Life is often a dance of acceptance, where we just go with the flow and don’t question anything. We get caught up in our daily routines, and we don’t even realize that some of the things we accept as normal have an eerie dystopian vibe attached to them.
One Redditor asked, “What’s something that is accepted as normal but is really dystopian when you think about it?” Many users commented on this thread, and we have listed the most interesting ones for you!
1. The Feel-good Stories
A discerning Reddit user commented, “All of those “Feel good stories” about people working extra super duper hard just to barely scrape by. “Kids make a business to help another disabled child buy a wheelchair,” “Teacher runs out of PTO days fighting cancer, so the whole school district started to donate sick days,” “Man walks 15 miles for a job interview, the community raises money for a bicycle.””
Another replied, “I live in a different country now but visited my family in the US recently, and a story about a teenager trekking 2 hours to high school because his uncles’ car broke down and he couldn’t be driven that day stuck with me.
It was this weird “this responsible kid had his priorities straight and put in the effort for his education” It was so effing bizarre. And he got honored by the principal and met the mayor …. Maybe make school more accessible for the community?? Idk, it was so weird to watch because that type of coverage doesn’t happen where I live now.”
Sure, it’s great to hear about that one person who rose from rags to riches, but what about the millions of others who stay stuck in poverty? Are we just gonna pretend they don’t exist? That’s some messed up logic!
2. Subscriptions
Subscriptions have become so normal that we hardly bat an eye on it anymore!
One said, “Subscriptions on news websites and ones with actually good information is probably the most messed up one I’ve seen. I’m not paying $15 a month when I could either go on another website and find this exact information or ask someone who probably knows.”
Someone else added, “I recently made the mistake of “upgrading” to Windows 11, and by default, whenever you try to put files onto your computer, they upload to One Drive instead, and it doesn’t even tell you until you inevitably hit the very low cap for free storage.
Fortunately, it is possible to disable it, but it’s insane that they just do that by default. People who don’t know their way around computers just get tricked into a subscription plan for just having data on their computers, which is especially obnoxious at a time when hard drives are as cheap as they are and only getting cheaper.”
3. Ads
A Reddit user wrote, “Ads everywhere you look 24/7”
Another added, “I was watching a YouTube video on my tv earlier today and was interrupted by an ad while the guy in the video was talking about the sponsor of the video. I literally got an ad within an ad, and I actually remember thinking, before seeing this thread, how it was kind of dystopian how we’ve gotten used to this.”
Another person agreed and said, “Yup, I used to think that people were insane for paying for cable when it’s 80% commercials. But my streaming services all seem to be slowly bumping up how many ads you have to watch per show, too.”
Now, we’re trapped in this never-ending cycle of buying stuff we don’t actually want, all because some advert told us it would make us happier or much cooler!
4. Censoring Words
A Reddit user wrote, “Agreed. I really don’t like the idea of censoring mentioning death because it’s something we’re all going to face, and I don’t think we need to make it seem even more scary than it already is.”
Someone else replied, “Lol, my roommate has accidentally said “d-word” instead of “die” a few times and is always disgusted with himself after (rightfully so).”
Someone commented, “Agreed. It’s very dystopian to me that the need for something to be profitable has seeped into us so much that we change the language we use in day-to-day life because of it.”
Sure, there are some words that can be hurtful or offensive, but who gets to decide what we can and can’t say right?
5. Nature
Have you ever noticed how spending time in nature feels like a breath of fresh air? It’s like hitting the reset button on our souls. But here’s the thing: we’ve become so comfortable in our urban cocoons that we’ve forgotten the healing power of nature.
Someone on Reddit said, “How distanced we are from the natural world.”
Another responded, “The distance one, I feel wholeheartedly. We can live very good lives while still being connected to the natural world.”
6. Garbage
Someone shared, “The amount of trash we humans produce.”
Another person added, “As a child, my school took us to a waste center which, yes, included the dump but also the recycling center. We toured the place, and then they explained how long everything took to decompose. It was eye-opening and changed the way I look at garbage. I have never in my life been comfortable with single-use plastics.”
Our trash is wreaking havoc on the planet. It’s like we’re trashing the very home we depend on, and we’re too busy Instagramming our lattes to notice.
7. Healthcare and Employment
One said, “Tying healthcare to employment.”
Another replied, “It gives the impression you should only get healthcare to keep living if you’re working for someone else.”
A user responded, “Yeah, it’s crazy. And you’ll never get anyone to switch because, for 30 years, any change in healthcare means something steadily worse. So we’ll just keep hanging on to our dwindling employer-provided insurance for dear life because nobody trusts that it can be any better.”
Not everyone has a fancy job with great healthcare benefits. We are living in two separate worlds- the privileged few with access to decent healthcare and the rest who are left to fend for themselves.
8. Unemployment Benefits
One user shared, “Unemployment benefits tied to your last employer.”
