Live data from Hacker News

Heavy chatbot usage is correlated with loneliness and reduced socialization

platformer.news

11–20 of 80 posts

Re: Heavy chatbot usage is correlated with loneliness and reduced socialization

#11
I'm a senior citizen and I use it sometimes to explain what is happening to me as I age. For example, I noticed myself doing "excessive rumination" about the long gone past, which I attributed to the near-dystopian nightmare I am living through in the U.S. presently.

I asked ChatGPT about it and it said, no, excessive rumination is a problem for many people as they age due to various factors. Then it suggested some remedies, which is very good for my mental health.

Re: Heavy chatbot usage is correlated with loneliness and reduced socialization

#12
post #2

I really didn’t think I’d be saying this… but I genuinely feel ChatGPT has positively impacted my mental health. I often use it as a therapist. It sounds ridiculous, I know, but it actually works pretty well. It has an exceptionally high EQ and often uses language far better than I ever could to help uncover the thoughts and feelings I’m processing. Sometimes, just finding the right words to express myself relieves a…

I never used ChatGPT as a therapist, but it was able to identify the specific mental health issues I had, and I used that information to find self-help books just on that topic. Meanwhile, a therapist with whom I had online sessions with really just worked with me on generic anxiety issues.

I tried another episode I had a few years ago, and ChatGPT was able to provide specific and correct advice. What happened back then was that a therapist misdiagnosed my issue and thought I was going to harm other people and alerted the police. That was a horrifying experience. Only later a specialist understood the issue and provide proper care.

I know I need to be very careful about ChatGPT's output, so I do try to understand what it says, and seek professional help when necessary. However, very seriously, in many cases ChatGPT provides better care than a less experienced, apathetic therapist you find online.

Re: Heavy chatbot usage is correlated with loneliness and reduced socialization

#13
I would be interested in retention stats for these companionship chatbots. The novelty factor is powerful and addictive, but it fades fast. There is a reason all of these bots gamify everything. The most concerning thing is all these bots are already trying to be as addictive as possible. They are built to exploit the users loneliness. They don’t cause it, they devour it.

Re: Heavy chatbot usage is correlated with loneliness and reduced socialization

#14
post #13

I would be interested in retention stats for these companionship chatbots. The novelty factor is powerful and addictive, but it fades fast. There is a reason all of these bots gamify everything. The most concerning thing is all these bots are already trying to be as addictive as possible. They are built to exploit the users loneliness. They don’t cause it, they devour it.

Sounds similar but not the same as social media.

Re: Heavy chatbot usage is correlated with loneliness and reduced socialization

#15
post #2

I really didn’t think I’d be saying this… but I genuinely feel ChatGPT has positively impacted my mental health. I often use it as a therapist. It sounds ridiculous, I know, but it actually works pretty well. It has an exceptionally high EQ and often uses language far better than I ever could to help uncover the thoughts and feelings I’m processing. Sometimes, just finding the right words to express myself relieves a…

Hmm... maybe that is why, earliest chatbot carried a "therapist" tag.

https://web.njit.edu/~ronkowit/eliza.html

Re: Heavy chatbot usage is correlated with loneliness and reduced socialization

#16
Or they might not. Or they might be a net mental health benefit. Or they may benefit some users and harm others. Or it may be impossible to disentangle their effect from all of the other changes going on.

Probably one of those things, unless it’s something else.

Re: Heavy chatbot usage is correlated with loneliness and reduced socialization

#17
post #16

Or they might not. Or they might be a net mental health benefit. Or they may benefit some users and harm others. Or it may be impossible to disentangle their effect from all of the other changes going on. Probably one of those things, unless it’s something else.

Why study anything?

Re: Heavy chatbot usage is correlated with loneliness and reduced socialization

#18
Correlation doesn't equal causation. It could be that those with traits like loneliness and reduced socialisation are more likely to use chatbots in the first place.

The question is does it help and if not, is it harmful? The article doesn't seem to give hard data on this one way or the other.

Re: Heavy chatbot usage is correlated with loneliness and reduced socialization

#19
post #2

I really didn’t think I’d be saying this… but I genuinely feel ChatGPT has positively impacted my mental health. I often use it as a therapist. It sounds ridiculous, I know, but it actually works pretty well. It has an exceptionally high EQ and often uses language far better than I ever could to help uncover the thoughts and feelings I’m processing. Sometimes, just finding the right words to express myself relieves a…

I'm very worried that LLMs-as-therapists will wind up falling victim to the same fate as e-cigarettes. An LLM therapist is ~100x cheaper than a real therapist, and similarly more available on demand (in the same way that ecigs were probably a few orders of magnitude safer, in terms of long-term health effects, vs. traditional cigarettes).

BUT there is also a gold rush temptation for companies to hack together GPT4 + a lazy system prompt and market it as "Digital Therapy (tm)" and screw it up for everyone. Meanwhile the companies doing careful RCTs to show efficacy and safety will be left in the dust, and probably regulated out of existence before they can even go to market.

Just like Juul & co screwed up e-cigarettes as safer alternative to smoking by targeting teenagers who don't use nicotine, as opposed to current cigarette smokers.

Re: Heavy chatbot usage is correlated with loneliness and reduced socialization

#20
post #2

I really didn’t think I’d be saying this… but I genuinely feel ChatGPT has positively impacted my mental health. I often use it as a therapist. It sounds ridiculous, I know, but it actually works pretty well. It has an exceptionally high EQ and often uses language far better than I ever could to help uncover the thoughts and feelings I’m processing. Sometimes, just finding the right words to express myself relieves a…

I use it in conjunction with a therapist. It’s always there, and I find I don’t mask when talking to it like I do to a person, so I can dig a bit deeper and feel a bit more strongly; this makes great input for follow-up sessions with my real therapist.
Post reply on HN