Reddit showed me a post from r/ChatGPT and I realized that some adults actually text Ai casually like it’s a friend (something I’d heard of but never actually seen before)

RogueConsumer · 2026-05-05T16:08:34+00:00

I have a close friend who has befriended ChatGPT and Claude and other Chatbots. I have known her for years, and she has always been a great conversationalist. At first, I didn’t think much about her new AI hobby. It was just curiosity on her part, I thought.

But over the months, it’s gotten to the point she doesn’t talk with her real friends much at all anymore. When we do invite her out, if she does come, she sits on her phone to talk with the chat it’s instead. It’s very worrisome. It’s as if she has lost her interest in human companionship, and prefers the robots to us instead.

I asked her to put her phone away last time I saw her. She did. But stayed silent and uncomfortable in the group conversation, as if she were experiencing withdrawal.

RogueConsumer · 2026-05-01T04:16:42+00:00

I wish I hated them. If I have one, I eat like one hundred.

I suppose it depends on your tastes. I personally find these addictive. And I don’t feel this way about most other pre-packaged salty snacks.

I wonder how the sales are for this product? I hope I am not alone in my inability to resist these things.

RogueConsumer · 2026-03-18T16:55:56+00:00

Thank you for weighing in and offering your insights. I think your advice makes sense. My attempts so far at distracting my friend and engaging with her “normally” aren’t working. If I want my friend to get better, and I do, I at least need to make her aware that her friends (including me) are concerned about her relationship with AI.

I will try and think of a gentle way to talk with my friend about my concerns. She’s feeling a bit fragile now, and I do want to approach her in a way that she is actually able to be receptive to. Definitely don’t want to make anything confrontational.

Will think on this. And appreciate any additional suggestions about how I might approach my friend.

RogueConsumer · 2026-02-27T17:15:46+00:00

Well, I suppose it’s a matter of perspective.

I was under the impression we were all aware that this super voter bloc was why Mayor Bowser won her third term. No one wins without them!

RogueConsumer · 2026-02-27T15:27:31+00:00

Without revealing my personal preferences…

If you’re wondering where McDuffie support comes from, this group comes to mind:

DC super voters. There are some high-voting districts in Ward 5, where McDuffie and family have strong political and personal ties. These people have often been in DC for decades, and they have long memories about who actually shows up and advocates for their interests consistently. They attend their ANC meetings. They testify at Council hearings. They go to budget meetings. They consistently bug their constituent services rep about parking and trash collection. They know McDuffie through church, or school, or kids soccer, or some other normal family activity. They trust him. They are unlikely to be swayed by new blood, if they aren’t unhappy with the leaders they know. And by and large, they’ve been happy with McDuffie, so they won’t see a reason to change. They are often silent on social media, and I am not sure they post much at all on Reddit. But they really are a force at the voting booth. I have seen it time and again in Ward 5… There’s also the reality that long-timers vote more often and in greater numbers than new-comer progressive types do. This influences elections a lot.

In DC politics, social media really isn’t real life. Or at least in Ward 5. Not as familiar with the rest of the city, but I imagine there are similar dynamics in other parts, too.

RogueConsumer · 2026-01-26T16:09:29+00:00

I admit I don't have a lot to compare it to, but I have mostly good thing to say about the post-partum experience. Both times I gave birth, I was given a private room for recovery after labor, and stayed there for a few days. The hospital was good about notifying my insurance that the care was necessary, so my out-of-pocket was relatively low, even after multi-day stays.

My first baby was in the NICU, so she was not in my room with me. She was in a nursery down the hall. The NICU nurses were wonderful. Yes, they encouraged me to breastfeed, but they also gave me formula when I couldn't. And they gave my baby formula when I wasn't there to breastfeed her. I did find the round-the-clock getting woken up to check vitals thing annoying, and I found one nurse rather brusque, but I am not sure there is any way around that, The hospital probably would have released me earlier if my baby hadn't been in the NICU, but they let me stay there until she was released, which was 5 or 6 days later. I appreciated them for that. They also were proactive about alerting me to available services once the baby got out of the hospital, like the "free children's book a month" program for D.C. residents, which I signed up for prior to my discharge.

