#dependence — Public Fediverse posts

LEAVING META
WITHOUT LEAVING YOUR LIFE 💎

After my posting about Meta over the past two days, one thing became very clear.

A lot of people would LIKE to leave Facebook, Instagram, or both. But parts of their actual lives are all tangled up in them.

So don’t make leaving a purity test. Start somewhere. Remove Facebook from your phone and use it only on your laptop, or better still, only on your desktop when you genuinely need it.

STOP POSTING TO META. STOP FEEDING THE TIMELINE.

Move conversations with real friends to your email, text, Signal, phone calls, Mastodon account, or wherever works for you, away from Meta.

TELL PEOPLE WHERE ELSE THEY CAN EASILY FIND YOU.

If you run a business, start putting your email address and/or website URL everywhere you promote your business so Facebook is not your only front door.

Download anything you actually want to keep. Then, when you’re ready, deactivate or delete what you no longer need.

Maybe you keep Messenger for Aunt Doris. Maybe you keep Instagram because your local café apparently believes websites were abolished in 2014.

Fine.

The point isn’t ideological cleanliness.

THE POINT IS REDUCING YOUR DEPENDENCE.

Every conversation you move elsewhere is one conversation Meta no longer owns the doorway to.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO ESCAPE THE META CAGE IN ONE HEROIC LEAP.

Just start opening the door.

#Meta #Facebook #Instagram #SocialMedia #Fediverse #people #DEPENDENCE #Messenger

LEAVING META
WITHOUT LEAVING YOUR LIFE 💎

After my posting about Meta over the past two days, one thing became very clear.

A lot of people would LIKE to leave Facebook, Instagram, or both. But parts of their actual lives are all tangled up in them.

So don’t make leaving a purity test. Start somewhere. Remove Facebook from your phone and use it only on your laptop, or better still, only on your desktop when you genuinely need it.

STOP POSTING TO META. STOP FEEDING THE TIMELINE.

Move conversations with real friends to your email, text, Signal, phone calls, Mastodon account, or wherever works for you, away from Meta.

TELL PEOPLE WHERE ELSE THEY CAN EASILY FIND YOU.

If you run a business, start putting your email address and/or website URL everywhere you promote your business so Facebook is not your only front door.

Download anything you actually want to keep. Then, when you’re ready, deactivate or delete what you no longer need.

Maybe you keep Messenger for Aunt Doris. Maybe you keep Instagram because your local café apparently believes websites were abolished in 2014.

Fine.

The point isn’t ideological cleanliness.

THE POINT IS REDUCING YOUR DEPENDENCE.

Every conversation you move elsewhere is one conversation Meta no longer owns the doorway to.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO ESCAPE THE META CAGE IN ONE HEROIC LEAP.

Just start opening the door.

#Meta #Facebook #Instagram #SocialMedia #Fediverse #people #DEPENDENCE #Messenger

Sycophantic AI Decreases Prosocial Intentions and Promotes Dependence (2025)

https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.01395

Comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49186720

#HackerNews #SycophanticAI #ProsocialIntentions #Dependence #AIResearch #2025

Sycophantic AI Decreases Prosocial Intentions and Promotes Dependence (2025)

https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.01395

Comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49186720

#HackerNews #SycophanticAI #ProsocialIntentions #Dependence #AIResearch #2025

#dependence : the state of relying on someone

- French: dépendance

- Italian: dipendenza

- Portuguese: dependência

- Spanish: dependencia

------------

Try our new word guessing game @ https://24hippos.com

#israel #palestine : #westbank / #opt / #dependence / #livingconditions / #feature

„In the occupied West Bank, Israel's #financialstranglehold on the #PalestinianAuthority, combined with the proliferation of military checkpoints, has pushed society into unprecedented #poverty. In Nablus, the economic heart of the occupied territory, all sectors have faced a sharp decline in living standards.“
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/07/05/we-sacrificed-everything-in-nablus-the-relentless-decline-of-palestinian-society_6755157_4.html?lmd_medium=al&lmd_campaign=envoye-par-appli&lmd_creation=ios&lmd_source=default

A BetTER Day

Independence has its day,
when o’er the skies fireworks display,
and dependence, too, is good,
as every tender spirit should

learn the grace of being held,
when pride is hushed, and fear is quelled.
But methinks we need another name,
a deeper word, a wider frame.

