{"id":14609,"date":"2025-07-22T00:25:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T00:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/new-study-shows-teens-are-increasingly-relying-on-ai-chatbots-for-social-interaction\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T00:25:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T00:25:00","slug":"new-study-shows-teens-are-increasingly-relying-on-ai-chatbots-for-social-interaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/new-study-shows-teens-are-increasingly-relying-on-ai-chatbots-for-social-interaction\/","title":{"rendered":"#\n                New Study Shows Teens Are Increasingly Relying on AI Chatbots for Social Interaction"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_85 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 eztoc-toggle-hide-by-default' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-1'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/new-study-shows-teens-are-increasingly-relying-on-ai-chatbots-for-social-interaction\/#New_Study_Shows_Teens_Are_Increasingly_Relying_on_AI_Chatbots_for_Social_Interaction\" >New Study Shows Teens Are Increasingly Relying on AI Chatbots for Social Interaction<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h1><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"New_Study_Shows_Teens_Are_Increasingly_Relying_on_AI_Chatbots_for_Social_Interaction\"><\/span>\n                New Study Shows Teens Are Increasingly Relying on AI Chatbots for Social Interaction<br \/>\n            <span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h1>\n<div>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span>Yeah, this seems like it\u2019s going to be a problem in future, though maybe that\u2019s considered the cost of progress?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span>Last week, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commonsensemedia.org\/\" style=\"color:blue\">Common Sense Media<\/a> published a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commonsensemedia.org\/research\/talk-trust-and-trade-offs-how-and-why-teens-use-ai-companions\" style=\"color:blue\">new report<\/a> which found that 72% of U.S. teens have already used an AI companion, with many of them now conducting regular social interactions with their chosen virtual friends.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span>The study is based on a survey of 1,060 teens, so it\u2019s intended as an indicative measure, not as a definitive overview of AI usage. But the trends do point to some potentially significant concerns, particularly as platforms now look to introduce AI bots that can also serve as romantic partners in some capacity. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span>First off, as noted, the data shows that 72% of teens have tried AI companions, and 52% of them have become regular users of these bots.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Common Sense Media report\" data-imagemodel=\"183048\" src=\"https:\/\/imgproxy.divecdn.com\/ZH5d9h8mwKk7Kjm0PXFGHkw7p2KsL3UWS8xplqj1SHg\/g:ce\/rs:fit:1600:0\/Z3M6Ly9kaXZlc2l0ZS1zdG9yYWdlL2RpdmVpbWFnZS9jb21tb25fc2Vuc2VfYWlfY29tcGFuaW9uc19yZXBvcnQucG5n.webp\"\/><\/div>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span>What\u2019s worth noting here is that AI bots aren\u2019t anywhere near where they\u2019re likely to be in a few more years&#8217; time, with the tech companies investing billions of dollars into advancing their AI bots to make them more relatable, more conversational, and better emulators of real human engagement. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span>But they\u2019re not. These are bots, which respond to conversational cues based on the context that they have available, and whatever weighting system each company puts into their back-end process. So they\u2019re not an accurate simulation of actual human interaction, and they never will be, due to the real mental and physical connection enabled through such. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span>Yet, we\u2019re moving towards a future where this is going to become a more viable replacement for actual civic engagement. But what if a bot gets changed, gets infected with harmful code, gets hacked, shut down, etc.?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span>The broader implications of enabling, and encouraging such connection, are not yet known, in terms of the mental health impacts that could come as a result.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span>But we\u2019re moving forward anyway, with the data showing that 33% of <\/span><\/span><span><span><span><span>teens already use AI companions for social interaction and relationships.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Common Sense Media report\" data-imagemodel=\"183049\" src=\"https:\/\/imgproxy.divecdn.com\/igtsyeZoqcujNIowy_XTc9vEw3SP5ee2rKXWMvdGyYo\/g:ce\/rs:fit:1600:0\/Z3M6Ly9kaXZlc2l0ZS1zdG9yYWdlL2RpdmVpbWFnZS9jb21tb25fc2Vuc2VfYWlfY29tcGFuaW9uc19yZXBvcnQyLnBuZw==.webp\"\/><\/div>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Of course, some of this may well end up being highly beneficial, in varying contexts. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>For example, the ability to ask questions that you may not be comfortable saying to another person could be a big help, with the survey data showing that 18% of AI companion users refer to the tools for advice.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Nonjudgmental interaction has clear benefits, while <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span><span><span><span>39% of AI companion users have also transferred social skills that they\u2019ve practiced with bots over to real-life situations (notably, 45% of females have done this, versus 34% of male users).<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>So there\u2019s definitely going to be benefits. But like social media before it, the question is whether those positives will end up outweighing the potential negatives of over-reliance on non-human entities for traditionally human engagement.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>31% of survey participants <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span><span><span><span>indicated that they <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span><span><span><span>find conversations with AI companions as satisfying or more satisfying than those with real-life friends, while 33% have chosen AI over humans for certain conversations.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>As noted, the fact that these bots can be skewed to answer based on ideological lines is a concern in this respect, as is the tendency for AI tools to \u201c<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/cloud.google.com\/discover\/what-are-ai-hallucinations\" style=\"color:blue\">hallucinate<\/a>\u201d and make incorrect assumptions in their responses, which they then state as fact. That could lead youngsters down the wrong path, which could then lead to potential harm, while again, the shift to AI companions as romantic partners opens up even more questions about the future of relationships.