Young people usually joyfully adopt new technology. But when it comes to the use of AI, it turns out that many teenagers are actually deeply worried over what the chatbots are doing to their mental health.

One survey has already found that the Gen Z youngsters are deeply ambivalent about AI. The proportion of young people feeling “outright anger” toward the technology has actually spiked from 22% last year to 31% this year.

Admittedly, Gen Z workers mostly hate AI systems because of fears of job displacement. But now, new research shows that teenagers also seem to have deep concerns over AI chatbots frying their brain.

“We found teens often begin using chatbots for support or creative play, but these activities can deepen into strong attachments marked by conflict, withdrawal, tolerance, relapse, and mood regulation,” the study from Drexel University says.

To understand how adolescents describe reliance on AI companions, researchers have analyzed 318 Reddit posts made by users who self-disclosed as 13-17 years old on the Character.AI subreddit.

Reported consequences include sleep loss, academic decline, and strained real-world connections. Most importantly, teenagers using AI chatbots are increasingly aware of the negative side effects the use of this particular tech is having on their lives.

“I want to have my normal brain back, where I can just deal with my emotions on my own and not have to rely on the bots to make me feel better,” one teenager wrote.

According to the authors of the study, “this shows how time with the bot replaced activities they once valued, and made them feel like they’re losing parts of themselves.”

Teens were seemingly often frustrated about their own use of Character.AI and expressed guilt or shame about how much time they spent on the app and its impact on their daily lives.

“I quit using Character.AI about a week ago after realizing I had spent the whole summer talking to AI instead of getting any closer to a real romantic relationship,”

A teenager.

In several posts, teens described how they prioritize Character.AI over everything else or withdrew from hobbies.

“I stopped drawing, reading/writing fanfiction. I was giving it all to a soulless bot and not writing it on paper anymore,” one user wrote.

However, teens seem to find ways to shake off the addiction. Disengagement commonly arises when teens recognize harm, re-engage with offline life, or encounter restrictive platform changes, the study notes.

The most common reason teens described wanting to reduce their reliance on Character.AI was a growing realization of how much the app had negatively affected their lives.

The paper concludes: “Many posts reflected moments of clarity, often after stepping back and recognizing how much time had been spent on the platform and what had been lost along the way.”

“I quit using Character.AI about a week ago after realizing I had spent the whole summer talking to AI instead of getting any closer to a real romantic relationship,” one teenager wrote.

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