money was not necessary, adding: “Our renters enjoy something even better than government hand-outs: a job.”

But Democratic Sen. Reynold Nesiba said there was a lack of awareness about the rental assistance and criticized the state for not doing more to promote it. He pointed to a $5 million tourism advertising campaign that was paid for with coronavirus relief funds and questioned why that level of promotion didn’t happen for pandemic relief programs.

Meanwhile, organizations that are helping administer the rental assistance still available expect a continued need. The state has long faced a run on affordable housing, which has only been exacerbated during the pandemic.

“Housing costs are just too high,” said Sandy Miller, who coordinates the rental assistance program for an organization called Community Action in the western half of South Dakota. “It’s harder for them to get in a home, it’s harder for them to stay in their home.”

Several states argued the reallocation addresses a flaw in the program, which created a funding formula based on population, not the number of renters in a state.

“Congress ... did not take into consideration Wyoming’s small population, income levels, actual renters’ needs, and that the majority of Wyoming households — 70% — are owner occupied,” said Rachel Girt, the state’s rental assistance communication coordinator, after the state returned $164 million out of $352 million. Another $2.8 million was shifted to the Northern Arapaho Tribal Housing Program and Eastern Shoshone Housing Authority.

Josh Hanford, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development, noted that the $352 million it received far surpassed the $25 million given to Memphis, which has a similar population.

“As long as we’re able to serve all our eligible households, hopefully folks will see that there is greater need in other parts of the country that have received a lot less assistance per household,” Hanford said when asked about the state returning $31 million.

In Nebraska, the loss of funds is projected to hit rural areas hardest.

The state program already reallocated $85 million of its $158 million in ERA1 to its biggest cities of Omaha and Lincoln and their respective counties. It still has nearly $30 million. Without the additional $120 million in ERA2 money, an analysis by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Center on Children, Families and the Law found that tenants in Omaha and Lincoln will still have help after September, but those in other counties will not.

Ricketts, the Nebraska governor, defended the decision not to take the additional money.

The state “has received and distributed an unprecedented amount of federal funding to help Nebraskans weather the storm over these past two years,” he wrote in an opinion column. “But at a certain point, we must acknowledge that the storm has passed and get back to the Nebraska Way. We must guard against becoming a welfare state where people are incentivized not to work and encouraged to rely on government handouts well after an emergency is over.”

But housing advocates say his decision will leave many vulnerable tenants without a lifeline. Tenants in rural areas often have access to fewer resources, including affordable housing, internet access and reliable transport.

Lawmakers passed a bill last month requiring the state to apply for the money. But Ricketts vetoed the bill, saying the state “must guard against big government socialism.” If lawmakers don’t override his veto, the money is likely to be reallocated by Treasury to other states.

“We know from communities across Nebraska that the need is not only there, but is fairly severe,” said Erin Feichtinger, director of policy and advocacy for the social service agency Together.

“There is really no good reason to pass up these funds. It’s money that is allocated to Nebraskans,” she said. “Nothing bad will happen if we accept this funding, but lots of bad things can if we don’t.”

https://apnews.com/article/covid-business-health-pete-ricketts-nebraska-efa68f756f23d1326e178c0153529c86

States look for solutions as US fentanyl deaths keep rising

 As the addiction and overdose crisis that has gripped the U.S. for two decades turns even deadlier, state governments are scrambling for ways to stem the destruction wrought by fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.

In statehouses across the country, lawmakers have been considering and adopting laws on two fronts: reducing the risk to users and increasing the penalties for dealing fentanyl or mixing it with other drugs. Meanwhile, Republican state attorneys general are calling for more federal action, while some GOP governors are deploying National Guard units with a mission that includes stopping the flow of fentanyl from Mexico.

“It’s a fine line to help people and try to get people clean, and at the same time incarcerate and get the drug dealers off the streets,” said Nathan Manning, a Republican state senator in Ohio who is sponsoring legislation to make it clear that materials used to test drugs for fentanyl are legal.

The urgency is heightened because of the deepening impact of the drugs. Last year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the nation had hit a grim milestone. For the first time, more than 100,000 Americans had died of drug overdoses over a 12-month period. About two-thirds of the deaths were linked to fentanyl and other synthetic drugs, which can be 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, heroin or prescription opioids.

The recent case of five West Point cadets who overdosed on fentanyl-laced cocaine during spring break in Florida put the dangers and pervasiveness of the fentanyl crisis back in the spotlight.

The chemical precursors to the drugs are being shipped largely from China to Mexico, where much of the illicit fentanyl supply is produced in labs before being smuggled into the U.S.

While users sometimes seek out fentanyl specifically, it and other synthetics with similar properties are often mixed with other drugs or formed into counterfeit pills so users often don’t know they’re taking it.

