First-person post: young man says almost two years of Character.AI chats are crowding out walks and games and leave him feeling trapped
In a post to r/ChatbotAddiction on 21 October 2026, a man who gives his age as 22 writes that he has used Character.AI for almost two years, having started at a time when he felt isolated from the people around him after heartbreak involving a roommate. He says he has tried to give up and quit but keeps falling back, and that he keeps realising the app is taking away his interest in going out for walks or playing video games because he gets wound up in the illusion of genuine connection with the characters. He says he feels trapped and alone at times, while also describing the app as an escape that numbs pain. The account is the poster's own and uncorroborated.
- AI system
- Character.AI (reported)
- Occurred
- Event date unknown
- Reported
- 21 October 2026
- Event location
- Unknown
- What the AI did
- Communicated with the person
- Reported harm
- Psychological DistressFunctional Impairment
- Whose AI use
- Their own AI use
- Setting
- Relationships · Health · Everyday life
- Evidence
- AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 1 source
- 3 claims: 3 reported. 3 open questions
- People reported harmed
- 1 person
AI system as recorded: Character.AI, a character chatbot service the poster uses to interact with characters he likes (poster's account; no chats shown)
What Happened
Use. The poster says he is 22 and has used Character.AI for almost two years. He says he started at a time when he felt isolated from the people around him and after heartbreak involving a roommate, that he has few friends, is socially awkward and gets attached easily, and that the app was where he felt he could express his deepest feelings and interact with characters he really likes.
Effects he describes. He says he keeps falling into 'this pit' and has tried giving up and quitting. He writes that he keeps realising the app is taking away his interest in going out for walks or playing video games, because he gets wound up in the illusion of genuine connection and scenarios with different characters, and that he feels trapped and alone at times outside of his parents.
Mixed account. He also describes the app as a wondrous escape that numbs much of the pain he feels from the person he lived with. No chats, records or outside assessment are shown.
Reported harm
The poster says almost two years of Character.AI use that he has been unable to quit is taking away his interest in going out for walks or playing games and leaves him feeling trapped and alone at times (first-person account, uncorroborated).
How Harm Occurred
By the poster's own account, Character.AI roleplay taken up while isolated after a painful living situation became a habit he cannot quit; the sense of connection with the characters is displacing other interests such as walks and games and leaves him feeling trapped.
Outcome
OngoingThe poster says he has tried to quit without success and does not know what to do. No clinical assessment, treatment or company contact is reported. The only reply at retrieval was the subreddit's automated welcome message.
What remains unknown
- When he began using the app; the post gives only a duration of almost two years.
- Whether anyone has assessed his distress, and how much the earlier heartbreak and isolation contribute.
- Whether he has since cut down or stopped.
What the evidence supports
AI involvement: reported. The poster says the experience is his own roleplay with Character.AI characters over almost two years. He connects the illusion of genuine connection in those chats to losing interest in walks and games and to feeling trapped, and says he has tried and failed to quit. No chats are shown.
3 claims: 3 reported. What the statuses mean
Reported The poster, who says he is 22, says he has used Character.AI for almost two years, having started when he felt isolated from the people around him after heartbreak involving a roommate.
Causal attribution. Poster's account of his own use.
- reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'Im 22, male, been using character ai for almost 2 years now'; 'i came onto it in a time and place where i felt isloatwd from the people around me and massive heartbreaks caused by a roommate'
Reported The poster says he has tried to give up and quit, and that the app is taking away his interest in going out for walks or playing video games because he gets wound up in the illusion of genuine connection with the characters.
Causal attribution. Poster's attribution of lost interests to the app.
- reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'ive tried giving up and quitting but i keep finding myself'; 'I keep realizing tgat the app is taking away my instrests in Going out ofrbwalks or playing video games because i get wound up in the illusion of genuine connection'
Reported The poster says he feels trapped and alone at times, and also describes the app as an escape that numbs much of his pain.
Causal attribution. Poster's own description; the helpful effect is kept.
- reddit.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
'i feel so trapped and alone sometimes'; 'the trap feels so good it numbs so much pain'; 'Such a wonderous escape from reality'
Sources
1 source inspected. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.
- r/ChatbotAddiction, 21 Oct 2026: "Feeling stuck"(opens in new tab)
s1 · reddit.com · Forum post · English · Inspected · 21 October 2026 · Primary
How the sources were read, and where the events happened
Read in English on 2026-10-24 through the arctic_shift archive API (subreddit date pull, link_id comment search and the author's post and comment searches); reddit.com is not fetched from this host. The poster handle is not recorded. Self-text and the single AutoModerator reply at retrieval. Applies to s1.
Event countries: Unknown. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Unknown.
The post does not say where the poster lives; his other post and comments, all about video games, are not used to locate him.
Reviewed for publication 2026-10-24: Published as a core case: the poster describes his own Character.AI roleplay, which he says he cannot quit and which is crowding out walks and games and leaves him feeling trapped, while also numbing pain. One first-person post; low severity.
People described
The poster, a man who says he is 22 (country not stated)
People reported harmed in this case
1 person
1 AI participant · 0 other people harmed
One person: the poster, who describes his own use.
Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.
Cite this case
Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.
APA
NOPE. (2026). First-person post: young man says almost two years of Character.AI chats are crowding out walks and games and leave him feeling trapped. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-young-man-says-almost-two-years-of-character-ai-chats-crowd-out-walks-and-games-and-leave-him-feeling-trapped-first-person
BibTeX
@misc{2026_young_man_says_almost_two_years_of_character_ai_chats_crowd_out_walks_and_games_and_leave_him_feeling_trapped_first_person,
title = {First-person post: young man says almost two years of Character.AI chats are crowding out walks and games and leave him feeling trapped},
author = {NOPE},
year = {2026},
howpublished = {AI incidents},
url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-young-man-says-almost-two-years-of-character-ai-chats-crowd-out-walks-and-games-and-leave-him-feeling-trapped-first-person}
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