SAN FRANCISCO — A study of how three popular artificial intelligence chatbots respond to queries about suicide found they generally avoid answering questions that pose the highest risk to the user, such as for specific how-to guidance. But they are inconsistent in their replies to less extreme prompts that could still harm people.
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Must be accompanied by an adult: Why teens are turning to online gaming for social connection
Nowhere to find friends, except online
Lewis plays Royale High because she enjoys dressing up her character, but it has also become a social space for learning to interact with others. "I know it's different because it's online versus real life, but it helped my talking skills," the teen gamer said.
She added that being on Royale High signaled common interests with other players, lowering the barrier to finding something to bond over. Playing online also helped Lewis transition to a new high school where she didn't know anyone. "I feel like people in high school already have their friend groups and niches," Lewis said. "But in games, you're already in that niche. So it's easier to make friends that way."
Social worker Andrew Fishman tells a similar story in a 2023 Psychology Today article, wherein he describes a client called Lev struggle to connect with others as a shy boy accustomed to online schooling. With no feasible places to find friends around his area, Lev built a social life in World of Warcraft. Arts and sports classes were too costly, nearby libraries catered to adults, and parks near his home were usually empty. "Lev lives in a social desert," wrote Fishman, who points to this lack of places to socialize outside of home or school in many regions as a contributing factor to teens turning to online spaces instead.
Third places, the spaces for socializing outside of home or school and work, are disappearing for teens, Fishman said. "Very few free, easily accessible, attractive places exist for teenagers anymore, so they're turning to digital spaces," he said. Malls, for example, once a popular meet-up destination for teens with nothing in particular to buy or do, have been steadily disappearing from American towns and cities.Â
A study published on Health Place in 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, observed that third spaces like local grocery stores, religious organizations, and bookshops were already on an alarming decline and called for interventions and measures to staunch their loss. While children and adults also enjoy these spaces, teens are hit especially hard. "Teenagers need these spaces to safely explore their identity," Fishman said. "It's a crucial part of growing up."
Retail experts have predicted that by 2032, only about 150 malls will be operational in the United States. The remaining malls have instituted bans and chaperone requirements to discourage groups of teens from gathering. Restaurants, theme parks, and other places increasingly enforce policies aimed at controlling teens without adults from assembling.Â
Knott's Berry Farm, a California theme park, requires anyone 15 and under to have a chaperone who is at least 21 accompany them after 4 p.m. Shoppers at Westfield Garden State Plaza, New Jersey's second-largest mall, must be 18 years or older to roam unaccompanied on Fridays and Saturdays after 5 p.m. Similar bans have cropped up at Del Amo Fashion Center in Southern California and Pittsburgh's The Mall at Robinson. These restrictions all began in 2023 and 2024.
