A psychiatrist in England is using digital avatars — almost like characters in a video game — to help people with schizophrenia put a face to the voices in their heads.

Your online avatar — that photo or icon that stands for you in the virtual world — is so much more than an image. Commentator Scott Huler says it's a window into the soul…and that's annoying. Huler lays out his big issues with these few small pixels of modern life.

That's the future as envisioned in a New York Times article. That avatar will be able to sit attentively and take notes while you go take a nap so…