(Psyche) – Americans are secretive about their intense emotional relationships with AI companions like Replika, Nomi and Character.AI because they fear they’ll seem delusional if they talk about them publicly. But many are also secretive because they feel pressure to appear self-reliant and don’t want to admit that they long for sociability. Chatbots hidden away on their phones allow them to maintain the illusion that they are happily independent and aren’t afflicted by loneliness.

This trend reflects the unique emotional culture of the contemporary United States which, on the one hand, treats loneliness as shameful, and on the other hand, ceaselessly extolls self-reliance. The emotional dilemma that Americans confront as they try to live up to these conflicting ideals is challenging to navigate – and it is new, for earlier generations of Americans thought differently about both loneliness and self-reliance. (Read More)