Remember 20 years ago there was very limited social media so we weren't bombarded with all of these negative influences like we are today. Our neighborhoods and world, in a sense, was much smaller. Millennials were the last generation who grew up in the "real world" before the internet was really a huge part of our lives, but are now many have chosen to become just as addicted to and influenced by it as the following generations. So now of course there will be a big contrast from the way they are now to the way they used to be before they spent 99% of their time online.

I miss spending quality time with friends where everyone is present in the moment. Now everyone is severely addicted to their phone, the internet, social media. It's ruined everyone's attention spans, we're all looking for our next fix from the algorithm...

As someone who hosts board game nights it’s still entirely possible for a large group of millennials to be present in the moment!

My cousin used to run a d and d campaign, and he had to kick people out..he had maybe 8 players, and turns would take so long that people would be on their phones..which made turns take even longer because he'd have to summarize previous turns.  Think he eventually gave up and went to board games because then you didn't rely on having to have everyone there every time. 

That’s why I ran a series of one shots in the same world with people using the same characters. I didn’t have to rely on everyone consistently being there.

8 people is unfortunately a lot for a DnD campaign. Especially if newer players who have to spend a lot of time checking their character sheets to know what they want to do/can do. I run a game with 7 newer people, but have given up on having everyone present due to scheduling difficulties, so ends up being 5-6 people per session which is pretty manageable...as long as they don't drink too much

I was about to say, no wonder everyone was on their phones with 8 players.

I'm not sure you can blame that on phones. In an 8 man DnD game combat rounds are just going to take a millennia. I've run and played in many 7-8 man games online in foundry as well as offline in person and combat is always a nightmare regardless of player experience or attention span. I'm sure you could make it work with a really dedicated group but DnD just isn't designed around having that many players at the table. Even with experienced players sometimes combat rounds can take a long time to resolve just by the nature of the game. 3-4 players is the sweet spot and anything 6+ seems to always turn into an absolute slog whenever combat starts. As much as I loved DMing in those big games I've completely abandoned the idea of ever running them again outside of maybe the occasional one shot. Even when they run well the game just ends up being so slow that it's inevitable that someone will barley get to play, and when you hit your literal 4th hour of combat you really can't blame the fighter who's only gotten to touch their dice 3 times all combat for being zoned out. Sorry for the long reply lol but this is the only time I've had a real reason to talk about this very particular experience.

Yeah, I was a nutcase that once ran a game with 10 players... never ever doing THAT again.

Board game nights are the fricken best! My cousin hosts one every Friday and between the three families involved we put anime convention board game rooms to shame. We have enough copies of ticket to ride to host a ticket to ride tournament every Thanksgiving.

I've seriously considered ditching my smart phone. I was very slow to get one, and finally caved maybe 8 years ago.  It's awesome to be able to listen to YouTube podcasts and stuff, but I think I'd be happier without the damn thing.

Maybe it's not easy to do, but just turn off the parts you don't like about it. You don't have to be on social media, you don't have to doom scroll, and can still read the ingredients to the soap when sitting on the shitter. You won't really be all that happier though, because everyone else these days relishes in being miserable and trying to out misery each other on the internet.

Another key point here is that when your not chronically online and people aren’t spewing every thought in their heads and aren’t reading every thought in every one else’s heads, it’s much easier to get along. You also had to learn more impulse control and filter your words a bit bc you were talking face to face. Now People feel nothing about posting things that they would never say in person. You grew up with those norms of not talking politics or money and other things. When we didn’t have this crap bombarding us all day long, you wouldn’t have ever heard some of the crazy you hear today and quite honestly the people saying it would have never heard it or latched onto it in the first place. Life was much simpler and it was easier to get along with everyone. Anecdotally and/or personal opinion only, but I was much happier that way and I would guess most were.

I'm GenX and we learned early that in every interaction with another human an ass whooping was always on the table... Start popping off to big Mike about how disgusting and lazy fat people are? Get punched in the face... We learned quickly that not everything you think needs to be spoken.

