"Meowing at your cat is better for reducing loneliness than an AI chatbot, study finds"
"Texting a stranger is better for reducing loneliness than an AI chatbot, study finds"
From CTV News: ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/t…
"The study found that only those who texted with a fellow human reported feeling less lonely at the end of the experiment.
'We thought that interacting with AI might be as helpful as texting with a random fellow first-year student,' said the study’s author, psychology PhD candidate Ruo-Ning Li, in a media release.
'But to our surprise, only the human-to-human texting reduced loneliness over time. The chatbot, even though we designed it to be the ideal supportive friend, didn’t shift loneliness.'"
Texting a stranger is better for reducing loneliness than an AI chatbot, study finds
In a time where more people are reporting feeling lonely and some are turning to AI chatbots for companionship, a new study suggests that texting a real person, even a stranger, leads to better results.Kaija Jussinoja (CTVNews)
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I met a lot of friends on the internet when social media wasn't as prominent as today.
Those online friends I met in forums turned into irl friends after some years. Others disappeared because life got in the way. Some more felt weird after a while.
Texting can be as deep as any other form of communication. How can you compare it with a bot that is programmed to lie?
We are doomed if the bubble doesn't burst. We are trapped in a weird Black Mirror episode for the nth time.
"Texting a stranger is better for reducing loneliness than an AI chatbot..."
Gods....🙄
Any "stranger" could well BE a chatbot today--and probably a better trained one than they used in this study. And the human on the other end might well never realize it. And, yes. STILL BAD.
The cure for loneliness? Other flesh and blood people! There is literally no mentally healthy substitute -online- for real life associations *in real life*. You're a human, not a bot w/ probs..
One of the disappointing things I guess I learned as a result of the pandemic is that healthcare workers are not uniformly as smart or cautious as I expected. According to a new survey, #COVID19 vaccination rate among HCWs is up this year, but still shockingly less than 50%. Just 40.2% were vaccinated in 2024-2025, despite the fact studies show HCWs are more at risk of Long COVID. The rates were:
Doctors 46.7%
Pharmacists 41.3%
NPs 32.4%
Nurses 26.8%
medpagetoday.com/infectiousdis…
Here's How Many Doctors and Nurses Are Getting Flu or COVID Shots
Nurses in particular do not seem to be fans of the COVID-19 vaccineTerrence Rudd (MedpageToday)
The number of nurses who ended up being some brand of anti-vax was pretty alarming to me.
Definitely called into question this underlying assumption I had that nurses are well educated / smart. Even many doctors... May be smart or well educated in a sense, but for many it is more limited in scope than I previously thought. Maybe a way to say it is they are much more narrowly educated than I had assumed.
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🥚
#StarTrek
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Is it a bunny or a cat? Guess we'll never know...
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A bunat? A cun.....er, no, not that one.
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A bit of beauty on my walk to the library yesterday. #bloomscrolling
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“Follow me”, said the cat.
“I will show you the best bag of new crop rice.”
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I will never look at the Slack logo the same way now
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I've got my best people keeping an eye on the birds outside
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Next on How It's Made: Easter Eggs!
When I first moves to this house, the yard was filled with trash, rotting landscaping plastic, and hard packed soil. It's been six years of back breaking labor, but it warms my heart to see life springing up in all the nooks and crannies #MushroomMonday #mushrooms #bloomscrolling #nature
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The flow of #COVID19 research studies seems to be thinning.
Part of this may be natural--six years into the pandemic, we know more than we did in 2020. The bigger issue is political. In early 2025, the CDC and NIH, under new admin directives, cut funding for COVID research, terminating dozens of COVID and LC research grants.
There are profound questions left about reinfections, Long COVID, and and other risks. Limiting our learning is dumb (but this admin specializes in dumb, IMO.)
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can confirm it is largely a funding issue - covid 19 funding was slowing even before the new administration and what little that was left was canceled in 2025.
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This is what happens when you boost AND favorite a post
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(no)
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Please consider what your cat considers...
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They just posed like this until I took a picture 🤔
Quick Question
Hey #fediverse, question for you. I recently made the mistake of going back onto #facebook to post on my neighborhood's community page to ask my neighbors to please keep their dogs on a leash so they don't keep wandering into my yard, breaking things, and scaring away the #cats that live in my yard.
It IMMEDIATELY devolved into two common sentiments:
1) If you don't want stuff to get broken, don't own stuff
2) Having cats is a moral failing and I should be euthanizing every cat that wanders into my yard.
I don't spend much time on facebook anymore, but I don't remember it being _that_ bad. So this is my question --
Is this a facebook problem, or just a sign-of-the-times / people problem? I haven't been on #friendica / #mastodon very long so I can't tell if my positive experience here is just a bubble or if people here are just more sane.
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Please read ALL directions before assembling your cat.
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Ask ghosts.
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Let's just rename it Schrodinger's Strait at this point 😮💨
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I'm so old, when I was a kid my oatmeal had dinosaur eggs in it
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idk who needs to hear this but [incoherent screeching]
*is versed in extreme metal vocals*
Awww, that's sweet.