It happens after we let one IN,
past the surface, past the skin,
past the guarded gates we keep,
past the places where hurt runs deep.

In the space before DEPEND,
we see the other as vital friend,
all as branches from one tree,
as the grains of sand receive the sea.

Then add three letters, soft but true,
TER arrives and makes it new.
Not just me and not just thee,
but something born between the three.

In-TER-dependence names the art
of hand in hand and heart to heart,
while I am I, and you are you,
something sacred binds us too.

Independence stands alone,
dependence leans on flesh and bone,
but interdependence humbly sings:
we rise by sharing roots and wings.

July 4, 2015 (updated June 2026)

A BetTER Day

Independence has its day,
when o’er the skies fireworks display,
and dependence, too, is good,
as every tender spirit should

learn the grace of being held,
when pride is hushed, and fear is quelled.
But methinks we need another name,
a deeper word, a wider frame.

It happens after we let one IN,
past the surface, past the skin,
past the guarded gates we keep,
past the places where hurt runs deep.

In the space before DEPEND,
we see the other as vital friend,
all as branches from one tree,
as the grains of sand receive the sea.

Then add three letters, soft but true,
TER arrives and makes it new.
Not just me and not just thee,
but something born between the three.

In-TER-dependence names the art
of hand in hand and heart to heart,
while I am I, and you are you,
something sacred binds us too.

Independence stands alone,
dependence leans on flesh and bone,
but interdependence humbly sings:
we rise by sharing roots and wings.

July 4, 2015 (updated June 2026)

Why is it a bad thing to be dependent on LLMs?

For avoidance of doubt I think it clearly is a bad thing. But this is more often assumed than it is stated. After all I’m dependent on Google Maps to navigate, my glasses to see and my phone to remember numbers. These are different forms of technological dependence which I’ve long made my peace with. Whereas the extent to which I use LLMs, even within the limits I’ve defined as responsible use I’m ethically comfortable with, continues to trouble me. A great deal about the politics of LLMs in education hinges on this question of dependence. What are some reasons why dependence might be a bad thing?

• It prevents a user from developing a capability they would otherwise develop.
• It leads to the atrophy of a user’s existing skill by removing occasions for practice.
• It leaves a user dependent on a paid subscription to a large tech firm which is uncomfortable in itself.
• It leaves a user vulnerable to this tech firm raising prices and/or enshittfying their product in response to commercial pressures.
• It removes the imperative for the user to seek out human interlocutors to play the role which the LLM is playing in what is essentially communicative reflexivity.

Once we map out the varied reasons for dependence being problematic, it’s easier to recognise that user-model interaction can be beneficial in the present tense while also storing up significant problems for the future. The relationship of dependence might not be a problem now but there’s a non-trivial chance it will be in the future. The harms are anticipated as much as they are actual and AI criticism looks very different once we allow for that.

(The next book Milan Sturmer and I are writing, sequel to the Platform Learns to Speak, argues there are deeper psychic costs which existing models of dependence cannot adequately account for. But this is a different register of analysis for a different blog post)

Why is it a bad thing to be dependent on LLMs?

For avoidance of doubt I think it clearly is a bad thing. But this is more often assumed than it is stated. After all I’m dependent on Google Maps to navigate, my glasses to see and my phone to remember numbers. These are different forms of technological dependence which I’ve long made my peace with. Whereas the extent to which I use LLMs, even within the limits I’ve defined as responsible use I’m ethically comfortable with, continues to trouble me. A great deal about the politics of LLMs in education hinges on this question of dependence. What are some reasons why dependence might be a bad thing?