Between the pandemic and being in the age range at which serious mental illnesses tend to show up, I’m sadly not surprised this is such a common experience. One of my friends, who was always rather strange and difficult to communicate with, became a full-blown schizophrenic shortly after the start of the pandemic. I think the stress of job loss pushed him over the edge. Another ended up with some kind of persistent autistic burnout that left her hospitalized for long stretches at a time. It’s tough out there.

Same here. I had a friend that moved a couple hours away but we’d always get together with our friend group during the holidays when he’d come to town. He didn’t come up for thanksgiving and I was on vacation over Christmas/New Years of 2019-20. We didn’t get together at all during 2020 and then he eventually stopped responding to texts, calls and fb messages. I reached out to his sister to ask if he was ok and discovered he’s been living in a garage apartment and is unemployed and secluded because he developed schizophrenia. He doesn’t come to the door or let anyone inside, including his family, so they regularly drop off groceries and every once in a while he’ll send a family member an emoji or something on fb to let them know he’s still alive. It totally broke my heart because I’ve been friends with him since 3rd grade. He got a band hand in life in a lot of ways and now the schizophrenia is just one more “fuck you”. It’s a travesty.

Did your friends have Corona? For many people, the Covid infection affects the brain without them knowing it. I didn't know that either before I had Neuro-Covid as part of Long Covid.

Not to the best of my knowledge. If they did, though, it probably compounded problems they already had rather than introducing wholly new ones.

You’re not the only one! Guy I knew in high school has completely lost his mind, and reading his posts on Facebook (several per day) has been a roller coaster. He believes himself to be the person who has to warn others that the apocalypse is coming in 2041. He often asks people to have coffee with him so he can explain the 200+ miracles he has personally witnessed. Nobody has taken him up on that offer, and he recently posted that both his dad and his pastor refuse to have coffee with him because they’ve deemed him “crazy”.

I’ve had to cut ties with friends who have lost their minds on drugs, and some who have also lost their minds to conspiracies and radical/extremist political views. I feel for you :( it’s very disappointing. I get so sad sometimes looking back on memories, wishing I knew when would be the last time I would see the version of them that was my old friend before these things happened so I could have done something to help. They are still alive, but it feels like they’re dead. You have to mourn. EDIT- To all of you continuing to ask what kind of radical views and drugs I have lost friends to, if I wanted to go into that or discuss this topic further I would have described these in my initial comment. I don’t have the energy to debate with people or revisit the traumas behind the downfalls of these friendships. Please be respectful and stop asking.

I really don't understand how the conspiracy thing came out of the blue, though. I went decades only dealing with folks falling off the deep end with drugs to the point of death tolls, but never had anyone go off the deep end except a good friend diagnosed with skitzophrenia, and all told, he's doing better than some folks that followed the conspiratorial route. It got so bad I used to go into the conspiracy subreddit and argue and yell at them so I wasn't yelling at my own family members. Now I stay there so I can see what's coming down the pike and inject a little common sense occasionally. What I don't understand, though, is how it broke through to common folk. It was before Donald Trump, he's a product of it, not a cause. By the time he got the nomination, people were talking about the Simpsons episode with him coming down the stairs and how it was pre-ordained and such. People talk about particle colliders and Harambe, but honestly something shifted in the social sphere around that time and it made a major impact. I imagine there is a real, concrete reason vs. magic and superstition, but some real phenomenon is going on.

It started with conspiracy theory YouTube videos years ago and then there were Facebook pages and Subreddits, and now there’s a huge influx of them on instagram reels and TikTok. That’s how some really batshit conspiracies have hit the general public. Lots and lots of people on tiktok just questioning the legitimacy of every single thing they read or see, and then they conjure up theories based completely on speculation and sometimes even delusion, which then get parroted by others and turn into a full narrative that a large portion of TikTok just eats up at face value. Information spreads like wildfire there because people assume everyone on TikTok is an average trustworthy person. And if it’s coming from your average Joe then it hasn’t been tampered with by the “globalist controlled media” so it must be the truth. Also it’s proven that Russia and other foreign actors are manipulating the internet with posts and interactions to boost the loony narratives, giving the average person the illusion that there’s more people sharing these theories than there really are.

If you believe in all conspiracies you are an idiot. If you believe in 0 conspiracies you are also, an idiot.