*incoherent screeching response*
Now when cooking beans in the microwave, do you take the paper label off the can or leave it on?
Don't want to mess up the microwave, you know.
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"I leave it on of course!" is the answer you are expecting but I'm not dumb. You turn the label inside out because the print reflects the microwaves and enhances the seasoning.
Kids today are so dumb trying to take the label off.
Kids today are so dumb trying to take the label off.
@SimonCHulse You only need to take the label off if it’s a foil type one. Can’t have tin foil in the microwave - if it’s just paper, you’re fine.
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Who's that -P̶o̶k̶e̶m̶o̶n̶- tree bud! #Bloomscrolling #BestBuds #AnyGuesses
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#Bloomscrolling #SilentSunday
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#SilentSunday
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There are only a few hours left to bid on my latest painting, inspired by a set of playing cards from the Soviet underground that I found at my grandmother’s house
I will even give the auction winner a few of the playing cards that inspired me 👀
Support Ukrainian art, and own a piece of Soviet contraband! 💙💛
Original Cat & Vintage Pin-up Playing Cards Acrylic Painting Anna Mamotiuk | eBay
Artist: Anna Mamotiuk (Signed). This striking 2026 piece seamlessly blends feline grace with retro-cool aesthetics. Year of Creation: 2026.eBay
“Cat & Vintage Pin-up Playing Cards,” 2026
Acrylic on canvas#Art #TraditionalArt #Ukraine #Painting
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I don't have a clever title or hashtag for this one, but I sure do love when my yard enters daffodil season
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As a coding assistant, she is significantly more helpful than Copilot.
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Tech bros went to Jupiter
To get more stupider
To get more stupider
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stahp
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My weekly update on #COVID19 in the US:
- The spring lull has arrived!
- COVID fell to low or very low viral activity in all 4 regions.
- 2 states still have high viral activity; 7 more have moderate. More than half are at very low activity.
- The positive rate of testing is lower than its been in a year.
- Summer surges typically start in late May to early July. The West could expect a more powerful summer surge this year.
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Awake
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Getting am early start to #FlowerFriday with a bit of Grape Hyacinth from my yard. #Bloomscrolling
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Sorry but I've been on the meme sites and can't help what I laugh at
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AA
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •Lappenjammer
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •keith
in reply to Lappenjammer • • •That_Damn_Frank
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •Sneaking into the room where your cat is sleeping and putting treats near her?
I have never been bitten once doing this.
#TrueStory
Heathen 🐈
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •Andrew Deacon
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •Ozzelot
in reply to Andrew Deacon • • •I like to politely greet the jackdaws.
@catsalad
Michael Gemar
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch)
in reply to Michael Gemar • • •Rainer
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄)
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •Tobias 🌒🌕🌘
in reply to 🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄) • • •Juniper 🏳️⚧️🌲
in reply to 🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄) • • •🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄)
in reply to Juniper 🏳️⚧️🌲 • • •@eruonna meow 😋
@catsalad
Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch)
in reply to 🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄) • • •Juniper 🏳️⚧️🌲
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •@alice
Kitty!
Jared
in reply to 🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄) • • •@alice and Dr. Professor Euler's as well. Raccoons named Smeagol also help as well!
Aprazeth
in reply to 🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄) • • •@alice
Also birds!
What? I make a certain noise when I am out and walking close to birds, and they seem to understand that I am not a threat to them. They still move aside but a lot less if I don't do that.
Yes, it might all be in my head. And yet I chose to believe.
PalmAndNeedle
in reply to 🅰🅻🅸🅲🅴 (🌈🦄) • • •Lou 🏳️⚧️
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •Béatrice of Alleghenia
in reply to Lou 🏳️⚧️ • • •Kierkethumbs up convincingly
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •Aphrodite (recharging)
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •me: meow
my spouse: meow
our girlfriend: mrow
her joyfriend: mew
Adrian Randall
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •Avril
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •Raglan Niall
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •adb
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •for the ones interested, the quote comes from this book, must-read
Kotking
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •Some of you get out and do stuff whole day or worse sit at home in front of PC instead of playing with your pet!
You meow back to make sure your precious furball is loved
Nu Modular
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •⠠⠵ avuko
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •it may be a joke, but it is definitely not a joke.
All those “me and my AI” people (mostly guys, let’s be honest) should have gotten a pet ages ago.
Oxytocin and serotonin, not dopamine and cortisol, my friends.
Which reminds me: back to my fam and cats!
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Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch)
in reply to ⠠⠵ avuko • • •jtonline
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •Greg Bell
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •Mad Alex
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •Steve James
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •luca
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •I see a sense of compassion in their eyes.
A.B. Murrow
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch)
in reply to A.B. Murrow • • •Rachel Rawlings
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •Ham on Wry
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •! • ʁ ą ʄ α ω ɻ • ® 神 • ⚠️ ⚠️
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •! • ʁ ą ʄ α ω ɻ • ® 神 • !
in reply to Cat 🐈🥗 (D.Burch) • • •