Advocates say test strips can help prevent accidental overdoses of drugs laced with fentanyl. The strips are given out at needle exchanges and sometimes at concerts or other events where drugs are expected to be sold or used.

Thomas Stuber, chief legislative officer at The LCADA Way, a drug treatment organization in Ohio that serves Lorain County and nearby areas, has been pushing for the test strip legislation. It also would ease access to naloxone, a drug that can be used to revive people when they’re having opioid overdoses.

“This is a harm-reduction approach that has received a lot of acceptance,” he said. “We cannot treat somebody if they’re dead.”

Since last year, at least a half-dozen states have enacted similar laws and at least a dozen others have considered them, according to research by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In West Virginia, the state hardest hit by opioids per capita, lawmakers passed a bill this month to legalize the testing strips. It now heads to the governor.

The measure was sponsored by Republican lawmakers. But state Delegate Mike Pushkin, a Democrat whose district includes central Charleston, has also been pushing for more access to fentanyl strips. He said the situation got worse last year when a state law tightened regulations on needle exchanges, causing some of them to close.

Pushkin, who also is in long-term addiction recovery, is pleased with passage of the testing strip bill but upset with another measure passed this month that would increase the penalties for trafficking fentanyl. That bill also would create a new crime of adding fentanyl to another drug.

“Their initial reaction is, ‘We have to do something,’” he said. “It’s not just about doing something, it’s about doing the right thing that actually has results.”

But for many lawmakers, making sure that tough criminal penalties apply to fentanyl is a priority.

California Assemblywoman Janet Nguyen, a Republican, introduced a measure that would make penalties for dealing fentanyl just as harsh as those for selling cocaine or heroin. The Republican represents Orange County, where there were more than 600 reported fentanyl-related deaths last year.

“This is sending messages to those who aren’t afraid of selling these drugs that there’s a longer, bigger penalty than you might think,” said Nguyen, whose bill failed to advance from her chamber’s public safety committee in a 5-2 vote last week. She said after the bill failed that she was considering trying again.

She said committee members stressed compassion for drug users, something she said she agrees with.

“The less available these pills are out there, the better it is,” Nguyen said. “And that is going after the drug dealer.”

The same day her measure failed to advance, a Democratic lawmaker in California announced a different bill to increase fentanyl-dealing penalties.

The National Conference of State Legislatures found 12 states with fentanyl-specific drug trafficking or possession laws as of last year. Similar measures have been introduced or considered since the start of 2021 in at least 19 states, the Associated Press found in an analysis of bills compiled by LegiScan. That does not include measures to add more synthetic opioids to controlled substance lists to mirror federal law; those have been adopted in many states, with bipartisan support.

Fentanyl has been in the spotlight in Colorado since February, when five people were found dead in a suburban Denver apartment from overdoses of fentanyl mixed with cocaine.

Under state law, possession with intent to distribute less than 14 grams of fentanyl is an offense normally punishable by two to four years in prison. But fentanyl is so potent that 14 grams can represent up to 700 lethal doses, under a calculation used by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

“It’s making it impossible to hold the dealer accountable for the deadliness of the drugs they’re peddling,” Colorado House Speaker Alec Garnett, a Democrat, said in an interview.

He and a bipartisan group of lawmakers last week unveiled a bill also backed by Democratic Gov. Jared Polis that would increase penalties for dealers with smaller amounts of fentanyl and in cases where the drug leads to a death. The legislation also would increase the accessibility of naloxone and test strips while steering people who possess fentanyl into education and treatment programs.

Maritza Perez, director of national affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance, a group that advocates for harm-reduction measures, is skeptical of the legislation that would increase criminal penalties.

“We have the largest incarceration rate in the entire world and we’re also setting records in terms of overdose deaths,” she said.

Democratic governors are focusing primarily on harm reduction methods. Among them is Illinois Gov. Jay Pritzker, who released a broad overdose action plan last month.

Several Republican governors and attorneys general have responded to the rising death toll with administrative enforcement efforts and by pushing for more federal intervention.

Last year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey called for states to help secure the border with Mexico. Along with trying to keep people from entering the U.S., stopping the flow of fentanyl was cited as a reason. Several other Republican governors have sent contingents of state troopers or National Guard units.

The Texas Military Department said that from March 2021 through earlier this month, its troops near the border confiscated more than 1,200 pounds (540 kilograms) of fentanyl. By comparison, federal authorities reported confiscating about 11,000 pounds (4,990 kilograms) in 2021 — still a fraction of what entered the country.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice filed about 2,700 cases involving crimes related to the distribution of fentanyl and similar synthetic drugs, up nearly tenfold from 2017. Even so, Republican state officials are critical of federal efforts to stop fentanyl from entering the country.

In January, 16 GOP state attorneys general sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling on him to exert more pressure on China and Mexico to stop the flow of fentanyl. Those are steps that Dr. Rahul Gupta, the director of National Drug Control Policy, said are already being taken.