Another added, “Unemployment benefits aren’t so much tied to your last employer, they’re a government benefit that your state mediates between you and your former employer, but if, for example, your former employer completely folds and goes bankrupt/into collections, you will still receive unemployment compensation (ask me how I know… Lol).”
One Reddit user wrote, “As an American. Allow me to say it IS insane. I wish more people understood this. Actually, I suspect more people than we realize do, but our media and politicians are completely captured by big business. So what are we gonna do.”
And here’s the truth: unemployment benefits can keep us stuck in dead-end jobs, not allowing us to explore new opportunities.
9. Homeless People
It’s mind-boggling how we’ve become so desensitized to seeing homeless people. We walk past them on the streets, ignoring their struggles, sipping our fancy lattes, and complaining about our first-world problems. How messed up is that?
Someone said, “Homelessness in countries with enough money to keep it from happening.”
Another added, “This and poverty in general. If you take care of your most vulnerable citizens, it would have a positive ripple effect on many other areas that negatively impact society.”
10. Cameras
We’re talking about cameras everywhere, and let us tell you, it’s a dystopian nightmare disguised as normality!
Someone said, “Cameras everywhere.. “1984”.”
Another commented, “Came here to say a combination of CCTV, doorbell cams, in-home cameras, dash cams, and when they’re not around, the humble smartphone cam.”
11. Anti-intellectualism
Anti-intellectualism is surely a crazy trend where being smart and knowledgeable is frowned upon! But hold up because this whole anti-intellectual vibe is far from normal- it’s straight-up bizarre.
One wrote, “Makes me think of Idiocracy. Feels like we’re not too far off!!”
Someone else agreed and said, “I’ve been saying for years that anti-intellectualism will be the thing that finally wipes out humanity. At least in wealthy nations, most of our biggest problems could be solved if we just listened to the experts.
I’m not saying to blindly trust authority, but when thousands of really smart people tell you not to jump in a big vat of acid and show you mountains of peer-reviewed research proving that people who jump in the big vat of acid die, it’s not being a “sheep” to not jump into the vat of acid.”
12. Low Wages
A Redditor wrote, “Working full time for a wage that won’t support a family.”
Someone said, “I remember seeing a post where somebody was complaining that one needed a 6 figure salary for just one person to have just a decent life. They said they were making 72k/year and claimed they were barely scraping by. How out of touch/spoiled do you have to be?
Last year I made something like 24k over the course of the year, and while I wasn’t exactly super-comfortable, I was still able to survive and even enjoy my free time. Like seriously. The idea that a brand new car every 2 years AND a 6-bed 4-bath mansion AND the latest model of iPhone among myriad other luxury items is actually necessary for a happy life is part of what is ruining our society.”
Have you ever noticed how the cost of living keeps rising, but our wages barely budge? All while we work to make ends meet barely!
13. Reality TV
First off, have you ever stopped to think about what we’re actually watching on these reality tv shows? It’s a weird mix of drama, fake relationships, and cringe-worthy moments, right?
One user said, “Remember when EdTV and The Truman Show came out, and everyone was like, “Wow! What a wild concept – a normal person whose life is filmed 24/7, and strangers get emotionally invested in this unremarkable person’s daily life!”
Another person shared similar thoughts and mentioned, “That garbage just started the downfall of society.”
14. Credit Scores
Credit scores are often shrouded in mystery and unfairness. We’re left scratching our heads, wondering how a missed payment or a high credit utilization ratio can turn our financial dreams into a nightmare.
Someone commented, “I have a rating listed as “fair” but they said it would be better if I used credit… like the fact I’ve had multiple monthly payments over the course of over a decade and have always had a positive balance? Bad financing cause I didn’t require credit.
They do, however, love the balls off the fact I’m registered to vote… I could vote for Kim Jong Un, and the credit company will mark that down as being a responsible adult and good with money. Alright then.”
Someone else added, “I’m convinced that credit is just arbitrarily calculated, and whatever the algorithm spits at you is what you get. The reason I say this is because I used to work at a financial company that dealt with personal loans. Part of my job was running credit to see who qualified. This gave me an intimate look at people’s credit histories.
The amount of people I encountered who had high income but crippling debt ($50k+ in credit cards, multiple car loans, high mortgage), etc. but still had scores in the high 600s to the low 700s was baffling. Compare this to someone who made a lower wage but only had one small auto loan and maybe a low-balanced credit card, and their score was in the 500s – virtually useless.
Then you’d have people with bankruptcies, multiple derogatory marks (some as high as 90 days), collections accounts, and all that fun stuff who were still in the 600s. It was like lighting a painting on fire until almost nothing was left and an art evaluator saying, “Yeah, it’s still decent”. It made no sense.
I decided to run my own credit and my sister’s credit for fun. At this time, I had an open auto loan, a previous auto loan that had been fully paid off, and a credit card with less than a $1000 balance on it. I had about 6 years of credit history behind my back. No missed payments, average credit usage, and fully clean report. My score was around 750 or so.