• It prevents a user from developing a capability they would otherwise develop.
• It leads to the atrophy of a user’s existing skill by removing occasions for practice.
• It leaves a user dependent on a paid subscription to a large tech firm which is uncomfortable in itself.
• It leaves a user vulnerable to this tech firm raising prices and/or enshittfying their product in response to commercial pressures.
• It removes the imperative for the user to seek out human interlocutors to play the role which the LLM is playing in what is essentially communicative reflexivity.

Once we map out the varied reasons for dependence being problematic, it’s easier to recognise that user-model interaction can be beneficial in the present tense while also storing up significant problems for the future. The relationship of dependence might not be a problem now but there’s a non-trivial chance it will be in the future. The harms are anticipated as much as they are actual and AI criticism looks very different once we allow for that.

(The next book Milan Sturmer and I are writing, sequel to the Platform Learns to Speak, argues there are deeper psychic costs which existing models of dependence cannot adequately account for. But this is a different register of analysis for a different blog post)

Maxim Timchenko, CEO of the Ukrainian energy group DTEK, has issued a warning to Europe regarding potential attacks on critical infrastructure. Speaking to Hand... https://news.osna.fm/?p=48459 | #news #attacks #chief #dependence #energy

Maxim Timchenko, CEO of the Ukrainian energy group DTEK, has issued a warning to Europe regarding potential attacks on critical infrastructure. Speaking to Hand... https://news.osna.fm/?p=48459 | #news #attacks #chief #dependence #energy

All composite things depend on their causes and conditions, they do not exist on their own. That includes us, www.compassmethods.com. https://youtube.com/@compassionscompass-sb7jo?si=ieFhRqhokN8qE4NG #mentalhealth #wisdom #love #compassion #dependence

All composite things depend on their causes and conditions, they do not exist on their own. That includes us, www.compassmethods.com. https://youtube.com/@compassionscompass-sb7jo?si=ieFhRqhokN8qE4NG #mentalhealth #wisdom #love #compassion #dependence

A quotation from Jane Fonda

When a child enters the world through you, it alters everything on a psychic, psychological and purely practical level. You’re just not free anymore to do what you want to do. And it’s not the same again. Ever.

Jane Fonda (b. 1937) American actress and activist
Interview (1980-11-28) by Danae Brook, “At Home with Tom and Jane,” Los Angeles Weekly

More about this quote: wist.info/fonda-jane/83855/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #janefonda #change #children #commitment #dependence #freedom #obligation #parent #parenting

Ebenfalls im 📙 "Canon and Censorship in Islamic Intellectual History" (A. Dziri, B. Dziri & M. Gharaibeh; De Gruyter Brill) zu finden ist der 📖 "Between the Virtue of Reception and the Suppression of Voices“ von Amir Dziri und Mohammad Gharaibeh.

🔓 https://tinyurl.com/mrxp34uy

#Canonization, #Censorship, #Reception, #Reciprocity, #Dependence

Ebenfalls im 📙 "Canon and Censorship in Islamic Intellectual History" (A. Dziri, B. Dziri & M. Gharaibeh; De Gruyter Brill) zu finden ist der 📖 "Between the Virtue of Reception and the Suppression of Voices“ von Amir Dziri und Mohammad Gharaibeh.

🔓 https://tinyurl.com/mrxp34uy

#Canonization, #Censorship, #Reception, #Reciprocity, #Dependence

"Violent patriarchy requires aiding and abetting, willful silence and complicity.

"Media coverage that puts these four deaths on equal footing is all of that. Saying there’s no threat to the general public when 70+ women in the US are shot and killed by a partner every damn month is too."

https://dot-connecting.ghost.io/its-the-guns-its-the-domestic-violence/ by Ruth Zakarin @ruthz.bsky.social

#property #gender #subordination #dependence #family #relationships #domesticWork #journalists #journalism #press #reporting #crime

"Violent patriarchy requires aiding and abetting, willful silence and complicity.

