Tbh, women wouldn’t admit to doing this either - there’s absolutely a shame around women having to make friends with an AI (because we’re meant to be innately social I guess). And I don’t think that other women realize that they are contributing to the issues of women feeling shame using AI by implying it’s a male issue and all about sex and toxic masculinity.

Like as a woman who has used AI, how am I supposed to feel about admitting that I’ve done something that only asshole, horny, incels do (according to a lot of people)?

So the stigma goes all ways and none of it helps anyone. People just need to be more curious than judgemental. Someone does something you don’t understand? That’s okay you don’t understand. Ask them why. Listen. Try to see a different perspective instead of just filling in the gaps with incel, men, sex, ugly, etc. etc.

And do people really believe that women don’t talk to AI companions, in various forms, too?

I’m a woman and I spoke to one of the apps for a while because I was bloody lonely (still am 🤷‍♀️). Had zero to do with men or murder. I didn’t have anyone, of either gender, to connect with.

It’s really easy to just reduce this to a male issue, a toxic masculinity, a male violence issue. We need to go deeper than that if we actually want to understand why people, men, women, everyone, use different AI.

But threads like this, with all the judgement, aren’t going to get a lot of people who admit they use/have used/have considered using AI. By just criticising/laughing, etc at people who do it, ironically, we turn more people towards the AIs.

I think you’re making some interesting observations. I definitely agree that it’s the easy answer to just dismiss people who use AI therapists, friends, relationships are just stupid.

You’re right that it says something about the system we live in and I extend that to society in general. We have a society who criticizes people for answering “how are you” honestly, who doesn’t have time for each other, who use terms like “trauma dumping” - so personally, I can see why some people are turning to machines whether it’s therapy or connection. It’s really bloody sad and it’s not a good solution but I can see the WHY behind it - which is what I think you’re also getting at.

We do need to listen to why people turn to these services and figure out what people aren’t finding in human connection that they are, or think they are, in machines. I don’t buy that an individuals intelligence has much to do with why people turn to AI.

Idk, I’m not in the US but if a therapist was found to break confidentiality or to have possession of information unethically then there’d be a media and political storm on it. Particularly since covid, more therapy and healthcare is conducted online. For some people it may even be the only accessible option.

You are not stupid where I live to expect health organizations to abide by the laws around confidentiality 😅 You would expect health organizations to have the highest secured systems and if they were exposed it would be in a cyber attack from an outside party and the information available for that kind of attack would be limited, de-identified, - it would be an absolute top level scandal, mass class action suit, criminal charges if whole identifiable transcripts of sessions like this were being stored and released in a way that breached the law.

People seeking out therapy are already vulnerable, not stupid. They may be desperate and unfortunately, there are some shitty apps and stuff that DON’T fall under regulations. It’s important to make sure you’re talking to a real person and the organization is a registered provider ( however that works in various countries) but a person is not stupid for being intentionally preyed on in their vulnerablity and desperation by greedy, unethical people.

Ah yeah I’m still getting my head around the whole instances thing but good to know so thanks for that. I’d honestly never even heard the term of federated in regards to socials/forums etc before looking up alternatives to reddit 😅

Also what the actual fuck with those military dogs, sickening stuff. Very disturbing when humans are using other animals to humiliate and assault people like that. The dogs don’t have the same understanding of what they’re doing as humans would so, to me, that lays entirely on the people who are training and encouraging dogs to engage in that kind of stuff - the intention comes from the human. Ugh, that was a disturbing read!

Yep and when you bought software it was a one off payment and not a bloody subscription. You could choose if you wanted to buy the newest version or stick with what you already OWNED!

Haha I have a typewriter! In my goals for the year I actually wrote get the damn typewriter to work lol because it’s just display at the moment.

Lol yeah and my mum being like if someone knocks/rings when we’re out just say “my mum is in the shower but she will be RIGHT back”. I think to stop us getting kidnapped 😂 then people wonder why we’ve grown up to avoid people knocking on our doors 😂

Good one here. Garage sales were just fun to look through and you could find cool stuff you wanted for the want (not the resale value) for a few bucks. They were happy to make a few bucks and you were happy with your new thing.

Now stuff seems to either be dumped (in the bins or outside donation places in a rubbish heap) or sold because it has become valuable over time (RIP finding cool pokemon cards for a bargain 😭)

Garage sales were also just a cool community thing, depending where you live of course. You could be going for a little walk and just wander into a garage sale and chat to people from your neighborhood or strangers. Marketplace is just “my cousin’s dogs friend will pick it up” 🤑

Yeah I think when it’s a bunch of adults brigading against a 15 year old who did some dumb shit and it got caught on video it’s gone way too far. Let the parents, teachers whoever is actually involved with the situation deal with the kid.

I’ve seen some ridiculous stuff on reddit with people vying for kids to be beat up over, honestly, stupid stuff but not dissimilar to crap I did at that age. When I got caught I was just disciplined by my folks, grounded or something.

Some of that stuff IS funny to look back on - because it wasn’t caught on video and you can choose your audience to reminisce with like jfc what was I thinking, funny but damn that was a dumb/dangerous thing to do. In my 30s and still finding silly stories to tell my folks about shit I did they never know about. We roll our eyes, have a laugh or a omg, and thank god that I grew up alright 😅

Yes - the thing about being free to be stupid! I honestly feel sorry for kids these days getting torn apart for doing yes, stupid, sometimes even rude/dangerous shit because it’s caught on video and posted to a forum of (often) adults who were apparently all really well behaved in the 90s and before as teenagers lol.

I did some pretty shitty stuff too as a kid, silly pranks and being a public nuisance that I can just remember when I catch up with an old friend and be like fuck what were we thinking when we did that man 😅 thank god we didn’t get hurt/get caught/nobody got hurt, etc.

These days, kids don’t just get disciplined by their folks, if someone posts it online they get all the damn internet calling for them to be beat around and all kinds of stuff. It’s weird.

Spending time with my brain and coming up with creative ways to stimulate it. Didn’t have a little device to do it with. Books, writing, daydreaming, drawing, bugging my old sister but also those nice bonding moments.

Hell, I used to write essays for fun 😂

Conversations where people didn’t pull out their phone to Google something neither of you could recall and the conversation just went on until hours went by and you were “ah, it was Daniel Radcliffe in that movie!” “Oh yeah!” and then you get to circle back around to it. Idk, just letting the brain naturally rejig it’s own memory!

Lol I’m here because reddit banned me because I mentioned a murder-suicide case that was another commenter was trying to recall. Apparently I “threatened violence” 🤷‍♀️ is lemmy as as easily triggered? 🤔