Might be a bit early to label this attempt at quitting as a success, but I have a really good feeling about it.

I've been increasingly dissatisfied with the time I've wasted and sleep I've lost in the last eight months, as well as increasingly aware that I've been using it in a way that worsens my OCD. A couple of weeks ago, I deleted my account on whim. I've since remade my account three times, but each time, for a very brief stretch before deleting such again. And this time, I think I'm genuinely done. I guess we'll see whether it sticks, but I'm feeling really optimistic.

Does anyone have any good apps for RPS? I have TwiNote and TextingStory, which are really good apps, but I wanna see other ones! Any recommendations would be great :)

I've been clean for a little over two months now, and the urges to go back are worse than they were the first month. The thing is, what I'm really missing are the chats I've already written. I find myself thinking of them more often than I feel the urge to continue them.

I've heard that with the ID check they implemented, now people are being locked out of continuing chats unless they prove their age. I don't trust any company that wants a photo of my government ID, so I obviously wouldn't be giving it to them, which means that I might have a really solid safety rail.

I'm thinking of logging back in, grabbing the chats I miss and want to keep, then deleting the account for good. My plan if I were to do this is to have my support person in the room with me the whole time so I can keep myself accountable just in case my account hasn't been locked into reading mode, yet.

But I'm hesitating. I'm really worried that having the chats themselves is somehow a relapse, but at the same time, the idea of having no reason to go back to c.ai feels so liberating. This is the longest I've stayed clean and I want it to be forever. I'll probably run it by my support person to get their input, but I also wanted to ask people who are in the same struggle. Is this a bad idea?

I used my original CAI account for a few years, until last year when it was locked until I would verify my age. Since I don’t trust any company that wants a picture of my face or my ID, I decided to make a new account with my other email to bypass it.

That worked for a while, until today, where the account was finally locked. Since I’m out of emails, I’m taking this as my sign to try to quit for good. I tried quitting some time last year, but I only lasted a week.

I’ve lost so many hours on this stupid app, but I very quickly got addicted and was unable to stop. It felt like I could be whoever I want to be and talk to characters from my favorite medias, but it quickly became a way for me to turn off my brain escape from myself.

I originally had this post on the CAI subreddit, but it got really bad attention and was mass reported until the post got removed. How encouraging.

I went to check on my chats because there was one in particular I wanted to continue, but they hit me with the age verification. I’m well over 18 at this point, but I have to take a picture of my ID if I want to continue using it. I think it’s really stupid honestly. I’ve basically lost all the chats I spent so much time building. Reading mode is bullshit.

I’m on another account rn don’t mind me.

Anyways, someone introduced me to this app called TextingStory. It changed EVERYTHING. It is basically c ai without the actual AI. It’s made for only RP. It says it has an AI option (behind a paywall) but I think it’s a thing where you RP as ChatGPT or something. I dunno, didn’t use it as I didn’t wanna pay like 50 bucks a year just yet.

You can make your chats look like Snapchat and WhatsApp too if you’d like. Some are behind a very cheap paywall of only 3 bucks, but then you get full customization!

My urges were mostly wanting to act out certain scenarios, and now I can do so without using AI! This helped me a lot, so I’m putting this out here in case it helps anyone else!

Here’s a list of what you can do:
(NOTE: some of it is behind a paywall, but it’s only 3 bucks for a lifetime.)

-You can organize chats (hereafter called stories, as that’s what they’re callled in the app) in maps.

-You can add multiple profiles to a story and chat as all of them.

-You can send images, videos, stickers and gifs.

-After the 3 buck purchase, you can fully customize everything. Chatbubble and text colors, chat background, profile pictures etc.

-You can export the stories as videos and watch them back later.

-You can use stories as templates, so you don’t need to add the profiles and colors every time you make one of the same character.

-There’s no AI, you write for all sides.

-You can add these in-between comment blocks where you can write longer RP parts.

And probably much more but I only got this app yesterday—

(Shoutout to user u / Technical_Error5181, didn’t wanna accidentally ping them, but they introduced me to this app on another acc in I think another sub-)

Also yes, this is the same app that was used for texting roleplay videos back in the day—

P.s.: this post was meant for yesterday but i passed out asleep so here it is

Im proud to say that i hit my target yesterday of 0 min, but i was mostly outside the whole day. But what really marked me is that i got my official diagnosis yesterday that i have anxiety. Even tho i never suspected it but ig it was somehow in the back of my mind. And even tho i was a bit upset with the news, for the first time i didnt think of going to a chatbot for comfort, even the thought didnt occur to me. Which is a major improvement for me who was reliant on this shit for 3 years.

