The Emotional Economy Behind the ‘Virtual Lover’ Service

Commercialization of emotional needs

Technological empowerment: AI speech synthesis, dynamic emoji simulation of real interaction, reducing service costs, with a profit margin of up to 60%.
Instant satisfaction of consumer psychology: Users can obtain the experience of “being listened to” by paying, relieving social pressure in reality.
Safe and controllable: Virtual relationships do not require real emotional risks, becoming a “emotional testing ground” for some young people.
2、 The implicit cost of the economic chain
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Emotional alienation
Service providers (mostly part-time students) need to standardize their “persona”, as long-term performances can lead to blurred self-awareness.
Users overly rely on virtual relationships, leading to a decline in their real-life social skills and the formation of ’emotional consumption addiction’.
Regulatory gaps
The nature of virtual emotional services is not clearly defined by law, making it difficult to protect rights in disputes.
Some platforms have issues such as inducing consumption and privacy breaches, and industry standards urgently need to be established.