The Invisible Knight

How AI Became My Mental Health Shield

We all know the feeling. You wake up, check your phone, and see it:

A comment. A post. A direct attack on your identity, your community, or your country.

As an Israeli living through this current period, my feed is often a difficult place to be. The toxicity isn't just noise; it feels personal. The instinctive reaction is visceral. Your heart rate spikes. You want to type a furious, raw response right there and then. You want to defend your truth.

But I know that engaging with that raw emotion will only drain me, leaving me angry and exhausted before I’ve even finished my morning coffee.

So, I have developed a new ritual. Before I grab my keys and head to work, I turn to an unexpected ally. My "Invisible Knight."

I use Gemini to handle these engagements, but not in the way you might think. I don't just ask it to "write a response."

The "Raw Input" Ritual

I type exactly what I am feeling. I pour my raw, unfiltered, often angry thoughts into the prompt. I tell the AI exactly what I want to say, without worrying about tone or diplomacy. Then, I ask it to take the *gist* of my argument, the core truth I want to convey and translate it into a polite, sourced, and logical rebuttal.

The Asymmetry of Effort

This is where the magic happens. There is a profound sense of calm in meeting aggression with composure. The other side is often typing in fury, using slurs and slogans. My "Invisible Knight" helps me respond with historical citations and calm reasoning. It turns a screaming match into a lecture and restores the feeling of having the moral high ground.

The "Press Secretary" Effect

When I post that refined response, I feel a profound sense of distance. If they attack the comment, they are attacking the logic, not me personally. It creates a buffer. It allows me to observe the debate objectively rather than drowning in it.

Automating Resilience

By the time I get in the car to drive to work, the situation is handled. I haven't suppressed my feelings, I expressed them, but I didn't let them drag me down into the mud.

We often talk about AI replacing jobs or improving productivity. We rarely talk about AI as a tool for emotional regulation. For me, it has become a "Hazmat Suit" for the internet. It allows me to stand up for what I believe in without getting burned by the toxicity.

I don't use it to "win" every internet argument. I use it so I can start my workday feeling calm, knowing that I didn't let the hate silence me, but I also didn't let it ruin my day.

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