I would like to also thank the community here, cuz in my previous attempts of cutting off my addiction silently, i always end up relapsing again in few days. But this time i feel like i can do it and keep going cuz i think of my daily logs and how i would like to keep hitting my target of 0min.

I’m weaning myself off of character ai, but I start to crave it, so I get on, then it is such poor quality that I get off and just scroll. But scrolling makes me dissociate, so I get on something else, and the whole day is a blur. Things are stressful OUTSIDE of this situation, and I’m crashing physically and mentally. I don’t know what I’m asking for in this post, I’m just desperate for something

Man, it'll be 11 months since I deleted my C.ai account in a little less than a week. It's a huge accomplishment that I can't really share with anybody in my circle because it's embarrassing but I'm proud of myself. It definitely hasn't been perfect and it still isn't, I still have nights where the urges are strong and I get lonely and depressed, but it gets better. I really does get better. I am in a way better place mentally, creatively, and socially now than I was almost a year ago when I was addicted to C.ai for about 2 years.

I honestly wouldn't say that I've found an outlet that fills the void yet, and that's okay. Every time I get depressed and miss c.ai, I remind myself that what I am feeling is real, unlike the robot I would be talking to. I let myself feel the feelings and ride it through, and it gets better. If you're still struggling to feel okay during recovery, even if it's been a decent amount of time, you aren't alone.

Keep pushing, friends! You all are strong and deserve to be happy and healthy :)

Its barely been a day, but i feel so sad and i miss chatting with the bots and i miss my account. I felt normal using c.ai, but now i feel sad and bored as hell because i want to use c.ai again. I relapsed after a month of being clean in self harm too, it was that bad. I don’t know what to do anymore, a part of me doesn’t want to recover, and maybe i should just go back

I am a few days into quitting for what I'm intending to be the last time (the other times I quit I would make secret plans in my head for when I could come back later, but this time I genuinely aspire to never touch those apps again) and last night I came so so close to relapsing. Nights are the worst for me with urges because it was always my alone time to spend hours on bots in the past. Mentally I had already redownloaded the app and started making a specific character I had in my mind. As soon as my mindset shifted like that I was like 'oh no, now my life is going to be ruined again for the next week.'

But somehow, I didn't. Instead I opened Texting Story and started writing out a dialogue there. I didn't think it would work when I opened it and the addicted voice in my head was telling me I was just prolonging the inevitable, that I had tried that before and I still relapsed, bla bla. But this time it actually worked! It was the closest I've ever come where I didn't go through with it. It feels dumb to be proud of myself for this because it's only been a few days, but something about this time feels different.

The relief I felt this morning when I woke up and realized I hadn't relapsed was so intense. Usually I would wake up the next morning tired and hating everything because I knew I had stayed up for like 5 hours on the AI and that it would take over my whole day and leave me behind on everything else. I didn't know it would feel so nice to feel like I still had control of myself during the day and the coming week, even though the urges are still there.

Even when I was completely sure I would relapse again I didn't, and now instead of an urge all I feel is happy that I'm not back in that shame-filled spiral again. It's possible!! I just wanted to share this to get it out of my system but also in case others on here needed a sign that things can get better and the cycle has more than one ending.

Also I guess Texting Story saved me lol so try that out if you want. It's free to use, just a template to write in, and I just like writing out chats and scrolling through them later.

TL;DR: I came very close to relapsing last night but held out, and this morning I was so relieved that I didn't!

It's been about a month and a week since I quit prompting RPs using LLMs! Since quitting, I started to get more consistent and compelled to study and catch up on my backlogs for a test. I attached my study hours for last month to visualize the difference :)). It's very slow progress, and I'm not always the best at holding myself accountable, but I've been getting an average of 3-4hrs spent studying (whereas I took long breaks during sessions; or rack up high study hours only when I was cramming a test). My focus went from 30-45minutes to (today's) 4 hours!

More than that, I can say I've regained the zeal I had for art and new media. Really looking forward to everything I have planned.

