Preventing Loneliness With ChatGPT
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What are the reasons Gen Z is using ChatGPT to combat loneliness?
The day is done. We're just getting started. The last show with David Cooper.
Man, I'm going to sound old, but in my day when I was faced with loneliness as like a 20-year-old, I don't know. I went to more activities. I joined a club. I festered at home alone. These aren't great ways of coping, but that's how I did it. But young people, they've got a tool that we didn't. Chat.com. And it looks like Gen Zs are turning to it to speak to for therapy advice. And we're going to pick this apart with Laurel Vander Torn, who helps run Laurel Therapy Collective. She's a licensed therapist. Laurel, welcome to the show.
Hey, David.
I have heard a lot about people seeking mental health advice or even seeking friendship, a cure for loneliness on ChatGPT. I've talked to some people who've studied it, but I don't know that I've talked to a therapist about it. Do you know people who are using these tools as a surrogate therapist or a surrogate friend?
Yes. And actually, a couple of them have found their way to our practice. And I'm curious, you know, what were they saying to ChatGPT that ChatGPT told them they need a human for? But I also appreciate that ChatGPT sent them our way because there are some real limitations with using ChatGPT for any kind of support, even if it's not mental health support. It's just I'm sure anyone that's experimented with ChatGPT knows that it can be wrong quite often. And we tend to believe it when it's telling us what we want to hear or it feels good.
It is overly positive. They call this AI sycophancy, which I feel like should have been the word of the year if it wasn't.
Yeah, it's a good one. Because when we hear what we want to hear, it feels good and we're inclined to believe it. And if we don't get the response we want, we can just ask it to generate again. And that's not actually beneficial for our mental or social health.
I feel like people are piling on Gen Z sometimes. Like they went to university, they went to college, they graduated high school during the lockdown. I know, poor Gen Z. Which is like such a formative bunch of years for like a social transition out of high school into like adulthood. Yes. And- Also, like they're more commonly using these tools to deal with socialization, anxiety, loneliness. However, I think if Chad GPT had been around when I was in my early 20s, I think I would have used it. So I don't want to pile on Gen Z.
Yeah, I have a lot of empathy for Gen Z. I mean, it's no wonder that there are such high rates of social anxiety in that generation because they weren't set up to thrive. So I understand the kind of ennui and fatalism that is pretty common in that generation. It makes sense to me.
So what are these like both boring but also like dystopian ways in which people are just like chatting to ChatGPT to deal with loneliness or to deal with socialization issues?
Yeah, or even to sort through kind of ethical dilemmas like, hey, I don't like what my friend said about this. What should I do? And I wouldn't go to ChatGPT for that.
How effective is ChatGPT as a surrogate therapist?
ChatGPT, I use ChatGPT all the time. It's great for like writing code. It's great for... Like, hey, I need you to say this in a different way. But if you're not bringing your own kind of critical thought to it and your own kind of mental fortitude, it's going to collapse as a useful tool pretty quickly.
So, again, like what what are some of the ways where people say, like, will you be my friend? What do you think of me socially? Like questions like that.
They may just want to talk about their day or, you know, complain to it. And it's going to be an endlessly affirming year, but it's not actually going to be helpful in the long run. In the short term, sure.
I didn't even realize I could say, hey, talk to me about my day. Ask me questions about my day and tell me what you think. Can you do that?
I guess you can. You can do anything, really. Yeah, I wouldn't recommend it, but you can.
Okay. Well, what would be the downsides? I feel like there are, but can you articulate them for me?
Yeah. Let's say you are the a-hole.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What are the reasons Gen Z is using ChatGPT to combat loneliness?
0:04–3:18
2
How effective is ChatGPT as a surrogate therapist?
3:18–4:37
3
What limitations exist when using ChatGPT for mental health support?
4:37–6:08
4
How does ChatGPT's positivity affect user mental health?
6:08–8:46
5
What social challenges is Gen Z facing in today's world?
8:46–9:52
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The Last Show with David Cooper
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