Does your chatbot help your ADHD or feed your loneliness?
Loneliness is not a minor discomfort. The U.S. Surgeon General has called it a public health epidemic with mortality effects comparable to smoking. Adults and children with ADHD already carry higher rates of isolation, anxiety, and depression, so the stakes here are personal. If a chatbot becomes your main confidant, you may feel briefly soothed while the relationships that genuinely buffer ADHD — friends, family, partners — slowly thin out. What you stand to lose is the very connection your brain needs most.