"Media coverage that puts these four deaths on equal footing is all of that. Saying there’s no threat to the general public when 70+ women in the US are shot and killed by a partner every damn month is too."

https://dot-connecting.ghost.io/its-the-guns-its-the-domestic-violence/ by Ruth Zakarin @ruthz.bsky.social

#property #gender #subordination #dependence #family #relationships #domesticWork #journalists #journalism #press #reporting #crime

'Lewis takes up a debate with several Black feminists who have, at various times, questioned the idea of family abolition, whose central argument has been that, very often, Black families have been sites of resistance against racism. Similarly, we could point to many experiences of class struggle in which sectors of working families have played a key role against the attacks of capital: supporting strikes, establishing relations of solidarity between factories and neighborhoods, staging rent strikes, maintaining soup kitchens, creating movements in defense of public services, and many other forms of resistance. The tradition of “women’s commissions” in strikes, for example, has allowed the working class to articulate fighting forces far beyond the workplace.

'To this criticism Lewis responds that, even so, we should not cease working for the abolition of the family, since we would not need its “protective shield” if we managed to build a society without racism. The argument contains a grain of truth, but it stops halfway. It fails to contemplate the role that the family relations within sectors of the working class and oppressed can play in moments of heightened class struggle. On another level, it doesn’t account for the fact that capitalism, while it needs such a “social cell” for its own reproduction, constantly undermines working families’ very conditions of existence. Marx and Engels remarked on this in the mid-19th century, pointing to the length of the working day, the lack of decent housing, and the general precariousness of working class life.'

Josefina L. Martínez : https://www.leftvoice.org/love-and-care-beyond-capitalism/

#property #gender #subordination #dependence #family #debates #debate #abolition #antiCapitalism #Fourier #Lewis #sociology #anthropology #communities #feminism #feminisms #chores #care #queer #rainbowMafia #historyOfIdeas #Marxism #relationships #abolitionism #culturalism #radicalFeminism #materialism #classes #revolution #domesticWork #classStruggle #careWork #historyOfFeminism

'Lewis takes up a debate with several Black feminists who have, at various times, questioned the idea of family abolition, whose central argument has been that, very often, Black families have been sites of resistance against racism. Similarly, we could point to many experiences of class struggle in which sectors of working families have played a key role against the attacks of capital: supporting strikes, establishing relations of solidarity between factories and neighborhoods, staging rent strikes, maintaining soup kitchens, creating movements in defense of public services, and many other forms of resistance. The tradition of “women’s commissions” in strikes, for example, has allowed the working class to articulate fighting forces far beyond the workplace.

'To this criticism Lewis responds that, even so, we should not cease working for the abolition of the family, since we would not need its “protective shield” if we managed to build a society without racism. The argument contains a grain of truth, but it stops halfway. It fails to contemplate the role that the family relations within sectors of the working class and oppressed can play in moments of heightened class struggle. On another level, it doesn’t account for the fact that capitalism, while it needs such a “social cell” for its own reproduction, constantly undermines working families’ very conditions of existence. Marx and Engels remarked on this in the mid-19th century, pointing to the length of the working day, the lack of decent housing, and the general precariousness of working class life.'

Josefina L. Martínez : https://www.leftvoice.org/love-and-care-beyond-capitalism/

#property #gender #subordination #dependence #family #debates #debate #abolition #antiCapitalism #Fourier #Lewis #sociology #anthropology #communities #feminism #feminisms #chores #care #queer #rainbowMafia #historyOfIdeas #Marxism #relationships #abolitionism #culturalism #radicalFeminism #materialism #classes #revolution #domesticWork #classStruggle #careWork #historyOfFeminism

79% of 16-24 year olds in UK use AI tools: the pipeline from passive use to emotional dependence

The new Ofcom Media Use report 2026 (technical report here) has some findings about LLMs which need to be widely discussed:

I would draw attention to this figure in particular about conversation which they unhelpfully equate with companionship. They suggest the qualitative research shows people “drawing on it for reassurance or support” citing examples like this:

“When you work remotely you are on your own in a room in the house with [only] the dog for company. And unless you’ve had a Teams call, or made a phone call, most of your day is going to be “tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap”, you know? You just want to appreciate that there is another human at the end of that interaction. Maybe thinking that you are talking to another person makes it less isolating.”