I ran my sisters’ credit, who had only 1 credit card she acquired about a year prior that she used maybe once per month at most, and hers was over 800. Yes, my score was considered high, but at the same time, my sister with virtually no credit history for an institution to look at compared to my multi-year-long history of responsible financial management. Yet hers was somehow higher.
After witnessing hundreds and hundreds of people’s credit and credit histories, I cannot be convinced that there is any logic to credit scores. It seems completely random and is a terrible way to gauge creditworthiness.”
15. Food!
One user said, “In Canada, we have a grocery store chain called Loblaws, and a lot of the workers have to go to food banks. Imagine working at a store that sells food and not being able to afford to eat. So ridiculous.”
Another replied, “I remember working at an organic vegetarian Cafe where I couldn’t afford to eat off the plates I cleaned, so I was literally eating customer’s half-eaten meals in the dish pit while listening to the owner up front giving an interview about how affordable and sustainable organic food was compared to GMOs.”
The rising cost of food puts a strain on our wallets and perpetuates inequality. Yeah, you read that right. Access to healthy and affordable food shouldn’t be a luxury!
16. Corporation Rights
We’re talking about a system where big businesses can throw their weight around to influence laws in our everyday lives. We truly live in a dystopian world where the people’s voice takes a backseat to the bottom line of corporate profits.
Someone said, “Corporations being considered people and having more rights than real human beings.”
Another responded, “Obviously, I’ve known about corporations my whole life, but it wasn’t until we covered them in depth in my college courses that I realized how goofy the idea is.
We have this entity that is full of people doing jobs towards common goals, and we’re going to treat that whole group of people like it’s one person while also conceptually separating that group-person we’ve created from all of the people that make it a group-person. And then we’re going to give that group-person rights that the people it’s made up of don’t even have themselves.”
17. No Privacy
A discerning Reddit user commented, “The complete lack of privacy we have in 2023. People can record you in public for their TikTok, and everyone will say, “BUT ITS LEGAL!!”
Another replied, “This one bugs me so much. A few years ago, I was in the mall getting some food in the food court, and this guy had taken a pic of me without me knowing. He then posted it on Twitter, asking if anyone knew who I was and how to get a hold of me.
Someone commented with my full name and where I worked at. Our city isn’t too big so you know a lot of the same people and my friend happened to come across it and told me.
I felt so violated and uncomfortable. I get that it’s totally legal, but it feels so wrong. I also see videos and pics taken of people making fun of them. It’s become socially acceptable to record people in public without their permission or knowledge.”
It’s like we’ve accepted the fact that our personal lives are an open book, but let us tell you the truth: this whole no-privacy situation is far from normal!
18. Billionaires
A Redditor wrote, “The existence of billionaires whilst so many people are living in poverty. Justified cause they supposedly “work harder” or “earned it”. It’s disgusting.”
Another replied, “And the fact that once you have a certain amount of money, you can have that money make you much more money than most others earn by working for a living.”
Do you think the lives and ways of billionaires are justified because they worked hard to do that well?
19. Debt
The debt game is rigged against us. We’re lured into taking on more debt with promises of a better life. We’re told that borrowing money is necessary to achieve our dreams, but in reality, it’s a trap that keeps us enslaved to banks!
Someone on Reddit said, “Normalization of debt.”
Someone commented, “was gonna say credit scores, and that’s a big part of it. “Wait, why’s my score so low? I have no debt?!” “No, but see, you need debt to have a score” “But I just pay for things I can afford directly…?”
Another person pitched in to say, “No, No, No, you need to get some debt but not too much debt. And paying off your debt entirely and letting the accounts close is also bad. We recommend approximately 10 open accounts with about 15% debt and NOT A PENNY MORE, SO HELP ME GOD, AN EXTRA SNICKERS BAR ON YOUR CREDIT CARD BALANCE WILL LOWER YOUR SCORE.
Anyway. As you can see, it’s all very logical and straightforward and a perfectly reasonable request that we make of people in our society as a pre-requisite to have access to housing.”
20. Social Media Dominance
Someone on Reddit said, “Prevalence of social media in daily life.”
Someone commented, “I didn’t allow my kids to have social media. They’re 15 and 17 and still don’t want it. It makes me so happy. I’m sure eventually they’ll use it, but I’m glad they’re not obsessed.”
Another responded, “Live in the US. And just raised them to be interested in different and more productive things. Taught them the dangers of social media. I don’t really use socials, either. Only socials I ever had deactivated because I got sick of the same bs; couple of weeks later, got on here.
Finding it to be better. Not so negative and repetitive. A lot more informative and surprisingly educational. Socials are just way too dangerous and toxic for teenagers, especially girls.”
Have you ever stopped to think about how much time we spend scrolling and comparing ourselves to others on social media platforms? Do you think we are living in a world where our self-worth is measured by the number of followers, likes, and comments we get?
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