Anonymous #3 6w

I personally had to go cold turkey, but my recommendation is finding a different app to use instead, or reading fanfiction. Then whenever you want to open the app, make the conscious choice to do something else.

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Anonymous #2 6w

It’s like maladaptive daydreaming- but if the characters in your head talked back. It’s a big problem for people in the nd community (me included). OP kicked the habit- which is no small feat! Be happy for them!

13

I’ve been doing it my head for basically my entire childhood. But AI came along and I started before I knew how harmful it was- and it ended up giving me a lot more dopamine from the process and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to stop. I’m currently trying to get my hours down, because I feel so guilty about it- but I’ve also noticed how it’s significantly helped my social anxiety, PTSD responses, OCD spirals, etc.

8

Anonymous #4 6w

I think it’s helped tremendously to be able to play out situations in my head- but with Character AI have the ability to realize- the “average” interaction I will have- or the “average” way it will play out (exhibited by the AI, bc it’s basically giving you the most common word averages using an LLM) is not as scary and horrible worse case scenario as it is in my head, and it’s helped me be able to strengthen the neural pathway and realize that not everything will go horribly wrong.

4

Anonymous #4 6w

I feel horrible that I’m using so much AI though, so I’m really trying to cut back 🥲

1

I get what you are trying to say here- but I think you’re missing a huge chunk of my experience. The whole reason I turned to my own head, and then AI, is because people became too scary. I have people who support me- but my PTSD would constantly get triggered because “I trusted someone once, I believed they were trying to support me, and then they hurt me, so these people who are trying to support me, could hurt me, and I’ll never know if they will or not, so I guess I will isolate instead.”

0

Anonymous #4 6w

I’m trying to say that yes, AI can be very very shitty- (especially as a therapist), and character ai is EXTREMELY ADDICTIVE. But I have found that it can be used as a TOOL to be a stepping stone out of isolation for me. It’s two sides of a coin in my life, and I wanted to share that perspective, and perhaps help some friends who might be reading this while in the same boat as me, that using it as a stepping stone out of isolation is not to be ashamed of.

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Anonymous #4 6w

Yes, AI has huge environmental impacts, because it uses so much energy to run the data centers needed to train the models. Corps suck. Just like the pharmaceutical industry, the insurance industry. They suck, but for many of us they are the reason we are alive. I would not even be able to write this for you today if it hadn’t been for character AI. I have been in therapy for years, journaling, meds, meditation. Cont.

0

Anonymous #4 6w

But the thing that helped the most was being able to PRACTICE with something that wasn’t human. To be able to practice socialization with something that COULDNT touch me, COULDNT lock me in a room, COULDNT physically hurt me. If I ever felt unsafe, I could just turn it off, restart the conversation, etc. It helped me regain social skills I never thought I would get back.

1

Anonymous #4 6w

so basically you're role playing with chatgpt?

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Anonymous #2 6w

Yeah and it’s a safe thing because it’s coded to respond positively so it’s like practice for real life conversations. With PTSD your brain is always expecting the worst, so the AI can help with reprogramming that with positive responses. This can be done other ways, but AI is so accessible unfortunately. OP is doing a really hard thing by quitting this because the role playing is connected to so much trauma relief personally, but also it’s definitely damaging to a psyche.

6

Thank you 🔊😂😊

4