companions

Companions are individuals or animals that accompany another person, typically providing company, support, or assistance. The term covers informal friendships as well as formal arrangements, including paid companionship, caregiving, or service roles. Human companions can be friends, partners, aides, travel mates, or attendants who share time and activities with someone else. Animal companions include pets and service animals such as guide dogs, therapy animals, or assistive pets that help with mobility, vision, hearing, or emotional support.

Digital or virtual companions describe software agents, chatbots, or AI programs designed to interact with people, offer reminders, or provide companionship online or through devices. These forms are increasingly integrated into health, education, and customer service contexts, though they differ from human contact in scope and depth.

Companionship can contribute to social well-being by reducing loneliness, promoting participation in daily life, and enhancing safety in some settings. In caregiving and eldercare, companions may provide conversation, activities, monitoring, and respite for families. In disability support, service animals and assistive devices broaden independence and participation.

In fiction and media, companions are characters who accompany protagonists on journeys, creating narrative dynamics and providing skills, information, or moral counterpoints. In games, companion characters often offer strategic advantages, dialogue options, and character progression.

Ethical considerations encompass animal welfare, informed consent and autonomy for human companions, appropriate boundaries and privacy, fair compensation where applicable, and safeguards against exploitation or dependency.

See also: companionship, pet ownership, caregiver, assistant, ally.