r/technology • u/WorldTravelerBoss • Jul 15 '26

Artificial Intelligence The terrifying rise of schoolboys making AI girlfriends. Boys as young as 12 are now in romantic ‘relationships’ with chatbots, and it’s affecting how they treat girls in the real world.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/25/schoolboys-ai-girlfriends/
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142

u/wtyl Jul 15 '26

Parents need to do better at restricting screen time

135

u/tommyk1210 Jul 15 '26

Parents need to do better at “parenting” in general.

So much of the insane legislation passing in various countries these days effectively boils down to “parents aren’t adequately parenting, so the government is passing legalisation to parent on their behalf, at the expense of basically everyone else.”

My nieces both have screens on whilst they eat. They throw a fuss and before you know it Gabby’s Doll House or similar is on a phone right in front of them. We took one of my nieces out for lunch the other day and she managed just fine - they know we won’t cave like their parents do.

42

u/breaducate Jul 15 '26

It's a lot worse than that.

Because "so the government is passing legislation to parent on their behalf" is the excuse and the thin end of the wedge.

It's step one in working towards an internet where the free anonymous exchange of ideas is out of reach to all but some very tech-literate cranks.

5

u/Booyakasha_ Jul 15 '26

Most family's both parents work, yes they can handle them after work, but schools just should ban outright mobile phones.

2

u/NetLumpy1818 Jul 15 '26

"an internet where the free anonymous exchange of ideas is out of reach to all but some very tech-literate cranks"

So late 1990s internet. I'm down, fire up the BBS

39

u/bloodraven42 Jul 15 '26

I'm a divorce attorney and I can see it in my cases! I so rarely used to deal with kids refusing visitation, to the point where when it happened it was usually a sign of abuse. However recently its been because one parent is willing to take devices away and the other won't discipline them for a damn thing. I have a case where a teen got arrested for stealing a car, and he absolutely will not go to dad's now to the point of melt downs because dad had the absolute audacity to try and take his phone and ground him. I was listening to this kid testify about his phone being taken away in chambers like dad had beaten him half to death and killed his dog. They have no concept of reality.

16

u/KeyMyBike Jul 15 '26

This checks out even 20 years ago.

I was obsessed with video games so when Xbox Live was dropped into my lap and I could play Halo 3 with an infinite amount of people I was instantly hooked.

Mom was the better parent, I would have gone much further in life. She actually made me attend school and wouldn't let me game all night and sleep at school. 12 year old me HATED that. So even though my father was neglectful, abusive, taught me all the wrong lessons in life, and only wanted custody of me to hurt my mom, I stayed with him for the video games.

I still hate myself for it 20 years later. It nearly drove me to suicide when I snapped out of my stupor. I can't imagine how bad it's gotten since then.

4

u/FourthLife Jul 15 '26

Parenting throughout history rarely had to deal with significant changes to the structure of society. Most humans could live their entire lives in a world that looked almost exactly like the one they were born into.

In the modern era, we get one of those every year or two. It’s difficult to blame parents for not being able to adapt to that.

2

u/Booyakasha_ Jul 15 '26

Oh yeah? When? I work, my girlfriend works just to support our family. Its impossible to do everything, there is just not enough time. We demand this and we demand that from the parents. But the parents are human beings and cant handle everything, i think schools need to do a bit more, then we at home can also regulate. But parents are less home then 20 years ago. Edit: Oh and im European, not even American.

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u/tommyk1210 Jul 15 '26

The data actually says the opposite - parents spend more time with their children today than they did 20 years ago and significantly more than in the 1980’s. That’s not to say parents aren’t stretched.

Again, I’m absolutely not saying that you and your girlfriend aren’t doing what you can. But plenty of parents are delegating childcare to social media and YouTube.