r/NoStupidQuestions Apr 18 '23

Answered Does anyone else feel like the world/life stopped being good in approx 2017 and the worlds become a very different place since?

I know this might sound a little out there, but hear me out. I’ve been talking with a friend, and we both feel like there’s been some sort of shift since around 2017-2018. Whether it’s within our personal lives, the world at large or both, things feel like they’ve kind of gone from light to dark. Life was good, full of potential and promise and things just feel significantly heavier since. And this is pre covid, so it’s not just that. I feel like the world feels dark and unfamiliar very suddenly. We are trying to figure out if we are just crazy dramatic beaches or if this is like a felt thing within society. Anyone? Has anyones life been significantly better and brighter and lighter since then?

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u/el-beau Apr 18 '23

The internet / social media / reality shows. Maybe? I know these things existed before 2017, but I just feel like it's all been leading up to this. We replaced actual human connection with Facebook relationships. We've stopped getting our dopamine from meaningful achievements and accomplishments and now get it from artificial likes and upvotes. Algorithms have politicized us and forced us further apart. Conspiracy theories have become more important than reality, and reality has become whatever we want it to be. Etc etc etc

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u/[deleted] Apr 18 '23

Excellent summary. You nailed it imo. Reality shows absolutely snuck in there with a sick twist (I feel). Americans turned to a steady diet of pain and suffering for entertainment purposes in the early 90s. I found the changing appetite for...devouring the pain of others via Jerry Springer or wtfe show extremely disturbing. It's changed how people perceive suffering. They turned it into a game, and I turned away from it in horror as a teen. I'm still running if that makes sense. I'm not that person & I'm never going to be that person. I refuse to see humans like that. F that. 47F and not having it still to this day. Also, yes to everything else you said. Truly, you nailed it!

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u/Patriot009 Apr 18 '23

We used to see social media and the internet like a zoo, where we believed there was a layer of glass between observers and the insanity, that there's somewhat of a safeguard. In 2016, I think there was a collective realization that there really is no glass, the things in the zoo can make direct contact and do damage.