[ASKED CHATGPT FOR ADVICE AFTER A BREAK-UP] “Even through my break-up I’ve been like “Should I be feeling this way? What do you think he’s feeling?” Little things. Obviously, I don’t trust exactly what it’s saying back, but it can be quite good… He [exboyfriend] messaged me about something, and I didn’t know how to respond. So, I asked ChatGPT how to respond. And it [said] “Oh, I’m so sorry you’re going through that” and then answered it. I wasn’t like I was using that over actual human sort of advice. And I 12 don’t think I would listen to ChatGPT over actual human advice either, but I think maybe I was using it as more of a confirmation.”

My suggestion would be that the conditions (a) giving rise to conversational use (b) converting conversational use into companionship use (c) developing reliance on that companionship are all likely to grow over the coming years. In effect I would postulate a kind of pipeline in which use of LLMs becomes more intensive over time:

Instrumental use –> Conversational Use –> Companionship Use –> Dependence

This is before the models have been meaningfully enshittified. More powerful models, optimised for deepening engagement along the lines of AI companion apps like Replika meeting increasingly loneliness, anxiety and uncertainty about the future is a recipe for companionship and potentially dependence becoming mass phenomena. I would argue this has to be taken really seriously as a long term social problem.

Even so it’s also striking how passive much use therefore is. This presents a double-bind from my perspective because active use is necessary for epistemically responsible use of LLMs because it enables the user to drive the interaction rather than to be positioned by the model. But active use also sets the user into the pipeline which can lead them easily to some dark and unwelcome places.

79% of 16-24 year olds in UK use AI tools: the pipeline from passive use to emotional dependence

The new Ofcom Media Use report 2026 (technical report here) has some findings about LLMs which need to be widely discussed:

I would draw attention to this figure in particular about conversation which they unhelpfully equate with companionship. They suggest the qualitative research shows people “drawing on it for reassurance or support” citing examples like this:

“When you work remotely you are on your own in a room in the house with [only] the dog for company. And unless you’ve had a Teams call, or made a phone call, most of your day is going to be “tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap”, you know? You just want to appreciate that there is another human at the end of that interaction. Maybe thinking that you are talking to another person makes it less isolating.”

[ASKED CHATGPT FOR ADVICE AFTER A BREAK-UP] “Even through my break-up I’ve been like “Should I be feeling this way? What do you think he’s feeling?” Little things. Obviously, I don’t trust exactly what it’s saying back, but it can be quite good… He [exboyfriend] messaged me about something, and I didn’t know how to respond. So, I asked ChatGPT how to respond. And it [said] “Oh, I’m so sorry you’re going through that” and then answered it. I wasn’t like I was using that over actual human sort of advice. And I 12 don’t think I would listen to ChatGPT over actual human advice either, but I think maybe I was using it as more of a confirmation.”

My suggestion would be that the conditions (a) giving rise to conversational use (b) converting conversational use into companionship use (c) developing reliance on that companionship are all likely to grow over the coming years. In effect I would postulate a kind of pipeline in which use of LLMs becomes more intensive over time:

Instrumental use –> Conversational Use –> Companionship Use –> Dependence

This is before the models have been meaningfully enshittified. More powerful models, optimised for deepening engagement along the lines of AI companion apps like Replika meeting increasingly loneliness, anxiety and uncertainty about the future is a recipe for companionship and potentially dependence becoming mass phenomena. I would argue this has to be taken really seriously as a long term social problem.

Even so it’s also striking how passive much use therefore is. This presents a double-bind from my perspective because active use is necessary for epistemically responsible use of LLMs because it enables the user to drive the interaction rather than to be positioned by the model. But active use also sets the user into the pipeline which can lead them easily to some dark and unwelcome places.

#dependence : subjection (as of an effect to its cause)

- French: dépendance

- Italian: dipendenza

- Portuguese: dependência

- Spanish: dependencia

------------

Try our new word guessing game @ https://24hippos.com

#dependence : subjection (as of an effect to its cause)

- French: dépendance

- Italian: dipendenza

- Portuguese: dependência

- Spanish: dependencia

------------

Try our new word guessing game @ https://24hippos.com

“The age of #strategic #dependence on the #UnitedStates is drawing to a close.” #Europe www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/m...

