Students spontaneously use language and metaphors of addiction to describe their AI use, framed as loss of control rather than enjoyment¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · qualitativer3·q2
Currency · newest study 2026 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · recheck by 2031: baselines and conditions change
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q2 i? Several participants spontaneously described their AI experiences using the language of addiction, never introduced by interviewers, characterizing use as a loss of control. → Kate Hamilton 2026
Evidence¶
Kate Hamilton 2026¶
Kate Hamilton, Irene Hou, Dev Patel, Sheena Nnam, Hena Patel, and Stephen MacNeil. (2026). “Stuck in a Spiral”: Shame and Guilt as Social Regulators of AI Use in Computing Education. https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.14920 doi:10.48550/arxiv.2606.14920
q2 · i? · qualitative · r3
Results on addiction metaphors: in the interview study, "several participants spontaneously described their experiences using the language of addiction," and students "did not describe addiction as enjoyment or engagement, but rather as a loss of control over their own behavior."
"To make sense of these cycles, several participants spontaneously described their experiences using the language of addiction. The word ‘addiction’ was never introduced by interviewers."
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Agency metaphors expressed fear that GenAI steals human agency and threatens jobs, reflecting a binary human-versus-machine model — related
- Qualities metaphors depicted GenAI as unknowable, unreliable and unbounded, with participants unsettled by its opacity — related
- Role metaphors positioned GenAI as helper, learning partner, and friend/foe, with a high proportion combining friend and foe — related
- Collaborative metaphor workshops helped higher education staff and students make sense of GenAI and raised their awareness of its ethical dimensions — related
- Shame and guilt coexist with continued AI use, creating self-reinforcing cycles of reliance, concealment, and self-critique rather than behavior change — a broader claim this one bears on
- Shame and guilt regulate the visibility of AI use: students engage in hiding behaviors and selective disclosure rather than open disclosure — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
addiction-metaphors-ai-use |
title |
Students spontaneously use language and metaphors of addiction to describe their AI use, framed as loss of control rather than enjoyment |
description |
Students spontaneously use language and metaphors of addiction to describe their AI use, framed as loss of control rather than enjoyment |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2026 |
recheck_by |
2031 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-11 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — kate-hamilton-2026 |
Frontmatter is the page's machine-readable record — see the Schema & Guide.