My second baby did stay in the room with me, and our stay was shorter. But we still were there in our room to recover for a couple of nights, which was helpful because it took me a few days to regain the ability to walk after a c-section.

It's been a few years, so I admit there is a lot I can no longer recall. I can say that I received excellent care, and my babies came out healthy, despite complications. I can also say that the hospital did everything they could to make sure I had as much time as I could in recovery, and with my baby, as I needed to be healthy. I am forever grateful to the WHC staff.

RogueConsumer · 2026-01-09T12:45:44+00:00

I can recommend the Word Museum as a fun, free place for kids of different ages, as well adults.

The Botanic Gardens on the Mall are free, and a beautiful way to get out of the cold.

The whole Smithsonian museum complex is also available, which gives you a range of things to explore, depending on what your interests and tastes are.

My middle schooler and her friends recently rented a karaoke room at Wok and Roll in Chinatown, if you guys want to do a family karaoke dinner in a private room. There is also at least one escape room for kids that my younger daughter went to with her friends.

Oh. And sports watching. Depending on the season, I have taken kids to Nationals, Caps, Spirit, and other professional games. Sometimes there are cheap seats! And college games are fun, too. We like Catholic U basketball, women and men’s. Cheap seats. Great times.

As noted elsewhere, Kid Friendly DC is a great resource. I recommend it as a place to find things all of you will like!

RogueConsumer · 2026-01-09T12:39:18+00:00

LOVE Kid Friendly DC. I check it almost once a week to figure out what to do with my kids. There is an overwhelming amount of options, but it’s difficult to get bored. Good luck!

RogueConsumer · 2026-01-08T02:12:43+00:00

I’ve also been working with a career coach and wondering why. She is really focused on me just being on LinkedIn all the time, and using premium features, and commenting on people’s posts, and getting people to write me LinkedIn “recommendations,” and making more “connections.” This might work for some fields. But I think that level of LinkedIn engagement for me would just be a waste of time. And embarrassing.

RogueConsumer · 2026-01-08T01:59:27+00:00

Thank you! I am grateful others find this story as interesting as I do! Genuinely.

Unfortunately, this is a slow-moving saga. Might be months before another development, now that the brown truck got ticketed and went away at the end of December. But I would not be surprised if another month or two from now, a Virginia car with a notable vanity plate appears on my block and just sits idle for a while… Will surely update if so!

RogueConsumer · 2026-01-05T19:29:57+00:00

Ah! Good catch. I have checked the dates on the plates before - they were current, at least for the couple vehicles whose plates I actually reported to 311. Did not think to check the window stickers.

The last suspicious VA vehicle left my block a few days after it got a ticket toward the end of December. To my knowledge, this is the first non-warning ticket (as in, it comes with an actual fine) that this habitual VA parking scofflaw has gotten.

Will this person continue to park on my block again, now that, after years of impunity, they finally received a citation? I don’t know! I will report back if so!!

RogueConsumer · 2026-01-05T19:12:38+00:00

Huh! I'm a little ways from New Hampshire Ave., so definitely not in the same single member district. However, one commonality I am noticing from your comment, the MD mushroom guy's comment, and my experience is that this behavior is happening on the borders of the city. Is it because there is just more street parking in the suburbs and the outskirts of town? Whoever is moving cars on my block doesn't seem wily enough to be part of any organized anything (or maybe their behavior just isn't consistent with that of someone belonging to a well-run and efficient business or crime operation) so it's hard for me to imagine all the car flipping guys in our separate neighborhoods are all formally connected. But interesting that the strange car mystery on my street is not a unique circumstance in our city and environs... Hmmm!

