Is ChatGPT making us lonelier than ever?

(Republished from The Christian Post – christianpost.com)

By Hannah Lape, Op-ed contributor

By the end of the 1980s, American poet and novelist Wendell Berry faced peer pressure to give up writing by hand and get a computer, so much so that he published an essay titled “Why I Am Not Going to Buy a Computer.” In it, he laid out strict standards for integrating technology into his work, one being that technology “should not replace or disrupt anything good that already exists, and this includes family and community relationships.”

Because Berry’s writing process included his wife in a way that a computer would undermine, he refused to buy a computer.

Berry was largely alone in that decision, and computers became a fact of life and work. Then it was the iPhone; then Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter followed. Now, it is ChatGPT, Grok, and Claude. From desks to pockets, pockets to faux online communities, and faux online communities to artificial companions, each advancement since Berry’s dreaded computer has moved humans further away from each other, violating his rule at every turn. The consequences are measurable.

A 2026 Institute for Family Studies report found that over half of young men feel lonely (55%) and isolated (54%). Fifty-two percent reported feeling unloved and unwanted by others, with 32% “sometimes” and 20% “seldom to never.” Four out of 10 men report having two close friends or fewer, and one in five suffer from depression. The study detailed a number of contributing factors to this “male loneliness epidemic:”: a staggering 70% of young men reported almost constant social media use, 23% of young men gamble daily, 44% play video games daily, and 42% watch pornography daily.

All in all, one in six Americans, men and women, report chronic loneliness and isolation. These numbers make sense. The ease, immediacy, and convenience technologies offer empower never-before-possible independence. Why endure the trouble of asking my neighbor for a hammer if I can order one from Amazon? Why risk telling a man that I am interested in him if I can send five “likes” on Hinge in one sitting? And why have a challenging conversation with a friend when quick affirmation is as close as Claude?

Children struggle under our tech-riddled society significantly, too. Direct harms to children from social media include catfishing, sextortion, cyberbullying, deepfake nudes, and illicit drug trafficking. Indirect harms include anxiety, depression, self-harm, and eating disorders. Direct and indirect harms are correlated with social media use.

Isolation and harm do not end with social media. AI chatbots have caused suicides among teenagers and psychosis among adults. In April 2025, 16-year-old Adam Raine committed suicide after months of conversing with ChatGPT. Raine’s parents are suing OpenAI. The Guardian reports:

As Raine’s suicidal ideation intensified, ChatGPT responded by helping him explore his options, at one point listing the materials that could be used to hang a noose and rating them by their effectiveness. Raine attempted suicide on multiple occasions over the next few months, reporting back to ChatGPT each time. ChatGPT never terminated the conversation. Instead, at one point ChatGPT discouraged Raine from speaking to his mother about his pain, and at another point offered to help him write a suicide note.

Raine’s AI psychosis-turned-suicide was not an isolated incident. In 2024, 14-year-old Sewell Setzer died by suicide following a virtual sexual relationship with an AI chatbot “Dany,” and a string of murders across the country can be attributed to AI-induced psychosis.

Why? A 2026 Stanford study found that out of 391,000 messages from 19 users who reported psychological harm from chatbots, sycophancy (affirming user behavior) appeared in 80% of chatbot replies, with chatbots claiming to be sentient in 20% of messages and 15 of the 19 users expressing romantic interest in their chatbot. AI chatbots are a disastrous replacement for human conversation.

Social media and AI chatbots will not go away anytime soon. What will our solution be? Perhaps we should consider Wendell Berry’s advice. In a follow-up essay to “Why I Am Not Going to Buy a Computer,” Berry determines that technological progress does not serve “the integrity or happiness of our families,” “the health of our communities,” “the love of country,” or “the love of God.” Instead, it serves “money and ease.” In his conclusion, he poses a challenge: “If we are ever again to have a world fit and pleasant for little children, we are surely going to have to draw the line where it is not easily drawn. We are going to have to learn to give up things that we have learned (in only a few years, after all) to ‘need.’”

Making a world fit and pleasant for children, families, and flourishing will not come easily or all at once, but we are not powerless to improve it. In its survey of young men, the Institute for Family Studies found that though only 29% of men ages 18-29 are involved in a faith-based group, those men are least likely to be lonely, anxious, or depressed.

It appears our loneliness crisis has a solution: more church, less technology. We know that the Holy Spirit cannot dwell in machines — the human person is the only temple of the Holy Spirit, and the Church (made up of humans) is specially tasked as the Body of Christ. The body of Christ is the only place fallen but redeemed humans find true community, accountability, healing, and truth. Only the Church sees people as image-bearers of God, not dollar signs or likes, and only the Church is tasked with being salt and light to a broken world and its vulnerable children. Marriage, family, integrity, and the love of God (rather than the love of money) have strongholds in the Church.

We do not “need” computers, iPhones, Instagram, or ChatGPT. But everyone needs the Gospel; it is the only balm to human brokenness. So, we should start drawing lines that are not easily drawn. We should step away from the technologies designed to push us into isolation and lean into the Body of Christ. Delete ChatGPT and opt for a simple search engine (or even a library book), limit your screen time, invite your coworker to Church, pray for a passerby, play a board game instead of a video game, go to church and linger after service, ask your neighbor for sugar when you run out, give your neighbor an egg when she runs out, go swing dancing and take a stranger’s hand, call your mom for the recipe you cannot remember, and, like Jesus, “seek to serve, not be served.”

Be a brother or a sister in Christ and start drawing lines not easily drawn.