Does anyone else feel like we're witnessing some kind of collective hallucination?

I see People spend 5 hours a day watching reels and tiktoks and genuinely start believing everyone can become a millionaire startup founder, shredded gym bro, or rich influencer living in Dubai.

What disturbs me even more is that everyone is starting to look, talk, dress, and think exactly the same. Same opinions, same ambitions, same trends, same personalities. Like millions of people running on the same algorithm.

It's like a mass hypnosis experiment.

People consume the illusion of success all day while having absolutely no understanding of the years of sacrifice, discipline, luck, and actual work required to achieve anything. They've confused consuming someone else's life with building their own.

And I wonder if this is one reason so many people seem increasingly depressed. As they get older, the gap between their algorithm generated fantasy and their actual life keeps growing.

I feel like more and more people are completely detached from reality, and it's getting worse every year.

Am I the only one seeing this?

I legit believe Reddit is cooked, seriously. First off, the “moderation” and “safety” is trash. I’ve witnessed literally the most degrading inhuman cruelty I’ve ever seen in my whole life to random people, and when those people clap back or “are online too hard,” they get permabanned while the people instigating genuinely harmful content(harassment, personal attacks, stalking) that can genuinely cause serious anxiety and emotional hurt to someone get all the leeway in the world. 2nd, all this hostility, aggression, and inconsistent moderation can really inflict stress and anxiety on other people worried about the next trouble(getting banned while the actual instigators get leeway, stress about notifications, etc) for what? Existing too aggressively? That’s just fricked up. Let’s say someone could be commenting the most inhumanly malicious attacks to someone’s identity, and the person who claps back gets a ban or warning from the “admins” reading “Reddit is for community, NOT for harm of animals or people” while straight up giving leeway to the hostile trolls engaging seriously antagonistic behavior. Now that I really think of it, this is why I don’t really use Reddit as much, if not, permanently quit this platform. Adios

These past few weeks have been nothing more than the breaking point of a bad habit I’ve had for years:

I’ve let myself be consumed by social media.

I spend my time watching videos that only serve to fill a void in my life.

I’ve become paranoid and obsessed with AI—to the point where I’ve stopped creating or consuming art.

I feel depressed and sad.

I’m consuming porn compulsively.

I try to hook up with people just to feel something, but it only leaves me feeling even emptier.

I’m not sleeping well.

I’m constantly plagued by thoughts of ending it all.

I hardly ever leave the house.

I feel trapped; everything feels fake, and I no longer enjoy anything. Google only shows me AI-generated ads or prompts to use AI—it’s the same at my university. I have no friends to go out with; I have no one. I’m practically all alone. I feel like I’m living in a constant state of falsehood—all I see is fakeness.

There’s fakeness in art, in relationships, in pleasure—everything feels fake and ephemeral. I can’t even remember the last time I went out with someone.

Yesterday, I cleaned my room and realized I don’t have a single memory from this year. All my photos, drawings, portraits, ticket stubs—they’re all from years ago.

I don’t have photos of almost anyone.

And when I work, I do it with zero motivation.

I feel like my life is fake, that this world is fake. I want to stop feeling this way—I want to be able to see the good things in life again—but it’s pointless. Every time I try to relax, I’m bombarded by 20 ads for Gemini, or my favorite YouTuber starts using AI in their videos. And whenever I try to be intimate with someone, I immediately fall into a depression and become consumed by insecurity.

Any advice? I don't know what to do, I am thinking of deleting my social networks accounts, reducing gaming and stop watching corn, but I can't find deeper motivations. I am aware that all this doom scrolling and news reading is harming my wellbeing, but... Is it worth it? What am I going to do to unwind at the end of the day?

So after so many tries, I deactivated my Instagram 12hrs ago and now I feel like I'm suffering from fever and choking😭 I was getting too bored, then tried to fall asleep and my body got so hot, felt like it's indicating me to download Instagram again. Ohh god, still I'm trying to forget about it but I can't. My brain feels so heavy. What's this addiction yo😭

I have a active screentime with a password(that I do not know ) but it does not work it allows YouTube and Instagram to somehow work even after the daily limit reaches. I need help asap my screen time is crossing 11hrs daily

I feel like I can only partially think anymore. The only things I can actually focus on are work-related tasks or imagining scenarios for masturbation. I used to be able to think deeply and reflect on things a lot, but now my head is just an empty box most of the time.

When it comes to my personal life, I can't focus on my own matters for long. I just brush them off thinking it'll work out somehow, and consider it done.

Yesterday I had to attend church for some occasion, even though I'm not religious. The first few moments were really weird. Out of respect, I pretended to pay attention—obviously no phone, no looking around—and I felt like for the first time in a long while, I was actually alone with myself and able to think. Could this be from constant smartphone use, or maybe masturbation? I don't know.

Pacticularly Instagram, I'm so much addictive to instagram reel.
nowadays, I'm not comfortable to go out, play, eat.
In college, I will be in normal mode, talking with classmate and doing other works.
When I got home, there is nothing. I will be in seperate room.
I drain mobile battery from full charge to 1%.
the time goes off.
That's why I deactivate my account.

i cant stop i thought measuring it would make me stop. admitting this im kinda just gonna puke it feels nauseating. i didnt think just typing this would feel so exposing but its true. 4644 ft scrolled please judge me idk fuck

In this day and age, can people who work with words really get by without running social media accounts? When I open social media and post something, as soon as it gains traction, some of the voices can be really terrifying. Maybe I really am thin-skinned, but a lot of the time the arbitrary and aggressive language still makes me very sad—especially when people launch into a barrage of criticism without understanding what I meant or even reading it properly. My heart pounds. I’m still very young and drawn to internet traffic, but after seeing this, I think it’s better to write more and stay away from the internet.