Emissary Educator Playmate Oracle (EEPO): A Human-Technology Framework and XR to Support Child Well-Being

Augmented Sociology refers to the use of tools to increase the opportunities and capacities for healthy growth, development and relationships in humans; emphasizing the need to create supportive technologies that help bridge the gap between humans and technology. This work focuses on the role of technology in child development, parenting and the relational space in-between children and parents. It presents the Emissary, Educator, Playmate, Oracle (EEPO) human-technology framework to support mental health, development and well-being in children. The framework can be used as an exploration to create a balance between the effective use of technology in children's lives while building and maintaining strong relational human connection. This ensures children and parents do not become overly reliant on digital tools at the expense of responsive and attuned interactions, healthy development, emotional connection and love. To deepen this concept this paper contributes to the development of a prototype EEPO mixed reality system, toward human-centered, empathetic, connected, meaningful experiences and interactions with technology while enhancing human abilities. This paper proposes the EEPO human-technology interaction framework to support child-technology interaction and an early proof of concept XR and AI system to consider how technology can respond to human needs and emotions.