Blaming alternatives/escapism has always seemed like a knee-jerk reaction to me. Similar head-space as when we used to blame TV. Particularly because when I leave the house I don't see much of any room for socialization (though that's where I live, sparse plus I have issues stacked up). It'd even be a hassle to go bowling alone and it'd not be worth the price for me either.

Then again, I definitely think there's a valid argument that this is worse after people begin to consider it a relationship... because at that point they might consider too much close conversation to being unfaithful to their AI.