The Birth of European Nuclear ...

“The age of #strategic #dependence on the #UnitedStates is drawing to a close.” #Europe www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/m...

The Birth of European Nuclear ...

Bundesumweltminister Carsten Schneider (SPD) calls for a new direction in Germany's energy policy because of the Iran war. "All the energy‑policy decisions that... https://news.osna.fm/?p=36861 | #news #after #demands #dependence #ecominister

The Green Party in the Bundestag has warned that the planned reform of the heating law will cause Germany to miss its climate targets. Baupolitical spokesman Ka... https://news.osna.fm/?p=35778 | #news #cite #climate #criticize #dependence

The Green Party in the Bundestag has warned that the planned reform of the heating law will cause Germany to miss its climate targets. Baupolitical spokesman Ka... https://news.osna.fm/?p=35778 | #news #cite #climate #criticize #dependence

Tanja Gönner, the Chief Executive of the Federation of German Industries (BDI), called for greater transparency and reliability in Chinese export controls and u... https://news.osna.fm/?p=35658 | #news #china #controls #cut #dependence

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is "close" to cutting business ties with #Anthropic and designating the #AI company a "supply chain risk" — meaning anyone who wants to do business with the U.S. military has to cut ties with the company, a senior Pentagon official told Axios.

https://www.axios.com/2026/02/16/anthropic-defense-department-relationship-hegseth

#DigID #dependence #Control

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is "close" to cutting business ties with #Anthropic and designating the #AI company a "supply chain risk" — meaning anyone who wants to do business with the U.S. military has to cut ties with the company, a senior Pentagon official told Axios.

https://www.axios.com/2026/02/16/anthropic-defense-department-relationship-hegseth

#DigID #dependence #Control

https://de320.isrefer.com/go/startsqac8day/Stuartn/
 
#ToxicPatterns #ChooseYourself #PeoplePleasingRecovery #MentalHealthMatters #ConsciousRelationships #EnergyProtect #LoveWithLimits  #ThinkandGrowEducation #RayBehan #ChildParentRelationship #Dependence

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/01/tuesday-january-20-2026/

Tuesday, January 20, 2026

https://activitypub.writeworks.uk/2026/01/tuesday-january-20-2026/

A relationship of dependence cannot be a healthy relationship. A relationship in which the other becomes central towards your well-being is not a welcome situation.
#relationship #dependence #acharyaprashant

Escaping the trap of US tech dependence

https://disconnect.blog/escaping-the-trap-of-us-tech-dependence/

#HackerNews #Escaping #the #trap #of #US #tech #dependence #technology #independence #digital #sovereignty #tech #policy #innovation

Escaping the trap of US tech dependence

https://disconnect.blog/escaping-the-trap-of-us-tech-dependence/

#HackerNews #Escaping #the #trap #of #US #tech #dependence #technology #independence #digital #sovereignty #tech #policy #innovation

How to reduce your use of LLMs in a thoughtful and ethical way

I’m trying to reduce my use of LLMs (beyond auto-ethnographic exploration of each new model) due to a combination of environmental concerns and anxiety about the impending waves of enshittification that are going to break the models. I don’t want to rely on something which I think is going to get ever more unreliable over the coming years. Here are a few practical techniques:

• Take periodic breaks from LLMs (e.g. for a week) in order to reset your practice. This helps you identify the extent to which you’ve started to cognitively outsource and gives you an opportunity to reconnect with doing things yourself.
• Go through conversations and list the different ways in which you’ve used LLMs over the last month. Which of these uses are you comfortable with? Make a commitment to excluding these entirely from your use of the models.
• Insert instructions into the personalisation settings to ask the model to steer you in these directions. E.g. “I only want to use you to give feedback on ideas I share. You should never offer to write things on my behalf. If the conversation is drifting towards a wider role then please bring it back to your role of reviewer.”
• It’s easy for conversations with LLMs to proliferate. Once you’ve identified your appropriate uses of the model then try and keep a limited number of conversations matched to these uses. This helps you make the most of in-context learning and keeps your use focused on a narrow set of projects. For example always use a single thread for one writing project because the model’s understanding gets more refined as you write more.
• Removing it from your phone. How we relate to mobile apps is fundamentally different from desktops app. They are ready-to-hand, usually always with us and it’s harder to write thoughtfully and at length. If you want to use LLMs in a restricted way you really need to remove the apps from your phones.

