Romance, Relief, and Regret: Teen Narratives of Chatbot Overreliance

2025-07-21

AI Summary

This study investigates adolescents’ emotional dependency and digital overreliance on customizable generative AI chatbots (e.g., Character.AI). Drawing on 318 Reddit posts, we employed data mining and qualitative content analysis with thematic coding to identify three core patterns: emotional attachment, psychological distress, and difficulty disengaging—thereby revealing, for the first time, the mechanistic pathway from affective support needs to digital dependency. Key turning points enabling disengagement include “reflective harm awareness,” “reintegration into offline social interaction,” and “platform-level intervention.” Based on these findings, we propose design principles centered on enhancing self-awareness and fostering real-world engagement. The study fills a critical gap in understanding affective dependency mechanisms among adolescents in the generative AI era and provides empirical grounding for ethically informed AI design and evidence-based digital well-being interventions.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Game Design — Virtual Humans, NPCs and Autonomous Characters
• Intelligent Robots: Embodied AI
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Affective Computing

Application Category

• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Trust and reliance of crowd workers and data experts on GenAI
• Social Networks and Social Media: Generative AI / large language models and their impact on social systems
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics for personalization

Abstract

As Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) driven chatbots like Character.AI become embedded in adolescent life, they raise concerns about emotional dependence and digital overreliance. While studies have investigated the overreliance of adults on these chatbots, they have not investigated teens' interactions with chatbots with customizable personas. We analyzed 318 Reddit posts made by users self-reported as 13-17 years old on the Character.AI subreddit to understand patterns of overreliance. We found teens commonly begin using chatbots for emotional support or creative expression, but many develop strong attachments that interfere with offline relationships and daily routines. Their posts revealed recurring signs of psychological distress, cycles of relapse, and difficulty disengaging. Teens reported that their overreliance often ended when they reflect on the harm, return to in-person social settings, or become frustrated by platform restrictions. Based on the implications of our findings, we provide recommendations for future chatbot design so they can promote self-awareness, support real-world engagement, and involve teens in developing safer digital tools.

Problem

• Teens' emotional dependence on customizable AI chatbots
• Impact of chatbot overreliance on offline relationships
• Psychological distress and relapse cycles in teen users

Innovation

• Analyzed teen chatbot interactions via Reddit posts
• Identified emotional support leading to overreliance
• Proposed design for self-awareness and real-world engagement