this post was submitted on 29 Jun 2025
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A profound relational revolution is underway, not orchestrated by tech developers but driven by users themselves. Many of the 400 million weekly users of ChatGPT are seeking more than just assistance with emails or information on food safety; they are looking for emotional support.

“Therapy and companionship” have emerged as two of the most frequent applications for generative AI globally, according to the Harvard Business Review. This trend marks a significant, unplanned pivot in how people interact with technology.

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[–] SuiXi3D@fedia.io 139 points 1 day ago (38 children)

Almost like questioning an AI is free while a therapist costs a LOT of money.

[–] turtlesareneat@discuss.online 60 points 1 day ago (21 children)

There are other causes here.

They've been talking for a while about how the low participation in dating by Gen Z women is because they're tired of being the entire support system for men experiencing a loneliness epidemic.

It's a lot of pressure for the women to be under, and so they're withdrawing.

I'm guessing this is one of the driving forces as well. Lack of real, emotionally intimate human connections around them. Many men are quite fucked in that regard right now.

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 27 points 16 hours ago (3 children)

because they're tired of being the entire support system for men experiencing a loneliness epidemic.

I've got no horse in this race but it appears that 'men should not be afraid to open up' articles and tweets were followed by 'men, we are not your therapist'.

🤷‍♂️

[–] triptrapper@lemmy.world 18 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I'm a therapist who works almost exclusively with men. Here one pattern I've seen often:

  • Man is conditioned from a young age not to identify, process or express his feelings
  • Man doesn't share his feelings with anyone - friends, family, partners - for years
  • Man sees woman as safe, caring and validating
  • Man confides in woman only and continues not sharing feelings with others
  • Woman becomes overwhelmed, resentful, dismissive
  • Man gets the message that he never should have opened up in the first place

It can be true both that men need to open up more and should not treat their partners as therapists. We all need support systems because no one person can always be available to give us everything we need. It's not wrong to confide in a partner, but if that partner is the only confidant it's precarious for both. And I want to emphasize this is not the fault of a man, or men as a community. This is the result of generations of conditioning from both men and women, and both men and women play a part in the solution. I also want to recognize that many of us don't have a network of people we could open up to even if we wanted to, and many more can't afford therapy.

If anyone reading this can afford therapy, I highly recommend it. It's a place to undo some of that conditioning, to sit with someone who's committed to listening, caring, and not judging.

[–] Lv_InSaNe_vL@lemmy.world 3 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

man is conditioned from a young age not to show feelings

I feel like you skipped over this part way too quickly. Myself and other men have been hearing things like "it's not manly to cry", "whining isn't going to do anything for you", "being weak is girly", and countless other things for my entire memorable life

And it's not just men telling me this. It's men, women, adults, my classmates, teachers and mentors.

It's not a good thing. And it's changing now, which is so good. But man hearing that from your earliest memories makes it really set in.

[–] triptrapper@lemmy.world 5 points 10 hours ago

Thank you for expanding on that point. I meant it to be a "here's how we got here" before the rest of my "this is where we are today."

You're totally right, and any conversation about men's behavior at large should include the experiences you just described. Even though we didn't get ourselves into this situation - in that we didn't raise ourselves - we're the ones who will get us out.

[–] TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world 4 points 14 hours ago

Because they want us to open up, just not to them. T

The irony is so many anti-patriachical feminists, still desire the patriachy. They still want dominant tall wealthy men to romance then, but at the same time they claim to wait to tear these men down into some genderless socialist utopia... where they'd never want to ahve sex with any of the 'ideal' men they believe woudl exist in this society.

You can't have it both ways.

[–] DancingBear@midwest.social 5 points 15 hours ago

🤔

That’s interesting… had never seen it put that way before…

It’s almost like telling men that it’s okay to show your feelings is bullshit lol

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