I am a Gen Z university student. The ChatGPT got boom when I was in 12th grade and I have been using ChatGPT, Gemini and Deepseek since then. I am starting to notice that now I cannot do searching anymore. I literally cannot do anything on my own like coding, learning something, fact checking, doing my assignments. I even become so reliant on it that I sometime even ask it what food should I eat, what exercises I should do. Sometimes, I "talk" with ChatGPT more than real human beings, maybe cuz I somehow end up having a bad experience or not so fulfilling experience with people. I have to use AI again and again for the same question, e.g., I asked a question today, I got the answer. If I encountered that question later again, I would not know the answer and have to go to AI for solution. What to do now? How to get out of this dependence on AI?

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[–] 31 points 2 days ago* (2 children)

You have to go cold turkey. Delete the apps and bookmarks, delete your account. Do things manually even if it's painful. Accept that sometimes you won't get everything you want right away.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 days ago

    Also: disable AI from all websites, such as Google/DuckDuckGo and YouTube. Don't know how to do this? What a perfect opportunity to practice old school Internet searching to find the answer!

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  • [+] [S] -11 points 2 days ago (3 children)

    I feel that too but sometimes I have tight deadlines, so I have to use AI. Luckily, I have started to double check the responses AI give to me and that gives me some satisfaction that I am getting my facts right.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 day ago

    If you don't use an LLM, what happens? You miss a deadline? You get a lower grade?

    If you do use an LLM, what happens? You get stupider.

    Would you rather be stupid on paper, or actually stupid?

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