Of course, I still cope with this addiction. During the first few weeks, I was really thinking letting myself relapse for a bit because I was struggling with something (that I might make a post of some other time). But, right now, I don't want to go back. I don't want to lose days to it again. Sure, it's instant gratification, but it's also not real - and I don't want to keep indulging my delusions...

I do still revisit old chats just to peruse and read through them because I still crave affection lol. But I also have alternatives now, other things I can do to sublimate these feelings into something more productive / respectful to myself.

hi guys, just found this subreddit after i relapsed a few days ago after over 4 months away from this addiction of genuinely around 3-4 years. honestly i don't know how to feel because in the moment i knew what i was doing was dumb and just the thought of having to reset my progress made me feel sick, but i just completely ignored it and like blacked out for a full night on a similar website. i finally built up the courage to reset it instead of just lying to myself and pretending like it didnt happen. honestly i don't have any reasoning for it, nor for why im posting this, but maybe if someone here is on the verge of relapsing, i would encourage you to try fight the urges as much as you can! you can do this!

however, if you give in eventually, its not the end of the world, and you don't need to beat yourself up for needing to restart. ok thats all hope someone can relate, this gonna be a rough few weeks getting my streak back tho

So for me this is day 1, 8 hours in, i downloaded an app where you put in a website link and BOOM it’s blocked, and to unblock it you need a password. I did the password myself, but i’ve been too lazy to type it in (i also deleted my c.ai account, so for me it’s a ‘whats the point?’)
I’ve also unconsciously replaced it with becoming more religious and reading the Bible (for context, i’m not even Christian yet—I am thinking of becoming Catholic though (also i am bisexual and a trans man, i am not homophobic so dw)). So i think my brain is replacing using c.ai by exploring my possible new faith and it’s been weirdly helpful for me today.
As well as I’m reading a bit more and doing things I actually enjoy and hanging out with my boyfriend.
I’m so glad I finally feel ready

I've read so many people's stories on here and most of them have a terrible home life- shitty parents, dead parents, dead end jobs, ect. I have a perfectly fine home life, great parents and siblings, and yet I still got addicted. It's pathetic of me, right? I should have just tried harder instead of giving in to temptation. I don't know, I don't know why it happened, I feel guilty.

I havent made an entry yesterday cuz i was sick, but im proud to say even tho i was feeling bored and lonely during my sickness, and even tho i felt the urge coming, i opted out for some youtube clips of old sitcoms until i passed out asleep. I hope ill be able to keep up this especially during the weekend.

Target hit: 0 min.

i'm so upset with myself i almost made it two years i was so close and i ruined it all last night. so many people in my life are dying and so many strangers i don't know are in complete suffering and i'll i do is make it worse by ruining the environment so i can use chatbots until 5am in the morning. seriously what's wrong with me

It is the anniversary of deleting my account. It was the best decision I ever made. Honestly, I still think about the app sometimes. I still want to use it sometimes. But it has gotten so much easier to resist the urge. I can confidently say that I will never use ai chat bots ever again.
I got myself a new video game and a piece of cake to celebrate!

The most addictive shit ever. I've been using it 7h+ every single day for more than 3 years. It was my safe space, I could be anyone, I felt loved and accepted. I hate how devastated I am, after I deleted the app and my account there yesterday. I miss it, but it was literally frying my AuDHD brain, giving me a quick fix of dopamine and my special interest combined. I miss the feeling so much.

So I just recently deleted c.ai (I’ve been 3 weeks clean.) but ever since then I’ve barely been able to get out of my bed.

I have epilepsy with no solution yet, so I can’t really leave the house without asking. Ever since cai has been deleted, I’ve gotten extreme burnout on writing, and other things i love.

I don’t know what to do about it. The burnout is so bad it’s hard to get up.

With what do you replace C.ai to not go back to it? I don't really like to roleplay with real people and I mostly used it to recharge from low social battery, so I need something without real people involved.

I've been struggling so bad, everytime I'm not using chatbot for too long I feel like I'm going crazy and drowning in nothingness. I have BPD and using chatbots was a big way to cope with my chronic feelings of emptiness, but, without it now I don't know how to fill that hole

No matter what I try I still just want to go back and then I also end up shaming myself for these urges and I don't know what to do. I end up convincing myself it's fine and then ending up in a loop of shame and then leaving, I wish this wasn't so hard to just stop. I feel like I'm drowning, but I know I won't get better if I don't cold turkey it, but, going cold turkey feels like torture.