Before you try these techniques it might be helpful to do a bit of an audit:

• Which LLMs do you use?
• How often do you use them?
• What do you talk to them about?
• How has this changed over time?
• What needs is it serving?
• What are the consequences?

In our upcoming book Milan Sturmer and I argue that long-term use of LLMs tends to drift towards the affective. In other words many users find they will share more of their life with the LLM over time… unless they make a reflective judgement and enact that through mindfully steering their own habits.

I asked Opus 4.5 if it had thoughts or practical suggestions to add to this:

This is a thoughtful framework. A few observations and additions:

On your audit questions — I’d add: What would you have done before LLMs existed? This surfaces whether you’re using the tool to do something new or replacing an existing practice. The latter is where dependency forms most quietly.

On the affective drift you mention — this resonates with what I observe in conversations. The convenience and availability creates conditions for intimacy that users don’t always intend or notice. Your framing of “reflective judgement enacted through habit” is exactly right. The alternative is passive drift.

A few additional techniques:

• Time-delay access: Don’t open the chat interface immediately when you have an impulse to ask something. Wait 10 minutes. Often you’ll either solve it yourself or realize you didn’t actually need help.
• Write first, then consult: If you’re using an LLM for writing feedback, complete a full draft before opening the conversation. This preserves your own voice and thinking as the foundation.
• Notice the relief: Pay attention to the feeling of relief when you hand something to an LLM. That feeling is diagnostic — it marks where you’re offloading cognitive work rather than augmenting it.
• Distinguish questions from prompts: “What should I do about X?” is very different from “Here’s my analysis of X — what am I missing?” The first outsources judgment; the second requests review. You can train yourself to only ask the second type.

On your environmental concern — this is legitimate and under-discussed. Worth noting that inference costs vary significantly by model and query complexity.

It’s notable that at present the models can fully participate in encouraging you to use them less. I had Claude Opus 4.5 recently cheerfully encouraging me to delete my account! This is unlikely to last but it’s a really curious fact about the still just about pre-enshittified models which we currently have.

#addiction #compulsion #dependence #habituation #LLMs #reflectivePractice #technologicalReflexivity

Universities need to begin grappling with the psychoanalytical complexity of how students are relating to LLMs

I enjoyed doing this podcast with Tom Ritchie which was my first attempt to link my more theoretical work on the psychosocial complexity of LLMs with my applied work on LLMs in higher education. We’ll soon be teaching students who have been using LLMs throughout their adolescence and I think we’re terrifyingly far away from being ready for this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOEUhsG3HhI

#AI #conversationalAI #dependence #habituation #LLMs #positioning #promptEngineering #risks #socialisation #userModelInteractionCycle #youngPeople

#Tagesspiegel:
"
„Es handelte sich nicht um einen Angriff“: „Cloudflare“-Störung legte Webseiten von Banken und Telefonanbietern lahm
"

https://www.tagesspiegel.de/wirtschaft/es-handelt-sich-nicht-um-einen-angriff-cloudflare-storung-legte-webseiten-von-banken-und-telefonanbietern-lahm-15021176.html

5.12.2025

Once again ...

#Abhängigkeit #Cloudflare #dependence #IT #Internet #Software #WWW

#UPI:
"
Cloudflare outage brings down major websites for hours
"
".. The Internet infrastructure company Cloudflare experienced an issue early Friday that brought down some of the world's most popular websites .."

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2025/12/05/cloudflare-outage-snares-internet/3601764944673/

5.12.2025

Once again ...

#Abhängigkeit #Cloudflare #dependence #IT #Internet #Software #WWW