In March, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey called on U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland for more enforcement on fentanyl trafficking and harsher penalties.

“Fentanyl is killing Americans of all walks of life in unprecedented numbers,” Morrisey said in a statement emailed to the AP, “and the federal government must respond with full force, across the board, using every tool available to stem the tide of death.”

https://apnews.com/article/fentanyl-deaths-keep-rising-states-look-for-solutions-d3ccd6edfdc6516b3ea07943c7e46544

How Mark Zuckerberg’s metaverse can change our mental health

 Concerns over the metaverse’s effects on mental health have been growing among experts.

As tech giants continue to build their metaverse platforms, many questions are being raised about the future of our mental health.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has long been vocal about his plans for the “metaverse” – a virtual world comprising gaming, social media, augmented reality, and cryptocurrency.

“The metaverse is the next evolution of social connection,” Meta writes on a webpage that also hosts a 13-part audio series detailing Zuckerberg’s vision for the digital space.

This ‘evolution’, it appears, is already here as companies like Microsoft, Apple, and Nvidia are already laying the groundwork for decentralized virtual spaces.

Now experts are seriously pondering just how Zuckerberg’s plans for the future will affect the mental health of individuals, some of who are already heavily integrated into an online world.

There is debate among experts

In the past, tech and mental-health experts have been concerned about most new technologies and how they would impact our lives.

Today, many experts say that these apprehensions were baseless because factors like genetics and socioeconomic standing are more significant to a person’s well-being, per The Wall Street Journal.

They argue that the metaverse, too, will get seamlessly integrated into our lives.

However, others disagree, stating that the concept of a metaverse is not only revolutionary but uncharted territory that will definitely present some challenges.

The debate is far from over, but here’s what some experts say now.

Experts say the metaverse can have both negative and positive impacts.

Ercin Erturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Spending too much time in the metaverse may be bad for you

Science has concrete evidence that links the overuse of digital technology to several mental health issues, such as depression, psychoticism, and paranoid ideation, according to a peer-reviewed article in Psychology Today.

Spending a lot of time in a digital environment can also result in someone preferring virtual spaces to reality.

This can “negatively impact our ability to engage in non-virtual life, whether it’s self-confidence or belonging or social anxiety,” Rachel Kowert, research director at Take This, a nonprofit focused on mental health in the video gaming community, told The Wall Street Journal.

Similarly, Jeremy Bailenson, founding director of Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, noted that there may be challenges when people spend a lot of time “in a world in which everyone is just perfect and beautiful and ideal.”

In the past, tech and mental-health experts have been concerned about most new technologies.

Shutterstock

Context is important

Nick Allen, a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon, said that the question shouldn’t be how much time people are spending on the metaverse.

Instead, he says it’s more important to look at whether time spent in the metaverse promotes or hinders one’s mental health.

“A young person who may be LGBT and who finds an online context where they can feel a sense of social support—we would predict that that would be a benefit for their mental health,” Allen said.

“On the other hand, if using metaverse technologies replaces non-online behaviors that are healthy and supportive to mental health, like appropriate exercise, engagement in relationships in real life, healthy sleep, time spent in natural environments, then they can be harmful.”

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has long been vocal about his plans for the “metaverse.”

Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

The metaverse may help some people

Many experts believe that the metaverse can have a positive impact on people – that is when used in a healthy way.

Dr. Daria Kuss, Head of the Cyberpsychology Research Group at Nottingham Trent University, told Dazed: “We know that particular psychotherapy formats, notably virtual reality exposure therapy, can be fantastic tools to help individuals affected by a variety of phobias.”

Mental health issues like depression, psychosis, addiction, eating disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder can be tackled using the metaverse “by gradually exposing [people] to the triggering, feared, or trauma-producing stimulus in a safe space (like the virtual environment),” Dr. Kuss added.

Anna Bailie, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of York who is researching mental health cultures on social media, echoed Dr. Kuss’ sentiments.

“The interactive nature of the metaverse could provide a different arena for online therapy to take place, which may even improve access to therapy for disabled people with a better, more life-like experience.”

Science has concrete evidence that links the overuse of digital technology to several mental health issues.

Shutterstock

However, she also noted that the metaverse will “likely divide people further in their access to technology and therapeutic support.”

“Having mental health treatment instantly available in the metaverse will likely benefit the people who already have access to it.”

Peter Etchells, a professor of psychology and science communication at Bath Spa University, told the Wall Street Journal that he believes the metaverse can be a “tremendous force for good in terms of keeping us connected” if it is developed in an ethical way.

And while he acknowledged that things can go wrong, he thinks we might miss a “tremendous opportunity” if we only focus on the negatives.

https://nypost.com/2022/04/03/experts-predict-how-the-metaverse-will-change-our-mental-health/