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<div align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Grok companions\" data-imagemodel=\"182752\" src=\"https:\/\/imgproxy.divecdn.com\/hDqIYZLFlrmpDpFV2AzrXTf1ZBhE8uzZGGUlZLRKXGQ\/g:ce\/rs:fit:1600:0\/Z3M6Ly9kaXZlc2l0ZS1zdG9yYWdlL2RpdmVpbWFnZS9ncm9rX2NvbXBhbmlvbnMucG5n.webp\"\/><\/div>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>It seems inevitable that this is going to become a more common usage for AI tools, that our budding relationships with human simulators will lead to more people looking to take those understanding, non-judgmental relationships to another level. Real people will never understand you like your algorithmically-aligned AI bot can, and that could actually end up exacerbating the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/global-development\/2023\/nov\/16\/who-declares-loneliness-a-global-public-health-concern\" style=\"color:blue\">loneliness epidemic<\/a>, as opposed to addressing it, as some have suggested. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>And if young people are learning these new relationship behavors in their formative years, what does that do for their future concept of human connection, if indeed they feel they need that?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>And they do need it. Centuries of studies have underlined the importance of human connection and community, and the need to have real relationships to help shape your understanding perspective. AI bots may be able to simulate some of that, but actual physical connection is also important, as is human proximity, real world participation, etc.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>We\u2019re steadily moving away from this over time, and you could argue, already, that increasing rates of severe loneliness, which the WHO has <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/groups\/commission-on-social-connection\" style=\"color:blue\">declared<\/a> a \u201c<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><span><span><span><span>pressing global health threat<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>,\u201d are already having major health impacts. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Indeed, studies have shown that loneliness is <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC7437541\/#:~:text=For%20example%2C%20meta%2Danalyses%20have,risk%20of%20all%2Dcause%20mortality.\" style=\"border-image:initial; border-left-color:initial; border-left-style:initial; border-right-color:initial; border-right-style:initial; border-top-color:initial; border-top-style:initial; box-sizing:border-box; color:blue; font-feature-settings:inherit; font-kerning:inherit; font-optical-sizing:inherit; font-size-adjust:inherit; font-stretch:inherit; font-variant-alternates:inherit; font-variant-east-asian:inherit; font-variant-emoji:inherit; font-variant-ligatures:common-ligatures; font-variant-numeric:inherit; font-variant-position:inherit; font-variation-settings:inherit; line-height:inherit; text-align:start\"><span><span><span><span><span><span>associated with a 50% increased risk of developing dementia and a 30% increased risk of incident coronary artery disease<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u00a0or stroke.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Will AI bots help that? And if not, why are we pushing them so hard? Why is every app now trying to make you chat with these non-real entities, and share your deepest secrets with their evolving AI tools?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>Is this more beneficial to society, or to the big tech platforms that are building these AI models?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>If you lean towards the latter conclusion, then progress is seemingly the bigger focus, just as it was with social media before it. AI providers are <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2025\/07\/18\/meta-refuses-to-sign-eus-ai-code-of-practice\/\" style=\"color:blue\">already pushing<\/a> for the European Union to relax its <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu\/en\/policies\/regulatory-framework-ai\" style=\"color:blue\">restrictions on AI development<\/a>, while the looming AI development race between nations is also increasing the pressure on all governments to loosen the reigns, in favor of expediting innovation.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>But should we feel encouraged by Meta\u2019s quest for \u201csuperintelligence,\u201d or concerned at the rate in which these tools are becoming so common in elements of serious potential impact?<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>That\u2019s not to say that AI development in itself is bad, and there are many use cases for the latest AI tools that will indeed increase efficiency, innovation, opportunity, etc. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>But there does seem to be some areas in which we should probably tread more cautiously, due to the risks of over reliance, and the impacts of such on a broad scale. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>That&#8217;s seemingly not going to happen, but in ten years time, we&#8217;re going to be assessing this from a whole different perspective.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><em><span><span><span><span>You can check out Common Sense Media\u2019s \u201cTalk, Trust, and Trade-Offs\u201d report <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commonsensemedia.org\/research\/talk-trust-and-trade-offs-how-and-why-teens-use-ai-companions\" style=\"color:blue\">here<\/a>.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/social-media\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Social Media<\/a><\/span> category.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialmediatoday.com\/news\/study-shows-teens-already-relying-ai-tools-relationships-social-interaction\/753646\/\" target=\"_blank\" >Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Study Shows Teens Are Increasingly Relying on AI Chatbots for Social Interaction Yeah, this seems like it\u2019s going to be a problem in future, though maybe that\u2019s considered the cost of progress? Last week, Common Sense Media published a new report which found that 72% of U.S. teens have already used an AI companion,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14610,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/imgproxy.divecdn.com\/VQhvldgPfFDg-8FjTklFURuq7yA11lukO89WsX7gwTM\/g:ce\/rs:fit:770:435\/Z3M6Ly9kaXZlc2l0ZS1zdG9yYWdlL2RpdmVpbWFnZS9jb21tb25fc2Vuc2VfYWlfY29tcGFuaW9uc19yZXBvcnQyLnBuZw==.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1456],"class_list":["post-14609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-media","tag-social-media-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yohrt.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}