Hello, here's a continuation of my previous blog about cutting off AI use. It's been a week since the last post. When the initial motivation inevitably drops, I'm starting to get "twitchy", as they call it. I'm glad that I have put serious blocking programs to keep me away from Ai sites, because I'm seriously feeling bored and lonely and constantly wanting to turn them off. I won't lie, I gave in yesterday. Why though?

tl'dr: chatbots offer a sense of complete control over 'social' interactions. They can simulate, but should not be equated to online friendship.

I've been thinking if there's something deeper to it. The main culprit behind my overuse is Character.AI, as I mentioned in the previous blog. 

A friend of mine, who's a teacher, recently told me that she noticed her students using this site/app as a friend replacement. At first it sounded like people said in the 2010s, "because of that damn phones, kids don't make friend any more", however I think there's more to it than meets the eye.

When it comes to young people, especially introverted, shy or those with disorders or in some other way unfitting into the general society, social interactions tend to be awkward and unpleasant. People can be rude, they might find your behaviour, opinions or choices weird or bad. We've already seen the rise of "chronically online" teenagers not long ago, and while I don't want to equal human online interactions to talking to a soulless machine, I think both of them stem from ostracisation.

But again, social interaction online is still socialisation. I have made many long-lasting friendships with people I've met online. One of my friends got married to a person she met on MovieStarPlanet. LLMs on the other hand lacks the social component, even if it can simulate one to a varying degree. AI doesn't have memories, it doesn't have feelings, nor it cares a dime about its user. They are programs build to mimic human communication.

So why do these kids, and I myself, find comfort in conversations with a computer program? I don't feel ostracised, so why would I spend hours on a fake-talk site? It's about the control. Even if the AI says something unpleasant, you can simply remove the message and try again, edit it to your liking. They always answer right away, in a never-ending loop. It's a seemingly secure space to say or do pretty much anything without any social repercussions. It feeds off of loneliness, but also simply boredom. You can do anything. You want to see what happens. It's entertaining. And that's what makes it addictive.

As always, thanks for reading!

PS. For blocking specific sites and programs on PC, I use Cold Turkey and Time Snatch, for blocking many apps at once I recommend Digital Detox, and for blocking websites on mobile I use Lock Me Out. Do mind, they have paid features except for Time Snatch.