i let my daughter try that AI therapist app and now i'm not sure what to think

She's 16 and was stressing about exams so I paid $30 for a month of that AI therapy bot that's been popping up on my feed... after a week she told me it was better than talking to me because it 'didn't judge her' which hit different coming from your own kid. Do we really want teenagers outsourcing emotional support to a machine with no real consequences?

3 comments

3 Comments

mary_west1mo ago

Therapy with my kid was a lot of trial and error until we found a real counselor who clicked with her... sometimes it's less about the machine and more about them needing a space that feels totally private.

jamie9401mo ago

I mean, I get that privacy matters to teens, but saying the AI bot was better than talking to you hit different for me too. Idk, it feels like we're handing kids a shortcut that lets them avoid the messy work of actually being vulnerable with another person. Machines can't call you on your stuff the way a real human can, and that's kind of the whole point of growing up.

piper7791mo ago

Jamie, would your kid actually open up to you if there were zero consequences for what they said?