Talk to You Tomorrow: Design Fiction Vignettes of Everyday Life with Virtual Companions

Paper i proceeding, 2026

In a possible near future, virtual companionship might be more normalized and common in our everyday lives. What does this actually mean, and how could this be experienced by a young person? In this paper, this potential near future is explored through a design fiction artifact following a young person through a day in their life. Through this fiction, themes surrounding the ethical tensions of dependency and attachment, loneliness and mental health, and the commercialization of companionship surface. The paper concludes with questions for the future of virtual companionship, serving as a stepping stone for the continued exploration of this topic.