MyListener: An AI-Mediated Journaling Mobile Application for Alleviating Depression and Loneliness Using Contextual Data

Depression and loneliness are significant contributors to poor mental health and can potentially develop into severe mental disorders. With the advent of large language model (LLM) technology, healthcare applications aimed at improving mental health have become increasingly active, and AI-mediated journaling has garnered attention for its potential in mental health management. However, the impact of AI-mediated journaling on depression and loneliness remains underexplored. To address this, we introduce MyListener, an AI-mediated journaling mobile application that provides context-aware diary prompts and replies based on contextual data collected from the smartphone and the Fitbit Luxe smartband. We conducted a two-week study with 11 university students to evaluate user experiences and observed a reduction in depression and loneliness during its use. This paper outlines our research contributions, discusses future work, and plans for a full-scale experiment.