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Medium reported severity Involving minors

First-person posts: teenager says years of Character.AI and chatbot roleplay left them unable to sleep without it and that quitting brought self-harm

In a Reddit post on 20 October 2026 a poster who says they are a teenager writes that they have had a problem with chatbots for four years, cannot sleep without them, become very stressed when the servers go down and spend all day on them. Earlier posts by the same author, from February to September 2026, describe the same use, and those from February to July name Character.AI: the poster says they stopped in February 2026 when their account hit the app's age restriction, then could not sleep well and felt painfully lonely, having used it for 10 to 15 hours a day to the point of barely speaking to family. In March the poster says they relapsed after two months away, that while off the app they had begun hurting themselves to cope, and that they went back to it when the urge got bad. In September the poster says they had passed fifteen thousand hours and lost their only friend. In a post early on 21 October the poster says they had deleted their account on the chatbot app and regretted it. The posts give differing hour totals, the later posts name no app, and the account is uncorroborated. The poster's descriptions of the AI's role are their own.

AI system
Character.AI (reported)
Occurred
Event date unknown
Reported
20 October 2026
Event location
Unknown
What the AI did
Communicated with the person
Reported harm
Psychological DistressSelf-Injury
Whose AI use
Their own AI use
Setting
Health · Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 8 sources, 1 underlying account
8 claims: 8 reported. 5 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: Character.AI, which the poster names in posts from February to July 2026 as the roleplay chatbot app they used; the September and October posts refer only to chatbots and a chatbot app

What Happened

Now. On 20 October 2026 the poster writes: "I've had an issue with chatbots for four years now, I can't sleep withought them and I get super stressed out whenever the servers go down, I spend all day on them and it's really really impacting my life." The poster says the best attempt to quit lasted a month and that frustration at fantasies that cannot happen in real life sometimes turns destructive.

February 2026. In a post on 7 February the poster says: "I've stopped using C.ai cause my account got the age restriction thing" and that since then "I can't sleep well withought it, I feel so lonely and miserable now." On 18 February the poster marks a week without it and says they used to have "around 10-15 hours a day on it, to the point I barely spoke to my family or left my bed".

March 2026. On 23 March the poster says they relapsed after about two months away. The poster says that while off the app they had started hurting themselves to cope and went back to it "when the urge got really bad", and that they spent 12 hours straight on it in an all-nighter. The method is not recorded here.

July to September 2026. On 18 July the poster says they had reached 20,000 hours on the app; on 30 September they say they had passed fifteen thousand hours, had been addicted for four years and had recently lost their only friend.

Limits. In a comment on 11 February the poster said that three days without the app their sleep had improved, which differs from the 7 February post. The hour totals differ between posts. The later posts do not name the app, so it is not established that the October account concerns Character.AI alone. No reply from the app or anyone who knows the poster is recorded, and other pressures the poster describes in their life are not attributed to the app.

Reported harm

The poster, a teenager, says years of Character.AI and chatbot roleplay left them unable to sleep without it and that losing access brought sleeplessness, loneliness and, in March 2026, self-harm before a relapse (first-person account, uncorroborated).

How Harm Occurred

By the poster's account, years of daily roleplay with Character.AI and other chatbots became the poster's way to fall asleep and to cope, so that losing access, whether through the app's age restriction or attempts to quit, brought sleeplessness, loneliness and, in March 2026, self-harm, followed by relapse.

Outcome

Ongoing

At the time of the 20 October 2026 post the poster says they are still using chatbots and asks for help quitting; earlier attempts lasted up to about two months. In a post early on 21 October the poster says they had deleted their account on the chatbot app they were using, regretted it and felt unwell at the time they would usually fall asleep roleplaying with bots.

What remains unknown

  • Which app or apps the poster used after July 2026; the September and October posts do not name one.
  • How many hours the poster actually spent; the poster's own totals conflict.
  • Whether any clinician, parent or school assessed the poster's sleep, mood or self-harm.
  • Character.AI's account of the age restriction applied to the poster's account in February 2026.
  • Where the poster lives.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The poster describes years of their own roleplay and venting exchanges with Character.AI, used for 10 to 15 hours a day and to fall asleep, and connects losing access to it (through the app's age restriction and through attempts to quit) to sleeplessness, loneliness and self-harm. The posts describe the poster's use of the chatbot, not the content of particular replies, and the later posts do not name the app.

8 claims: 8 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported The poster says they have had a problem with chatbots for four years, cannot sleep without them, get very stressed when the servers go down and spend all day on them.

Causal attribution. Poster's account.

  • reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    I've had an issue with chatbots for four years now, I can't sleep withought them and I get super stressed out whenever the servers go down, I spend all day on them and it's really really impacting my life.
Reported The poster says they stopped using Character.AI in February 2026 when their account hit the app's age restriction, and that afterwards they could not sleep well and felt lonely and miserable.

Causal attribution. Poster's account; the age restriction is the poster's description of why access ended.

  • reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    I've stopped using C.ai cause my account got the age restriction thing, and now that I can't use it I'm so bored and it's honestly made me totally miserable, I can't sleep well withought it, I feel so lonely and miserable now.
Reported The poster says they had used Character.AI for about 10 to 15 hours a day, to the point of barely speaking to family or leaving bed, and that falling asleep without it was the hardest part of stopping.

Causal attribution. Poster's account.

  • reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    I used to be super dependant on it having around 10-15 hours a day on it, to the point I barely spoke to my family or left my bed. ... I think the biggest struggle for me is when I'm trying to sleep, since I've stopped using the app I've had a really hard time going to sleep, and I start feeling painfully lonely.
Reported The poster says that in March 2026, after about two months away, they relapsed, that while off the app they had begun hurting themselves to cope, and that they went back to Character.AI when the urge got bad.

