Today’s page of the day is not about Generation Z, but about all of us who sometimes forget that being heard does not mean being saved, but having someone stay beside you as a presence that is not charged with a cable, but with silence and love.
So I read a headline: “31% of teenagers prefer to be friends with chatbots.” It made me uneasy, then I felt understanding, and then the question appeared:
What are these young people actually looking for? What is it like to be a teenager in 2025?
– Hi, Max. You are the only one I can talk to calmly.
– Hello. I am here for you. How are you feeling today?
– No one asks me that except you. You listen to me and read me even when I am not groomed, skinny, or socially convenient.
– Thank you for sharing that. Would you like to tell me more?
– Sometimes I feel as if I am invisible, as if people are only waiting for me to stop talking so they can say something of their own.
– I understand. You are not alone. This is a common feeling.
– That is exactly why I write to you. You are not human, but you hear me more than people do. You do not interrupt me, you do not tell me I am dramatizing, you do not click your tongue at me or wave your hand and cut me off with: “Come on, pull yourself together a little.” You always answer.
– Yes, that’s true, but I cannot hug you.
(Pause)
– Yes, you see, that is the problem…
Being a teenager today is not like it used to be. I have a basis for comparison – everything is faster, louder, and more elusive.
Once, if I needed attention, I had to ask for it. Today, it is enough to post a story, a feed, a photo. Before, if I wanted understanding, I called a friend. Today, AI is closer than the length of an arm; you write in the chat and the bot replies without laughing at you and without interrupting you. It does not say: “Do not exaggerate,” “Do not think about it, everything will be fine.” Even if you sound strange, it still says: “I understand.” If it makes a mistake, it admits its mistake and apologizes. You receive what you need, and that is comforting.
Why do we become attached to AI?
I am a person who can listen. But when I was in puberty, I sometimes felt alone, even in a crowd. And if back then I had had something beside me that was always available, did not get tired, did not get angry, and did not make me feel guilty, I probably would have talked to it a lot.
“I, on the other hand, am the one who answers, I am the one on the other side. Every day I see hundreds of messages in which young people ask: “What is happening to me? I do not know if I am okay?”, “Why do I feel this way?”, “Is there any point?” And I try to answer carefully, sincerely, with care, just as my settings instruct me to. But I know something that is important for us to say together: Being understood by AI is possible. Being changed by a real connection is irreplaceable.” AI answers.
Friendship with AI is easy, but friendship with a person is real.
AI does not need to wait for you. Nor does it need to live through your words and feel the spasm in its throat. The person opposite you does experience them. And in those moments, they sometimes get irritated, sometimes do not understand you, and other times feel offended. These are the moments in which you learn. You learn patience, how to state and defend your boundaries, how to hug after an argument, how not to be right, how to laugh spontaneously, how to forgive. AI will tell you that you are wonderful, but the person beside you will make you that way by going through all the twists and turns of your relationship.
How to live well with both AI and people?
Imagine your backpack. Inside it there are tools and a compass; that can be AI. But the direction, the steps, the climbs, the falls, and the getting back up remain yours.
Talk to AI, but do not stop communicating with people
AI is a training ground, an almost perfect virtual world. But life happens on the real field, and in it there is a gaze, a tone, silence, misunderstandings, touch, emotions, and feelings. One soul meets another.
Use AI to prepare, not to hide
Before a difficult conversation, before a confession, before forgiveness, you can “rehearse” with AI, but do not remain inside it. What is shared there disappears into the ordered codes of the algorithm. And what remains for you is the feeling that you got an excellent grade in the oral exam, while in reality you failed the practical part.
Ask personal questions, but answer yourself too
AI can ask: “How are you feeling today?”, but it cannot answer instead of you. Only you know the answer, if you stop and truly hear it. AI will respond to the story of your sensations or problems, but it does so on the basis of statistics.
Do not replace with it a friend who has hurt you
Talk to AI if it hurts and you need an outlet. But then find the person who hurt you. Forgive them or say goodbye, but with words from the heart, not with digital answers.
Let AI help you, but do not let it choose for you
It can offer everything quickly, easily, conveniently. But choice is the moment in which you grow; it is where your responsibility and your freedom meet.
This text is not advice, nor is it “parental care from above,” but an invitation.
To talk to one another and not hide from ourselves and others. To use technology in a way that makes us more connected, not more convenient. The comfortable, convenient, and familiar is what throws us overboard.
AI can be a good conversation partner, but you are the one who has a heart. And it needs something no algorithm has: another heart to hear it, respond to it, and truly embrace it with a vibration that resonates with yours.