😢 where I’m pretty much at at this stage too. It’s horribly lonely

Yes I tend to have a standard answer for set situations now too. Now it’s more so jarring when I’m unsure of the relationship “level” like I have made acquaintances and friends with coworkers. Some are “work friends” (only see them at work) and one or two are outside of work friends. I feel like I’m glitching when one of my work friends but also friends outside of work asks me how it’s going because my brain is like generic or real answer, glitch glitch.

And also how do you reach out for support or tell someone you’re struggling? I really haven’t figured that out yet.

Yeah this is what I’ve observed too. It’s very, very strange to see the messaging around these things change. For extra context I’m autistic and have mental health issues myself. People confuse me in general lol.

I feel like I’ve watched things go from “no, no, we don’t talk about those things, sweep it under the rug, everything is fine” to “reach out! Speak to someone! Believe victims! It’s ok not to be ok! #mentalhealth #noshame” and then in recent years we’ve developed the term “trauma dumping” which appears even to apply to friends.

It feels a little like we went “speak up, reach out…ah fuck, no no stop now”. I actually find it quite concerning.

And then people wonder why others are turning to AI companions. I don’t personally but it does make sense to me when the social game is as confusing as it is especially around mental health or even quite minor stuff things can get the “trauma dump” label. I even remember seeing a couple of people say you shouldn’t trauma dump on your THERAPIST 😅😅😅

How are you is the most confusing question a person can ask 🙃 like, really or generic answer? It can be a very lonely question, that one.

I still hold my fingers in the L shape like I was taught as a kid to figure it out a lot of the time!

Haha as a lesbian, same. I prefer none or very little for both myself and in an attraction sense. But that’s just a preference and it’s no different than idk, preferring blondes over brunettes or something. And just like I wouldn’t point out someone blonde for being blonde instead of brunette, I wouldn’t with body hair 😅 there’s no shame in it just because some people have preferences!

The other thing is it just seems so ridiculous to me because of all the things, you really don’t see someones armpits very much 😂 like it’s really not a big deal either way but it’s not even something that is in your face. I can’t say I notice peoples armpits on a regular basis, y’know?

I don’t think it’s the removal of body hair that is seen as “new”. It’s the way it’s ridiculed like in this post when there’s a tiny bit of stubble lol and it’s worth mentioning.

Though I wouldn’t say that’s new either, it’s just more and more widespread the wider the communication methods have become. But this isn’t “new” even in the modern world for Hollywood, it’s online now with the wider reach but this stuff has existed for as long as we’ve been photographing celebrities lol.

The thing is body hair has a purpose but aesthetics has taken over that. I don’t think it’s weird either way to keep it or shave/wax it. Everyone has it because it’s the way the human body is designed and like everything else on our bodies, we get to choose what to do with it 🤷‍♀️

Ah okay yeah, I barely use steam these days. Can’t remember the last time I bought anything there, I just occasionally play very old games I already have on there haha.

Yeah i love a few Nintendo classic titles but $$$ 😭 kinda a good thing that I don’t like the direction they’re taking pokemon because it removes the temptation to upgrade to the switch 2. Not sure I’ll bother unless I somehow get free money to throw around haha.

Yeah indies usually have pretty decent demos! I actually haven’t even looked at the switch store lately but I don’t remember the bigger titles having demos?

And idk where everyone else is but the big games here (Australia) are still what I consider expensive (USD$45 minimum without a sale). Typical price is around USD$60. Even on sale they don’t get much below that for the big stuff - zelda, pokemon, Mario, animal crossing, etc. Curious how comparable that is to elsewhere.

True. Just depends on device and how committed people are to doing that lol. As a casual gamer (PC barely ever anymore and Nintendo switch, then I have emulators with a bunch of Nintendo classics) I wouldn’t bother. I don’t even know how to do that for a Nintendo switch.

So yeah it’s an option but in terms of the discussion about Gen z people not shelling out for video games, I think part of the decline has been from casual users who aren’t either shelling out $ and aren’t interested in enough to pirate 😅 I’m a millennial.

I assume to pirate and transfer to a Nintendo switch (I don’t have 2, just the original) there’s an initial set up cost?

I tend to stick to the emulator my brother got me with all our 90s(ish) childhood games lol. I don’t know if those exist yet for more modern games - or at least not at the cost of the classics!

Especially video games. Honestly as a casual gamer I get it. Games are expensive and they are a gamble. I’ve bought games in the past and played them for half hour and realized I hate it lol. I rarely buy games now, especially if it’s not a franchise I already know and like, because I can’t afford the gamble. If I do I buy a physical copy so I can sell it on.

At least with streaming services you can check and know there’s a few hours of shows you will definitely watch. It’s still tol expensive and I’m cancelling mine but it is less of a gamble than video games.

Yep. I’m a millennial. I was always pirating as a teenager/early 20s. Then I did join streaming, just Netflix and another local one. I’m about to cancel them both again as I rebuild my own library.

I was reworking my budget the other day and accidentally opened my old one from 5 years ago, so depressing 😅 Everything has gone up so much, seeing it all laid out in a spreadsheet was confronting 😭 both streaming services have doubled in price. 2 streaming services costs $500 a year total - as you say, maybe not a big deal if you’re earning 100k but as a low income earner it’s worth cutting. It’s only going to keep up going up! Subscription models suck for other programs and services too, it adds up so quickly 😭

Yes some are, I was on lithium too and I’m on Vyvanse - both bottles. But stuff like Panadol, neurofen, cold & flu, all the OTC stuff I can’t think of anything that’s bottled.

I do think blisters are better. I accidentally overdosed on lithium years ago. It was pretty stupid but I used to use a spare lithium bottle for my next days medication. At the time I was on 21 pills a day so when I accidentally grabbed the wrong bottle and swigged my pills, noticed it felt a little more than usual but not enough to bother checking. Until I got really sick and figured out I’d just taken over 30 lithium pills 🤢

Haha was thinking the same thing. Minor issues here for certain medication availabilities at times but nothing that would make this meme relatable to many people!

✋ autistic (woman) here and yes, this is the exact kind of thing I would have picked up on if I watched the sopranos. I watch Gilmore girls but not Sopranos. This would have my mind spinning out 😂

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.