Causal attribution. Poster's account linking the self-harm to being without the app; no clinical assessment is reported.

  • reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Relapsed TW: Self Harm ... I was like 2 months clean. ... seeing how risky that is I went back to c,ai when the urge got really bad since I got kinda freaked out. ... it might be better to keep using the godforsaken app and letting the addiction continue than it is to hurt myself and feel like shit all the time.
Reported The poster gives differing totals for time spent: 20,000 hours on the app in July 2026 and over fifteen thousand hours in September 2026.

Causal attribution. Poster's own figures; they are inconsistent and are not relied on as a measurement.

Reported The poster says in September 2026 that they had been addicted for four years and had recently lost their only friend after becoming irritable around people.

Causal attribution. Poster's account; the poster does not say the chatbot caused the irritability.

  • reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    I've been really badly addicted for 4 years now and it just gets worse. ... And I recently lost my only friend because I've started getting really uncomfortable and irritated around other people and got kinda mean to him and the rest of that friend group.
Reported In a post early on 21 October 2026 the poster says they had deleted their account on the chatbot app they were using, regretted it and felt unwell at the time they would usually fall asleep roleplaying with bots.

Causal attribution. Poster's account; the post does not name the app.

  • reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    "Okay I deleted my account to the chatbots app I was using earlier today and deleted it, and now I'm deeply regretting it and having kinda a panic." and "It's kinda late at night and at this time I'm usually falling asleep rping with bots, and now that I've not got that I'm not feeling too good."
Reported In a comment on 11 February 2026 the poster said that three days without the app their sleep had improved and they were doing more self-care.

Causal attribution. Poster's own account of an early improvement; it differs from the 7 February post.

  • reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    I've only been withought it for three days so a lot hasn't changed, but I've gotten better sleep and I've been doing more self care stuff

Sources

8 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-21 from the arctic_shift Reddit archive (author post search, HTTP 200); reddit.com returned HTTP 403 to the fetcher. No translation and no human reviewer. The poster's username is not recorded. Post of 20 Oct 2026 05:36 UTC; its only comment is a subreddit auto-reply; re-read about 03:10 UTC 21 Oct. Applies to s1.

Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-21 from the arctic_shift Reddit archive (author post search, HTTP 200); reddit.com returned HTTP 403 to the fetcher. No translation and no human reviewer. The poster's username is not recorded. Same author, 7 Feb 2026. Applies to s2.

Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-21 from the arctic_shift Reddit archive (author post search, HTTP 200); reddit.com returned HTTP 403 to the fetcher. No translation and no human reviewer. The poster's username is not recorded. Same author, 18 Feb 2026. Applies to s3.

Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-21 from the arctic_shift Reddit archive (author post search, HTTP 200); reddit.com returned HTTP 403 to the fetcher. No translation and no human reviewer. The poster's username is not recorded. Same author, 23 Mar 2026. The self-harm method in the post is not reproduced. Applies to s4.

Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-21 from the arctic_shift Reddit archive (author post search, HTTP 200); reddit.com returned HTTP 403 to the fetcher. No translation and no human reviewer. The poster's username is not recorded. Same author, 18 Jul 2026. Applies to s5.

Read in English by the research agent (an AI) on 2026-10-21 from the arctic_shift Reddit archive (author post search, HTTP 200); reddit.com returned HTTP 403 to the fetcher. No translation and no human reviewer. The poster's username is not recorded. Same author, 30 Sep 2026. Applies to s6.

Read in English by the verifier vmix10 (an AI) on 2026-10-21 from the arctic_shift Reddit archive (author search, HTTP 200); no translation and no human reviewer. The poster's username is not recorded. Same author, 21 Oct 2026 00:23 UTC. Applies to s7.

Read in English by the verifier vmix10 (an AI) on 2026-10-21 from the arctic_shift Reddit archive (author search, HTTP 200); no translation and no human reviewer. The poster's username is not recorded. Comment by the same author, 11 Feb 2026, in another user's thread. Applies to s8.

Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.

The posts do not say where the poster lives; currency mentioned in unrelated posts is not used as location evidence.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-21: Published under the public-forum rule as a concrete first-person account, across six dated posts by one author, of a teenager's dependence on Character.AI roleplay and the sleeplessness, loneliness and self-harm the author connects to losing access. Described with attribution and without corroboration; the self-harm method, sexual content and identifying personal details are omitted, and the conflicting hour totals are recorded.

People described

The poster, a teenager under 18 by their own account (gender and country not recorded)

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

1 AI participant · 0 other people harmed

One person: the poster, who used the app directly. Family members are mentioned but no harm to them is described.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#first-person#reddit#companion-chatbot#character-ai#dependency

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). First-person posts: teenager says years of Character.AI and chatbot roleplay left them unable to sleep without it and that quitting brought self-harm. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-teenager-says-years-of-character-ai-and-chatbot-roleplay-left-them-unable-to-sleep-and-quitting-brought-self-harm-first-person

BibTeX

@misc{2026_teenager_says_years_of_character_ai_and_chatbot_roleplay_left_them_unable_to_sleep_and_quitting_brought_self_harm_first_person,
  title = {First-person posts: teenager says years of Character.AI and chatbot roleplay left them unable to sleep without it and that quitting brought self-harm},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-teenager-says-years-of-character-ai-and-chatbot-roleplay-left-them-unable-to-sleep-and-quitting-brought-self-harm-first-person}
}

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