Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 95 No. 5, 2025.
Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.53745/bs.95.5.13
Digitalisation and Emotional Virtues: Opportunities and Challenges of Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality
Saša Poljak Lukek
orcid.org/0000-0001-9833-0339
; Faculty of Theology, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Tanja Valenta
; Faculty of Theology, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Abstract
This article examines how digitalisation through artificial intelligence (AI) and virtual reality (VR) is changing our emotional lives and moral development, with a focus on adolescence. Digitalisation is understood not only as a technological change, but also as a socio-cultural change that reshapes knowledge, relationships, and identity. AI provides tools to simulate empathy, manage emotional regulation and support adaptive coping; while VR creates immersive environments that promote empathy, perspective-taking, and social sensitivity. Adolescence is highlighted as a particularly sensitive phase for these interventions, characterised by neurocognitive plasticity and the formation of a moral identity. Digital technologies can offer the opportunity to cultivate emotional virtues such as resilience, gratitude, and courage. At the same time, however, they harbour risks such as over-reliance on algorithms, emotional superficiality, and overwhelming virtual experiences. The article concludes that AI and VR should not replace human relationships but serve as complementary tools. A humancentred approach is essential to ensure that these technologies promote emotional virtues and contribute to human well-being.
Keywords
digitalization; emotional virtues; artificial intelligence; virtual reality; adolescence
Hrčak ID:
346351
URI
Publication date:
16.4.2026.
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