Mastodawn

Kimmo Halunen 7h ago

official_verified

"Texting a stranger is better for reducing loneliness than an AI chatbot, study finds"

From CTV News: https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/texting-a-stranger-is-better-for-reducing-loneliness-than-an-ai-chatbot-study-finds/

"The study found that only those who texted with a fellow human reported feeling less lonely at the end of the experiment.

'We thought that interacting with AI might be as helpful as texting with a random fellow first-year student,' said the study’s author, psychology PhD candidate Ruo-Ning Li, in a media release.

'But to our surprise, only the human-to-human texting reduced loneliness over time. The chatbot, even though we designed it to be the ideal supportive friend, didn’t shift loneliness.'"

#NoAI #Loneliness

Texting a stranger is better for reducing loneliness than an AI chatbot, study finds

In a time where more people are reporting feeling lonely and some are turning to AI chatbots for companionship, a new study suggests that texting a real person, even a stranger, leads to better results.

CTVNews

@Em0nM4stodon "Who knew that loneliness stemmed from a lack of human connection?" That's the thought I imagine appearing when I read this. What kind of idiotic hypothesis is "But to our surprise, only the human-to-human texting reduced loneliness over time."

official_verified

@jaeder @Em0nM4stodon Well... yeah, so far, so good, so obvious. In hindsight, and it's a good counterpoint to have when AI pushers talk BS about how good the AI "friend" is in reducing loneliness.
Breaking news: it ain't, and there's a scientific study that shows it. Always good to have that.

On the other hand: climate change, vaccinations, all sorts of things have scientific proof. Those who want AI for everything also deny the efficiency of vaccines and the existence of climate change

@drchaos @Em0nM4stodon I mean. It's tricky. I don't think it solves loneliness. But I have seen plenty of testimonies of people on forums talking about feeling seen for the first time, usually by using the AI for learning how to play without judgment, especially autistic folks who haven't been met with people willing to engage with them at their level but instead throwing judgment and critique. It's hard to know if that classifies as a solution for loneliness, but it's also not something I want to dismiss.

I am personally using a set of LLM projects to help navigate recovery work (incl.12-step program) myself but do so alongside online meetings with real people etc. I feel "seen" in genuine shares and conversations with real people where I share real shit about myself. I don't feel "seen" by those chats but I feel that I can immerse myself in imaginative scenarios that lessen the burden I put on myself for A, B and C. Moving away from shame and start inquiring to my own beliefs about things, I usually hand a project a few professionamyselks and update the custom instructions as we move along.

So I guess my point is. I don't think it can "solve loneliness" but I do think it can be used for genuine personal growth and introspection. I just wanted to clarify my position and not misrepresent myself.

diana 🏳️‍⚧️🦋🌱18h ago

I made actual friends by texting wrong numbers LOL

official_verified

@dianea Haha this is awesome ☺️

Third spruce tree on the left 18h ago

@dianea @Em0nM4stodon

Hey, I got fresh weed. $20.

_Uh.. I didn't ask for any??_

Is this Jane?

_No, its Diane._

oh sorry. wrong #.

_no worries_

....

_So is the weed still available?_

Yes.

_Cool, send me address Ill be right over._

And that, kids, is how I met your mother.

Third spruce tree on the left 18h ago

@dianea @Em0nM4stodon not implyin that anyone named Diana or Jane or Eric or Dave would be normally rocking up to some rando's house for weed, that's sketch.

Kierkethumbs up convincingly 18h ago

@Em0nM4stodon so… chat roulette takes off again?

Distractions 18h ago

@Em0nM4stodon the surprising thing is the surprise…

Fredrik Bülow 17h ago

@Em0nM4stodon "to our surprise" seriously???

Eva Chanda 15h ago

@fbulow @Em0nM4stodon
Plot twist: the researchers are actually ChatGPT.

Magnus Ahltorp 15h ago

@echanda @fbulow @Em0nM4stodon They certainly used ChatGPT to rate the conversations. They at least used human raters as well, but come on. That's too many things to study at the same time in this kind of article.

Vogelgesang 16h ago

@Em0nM4stodon tbf, the best reason for studying psychology in the first place is that you have no fucking clue about how people actually work

Óscar Morales Vivó 16h ago

@foyglgezang @Em0nM4stodon no one knows how people actually work. Those who go study psychology at least admit to it.

Vogelgesang 15h ago

@MyLittleMetroid @Em0nM4stodon true, and yes they sure do so beautifully

@Em0nM4stodon
As a matter of fact social workers long figure this out.
That’s why I initiative like the German Silbernetz (Silver net) exist - with Daily Telefon hotline for Lonely People to Call

https://silbernetz.org

Silbernetz

mollysinless 15h ago

@Em0nM4stodon I met a lot of friends on the internet when social media wasn't as prominent as today.
Those online friends I met in forums turned into irl friends after some years. Others disappeared because life got in the way. Some more felt weird after a while.
Texting can be as deep as any other form of communication. How can you compare it with a bot that is programmed to lie?

We are doomed if the bubble doesn't burst. We are trapped in a weird Black Mirror episode for the nth time.

grrl_aex 15h ago

"Texting a stranger is better for reducing loneliness than an AI chatbot..."

Gods....🙄

Any "stranger" could well BE a chatbot today--and probably a better trained one than they used in this study. And the human on the other end might well never realize it. And, yes. STILL BAD.

The cure for loneliness? Other flesh and blood people! There is literally no mentally healthy substitute -online- for real life associations *in real life*. You're a human, not a bot w/ probs..

Magnus Ahltorp 15h ago

@Em0nM4stodon From the journal article:

"The chatbot, named Sam—a gender-neutral name—was developed by our research team"

"we designed this chatbot to listen actively and show empathy"

I cannot find anything in this article that describes how they "developed" or "designed" this chatbot. There is a ChatGPT prompt disclosed, but that is only the result of a process. The process is not disclosed.

I still think a chatbot would be worse than a human, I'm just trying to point out method problems.

L'égrégore André ꕭꕬ 13h ago

@ahltorp @Em0nM4stodon Adding to the methods issues it's not surprising at all that the journalers felt it didn't do anything for them.
Writing a single line doesn't afford any room for introspection or resolution. It just confirms the worry.