Wondering if adults would be surprised by how often we heard teens say that really do NOT want AI to think for them. And yet: there's a tension in because sometimes it does. We're hearing about these dilemmas related to what researchers Steven Shaw and Gideon Nave call "cognitive surrender" but also about the efforts toward cognitive preservation.
Wondering how many times some version of "help me out" shows up in chat transcripts. Might be worth a search for this term in our data to see if it points to certain kinds of uses or contexts.
“I don't want it [AI] to think for me. So, if I can do it myself, I'll do it myself. If I can word it myself, I'll word it myself. If I need to look up synonyms, I will look them up. But if I'm having difficulty, wording a sentence, like, I have a meaning, but for some reason I can't get the words out in the correct order where it doesn't sound wordy, but it doesn't sound like I'm, you know, being too mean or whatever. Then I'm like, hey [AI], help me out.”
Citation: Nearfield. (2026, April). Spring 2026 Gen AI and social media listening loop [Collection of participant quotes]. Nearfield Listening Library. www.thenearfield.org/quotes/do-it-myself
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A record of youth quotes from our listening sessions, updated continuously. Preserved with care.