the fact that companies are profiting off loneliness is unnerving to me

im sure that majority of you who clicked on this post know about friend.com and their pendant for like 170$ (its not a friend and i will NOT address it as such.) if somehow you dont know, then basically friend.com is a website where you can talk to a chatbot that is prompted to act like your friend but theres also an option to buy a pendant that is basically same thing but portable.

why is it (in my opinion) bad? first of all, its literally stated in their privacy policy (that basically no one reads) that this thing records EVERYTHING. yes EVEN audio and video. it also collects information about you - voice, looks preferences etc. it also stores your data for 5 YEARS or longer (given they wont delete it for technical, legal or regulatory reasons - whatever that means). additionally your data will be used to train other chatbots so you should probably refrain from venting to that thing. (needless to mention, its REALLY bad as a therapist - usually acts as a yesman and glazes tf outta you without offering legitimate advice)

why do i think its bad for loners? lets look at some countries that are struggling with relationships/friendships like japan where there are literal restaurants designed for people to not talk to anyone. the population is inching towards a slow decline and suicide rates are at an all-time high. sure, some other factors might contribute to this like really low monthly salaries, but we should acknowledge the loneliness there too. (might come off as a huge shock for those who glaze tf outta it; seriously some of you are pathetic not to mention sa rates in there) if 'friend' pendants (surveillance devices) were to spread amongst some countries, im pretty confident they would end up like japan or worse. can you even imagine going to a shopping mall and instead of seeing people hanging out with each other you see them standing still like npcs?

'but AI isnt [insert a negative trope]!!' no one is perfect. everyone has their pluses and minuses and thats okay. in the end of the day, thats what makes us human. so if you by any chance are considering handing over 170$, please do NOT. try to find activity groups tailoring to your hobbies, maybe approach someone who you think is cool. you live only once and its better to regret that you had known them than to regret that you havent talked to that one person; and if you really cant make a friend irl, use a friend-making website such as spacehey or join some nontoxic social discord servers. people on there are usually chill and kind, so you shouldnt really have a problem finding a new online buddy. 

stay social. stay human.

PS: if you want to know more about why is friend.com bad, i highly recommend watching Louis Rossman's video on it titled 'AI is NOT your friend'. i brought up some points he made in there, but if you wnat to get some additional context, here it is.