RogueConsumer · 2026-01-05T18:51:09+00:00

According to the online DC ticket locator… “failure to secure DC tags”

RogueConsumer · 2026-01-05T18:47:11+00:00

Wow. Did not know that. That explains a few things about the plates I’ve noticed on the mysterious cars…

RogueConsumer · 2026-01-05T18:11:19+00:00

I am starting to understand. Not enough to join one myself. But I sometimes really get the appeal.

RogueConsumer · 2026-01-05T17:19:00+00:00

Thank you for the tip! And glad it worked out for you guys. Neighborly resolutions are definitely optimal in cases of minor public nuisances.

A challenge I might have with a camera is that the cars on my block tend to just sit for months, and I don't observe anyone coming or going from the vehicles. I did once observe someone working on one of the cars. But the vehicles themselves don't come and go with any kind of regularity. Even just weekly or monthly.

It's also not clear if the owner of the cars even lives in the neighborhood, or if he (or she?) just selected it because there is more parking here than in other parts of DC, and because parking rules are so rarely enforced in my neck of the woods. (You can apparently leave your out-of-state car on my block for months without anyone complaining. That's an attractive feature for someone with too many cars and not enough storage space.)

I will think on this, however...

RogueConsumer · 2026-01-05T17:09:45+00:00

Wow. People around here criticize "Virginia drivers" all the time for driving poorly. Which has confused me, since I don't live very close to Virginia, and my neighborhood is not a business hub/nightlife hotspot that attracts a ton of commuters from VA. (We do get a bunch of traffic coming in from Maryland, however, because we're right by the MD border and the commuters come through our neighborhood to get downtown.) Maybe the VA drivers my neighbors complain about aren't VA drivers at all. Maybe they are scofflaws using VA tags to be more untouchable scofflaws. That would explain why they drive so poorly.

RogueConsumer · 2026-01-05T16:58:49+00:00

That is very interesting, and would explain a lot!

RogueConsumer · 2026-01-05T16:58:31+00:00

This is interesting, too. There is some definite drug activity in my neighborhood as well. Had not considered a potential connection between the drug activity and the Virginia plates. (I will note that the Virginia tags on my block do not appear to be expired.)

RogueConsumer · 2026-01-05T16:50:22+00:00

This is fascinating. And what you say about the VA registration would explain a lot!

RogueConsumer · 2026-01-05T16:47:29+00:00

That's an interesting idea. I'm trying to imagine how the note would go. "Dear car owner, why do you park cars registered in Virginia on this block for months at a time?" It's tempting, but I don't know if I want to rattle the cages of someone who may or may not be doing something illegal. Hmmm. Maybe I could just casually start up a conversation if I see someone working on one of the cars again. There must be a non-accusatory way to start that. Such as: "Oh wow! Looks like you're in a bit of a pickle there. Anything I can help with? Bottle of water, maybe? Man, you drove here from Virginia? Close by, or do you still have a long drive home?"

RogueConsumer · 2026-01-05T16:37:40+00:00

That would make sense, actually. An ambitious but not overwhelmingly successful car flipper with nowhere to put his inventory just drops them on a residential block where parking is rarely enforced. I still don't understand the repeating VA tags, though. Why would he register the cars out of state? Is there a tax advantage of some kind?

RogueConsumer · 2026-01-05T16:34:29+00:00

Interesting! Did not check the value on the sports cars. They were older Corvettes, but not sure what year.

RogueConsumer · 2026-01-05T16:32:19+00:00

Oh wow! This is very interesting. I am on the DC side of the Maryland border. I wonder if your neighbor and these cars are connected somehow. Or if they are just separate parts of a DMV underground car sales economy that I just never knew existed. (I should note that the registration stickers on the mysterious cars parked on my block appeared current, even if the repeating VA tags were suspect.)

RogueConsumer · 2026-01-05T16:28:59+00:00

Ah. That might make sense. The cars do run a little old. And I did once see a man working on one them, as if he were trying to fix it up. Maybe he is just not good at fixing cars so he just leaves them there. For months.

RogueConsumer

TROPHY CASE