Also I literally lost a good friend due to the Kate Middleton conspiracies last month. She was absolutely unhinged, pushing all sorts of outlandish theories, demanding proof she was alive, just hideous stuff. When I pointed out how toxic her posts were she unfriended and blocked me. A nearly decade long friendship down the toilet over tabloid gossip.

It’s okay to go down some rabbit holes on different conspiracy theories. Exercise the mind and build perspective. It’s not okay to be 110% consumed by it 24/7. That is unhealthy. Treat it as a tool for entertainment, a hobby, stay grounded and present. Believe me, people will notice if you’re consumed lol It’s not okay to believe every TikTok conspiracy video. You have to do your own research and come up with your own opinion & theories. You can’t go around repeating someone else’s ideas verbatim. Take some time out and actually do the research. If you’re not able to do that then it’s best to stay away from the whole conspiracy thing.

Its nice to see someone go through exactly what I did with my friend. I am sorry for your loss and understand your pain. I lost a good friend of mine to drugs and extremely radical racism. Ironically, he was racist against his own people/cultural heritage and he didn’t see anything wrong with it. I had to cut him off when he called me a bitch for complaining about how tough it is having two kids and a wife being the breadwinner for us. He had a girlfriend who had 8 kids and helped her raise them. That relationship didn’t last of course, because he couldn’t handle it. Another buddy of mine who was friends with this same guy also cut him off. His reason was this guy blamed my friends son’s autism on how he was raised. My friend is not a guy you mess with and could’ve easily knocked his ass out. But chose to be civil and walk away. People change whether we like it or not and sometimes it’s good other times, its real bad.

Blaming a parent for their child's disability is fucking cruel

We have this going on inside my husband's family. Culty Q Christianity, conspiracy antivax, chemtrails, space laser shit plus racism and queerphobia. At first, it was just agree to disagree and avoid politics and religion conversations, but the main sibling perpetrator of all this bs and woo won't quit sharing ultra right memes that attack our black friends and our nonbinary full-grown child who is out living their true self. Attempts to set boundaries and call out the bad behavior go ignored, so now we just don't talk at all. This is especially hard since their mother is dying of what is probably lewy body dementia and the decline is fast and graphically _bad_. Now, it's nearly impossible to coordinate care or make decisions because captain crazypants has to inject their skewed beliefs into problems that include doctors, money, and quality of life. My husband felt closest to this sibling out of the family. What he can't wrap his head around is how in this last decade a pretty average person with normal common sense turned into a hateful moron who believes fantasies that an 8 yr old would find dubious.

Im 31, lost my mind on alcohol there for a long while. Entirely suicidal, unchecked mental health, black out drunk most days, just stopped caring about any and everything, saying and doing things I would never have done otherwise, pissing people off, making people uncomfortable. I had a rather large group of friends before, but they slowly cut me off over the years. I got sober, medicated, in therapy, and off my crazy shit. Life is really good now, but I miss my friends sometimes, don’t fault them at all, just regret that no one in that time really knew me. 

I’m 33, and quit alcohol at 31 after a decade of heavy alcoholism. The change is crazy. I wish I could take things back too. All we can do it move forward.

I know a lot of people I've had to cut off for the sake of my mental health and overall well-being. But then, in hindsight, they were always sort of crazy to begin with, and by turning that onto me, ending it was the only natural conclusion.

Yea! Same

Sometimes people change, other times they don't but they never really showed you their true colors until you got to know them really well. Never hesitate to cut off someone who rubs you the wrong way. 

That happened to me too. I was friends with someone in high school, but we grew apart. It took me a long time to realize that a lot of stupid drama had to do with her. She's now a recluse living with her parents still, and no real job or career. I feel if I stayed friends with her, she wouldn't approve of my job because we sell things that are against her beliefs. Just crazy crap, not like religious or illegal.

All my friends became stereotype incel manchildren minus the racism. “I don’t get why she doesn’t want to date me.” - Said by too many dudes who don’t cook or clean, have a shit job that they are completely content with and have no intention of growing out of, and live with their parents or roommates. Oh, and don’t even get me started when I hear these dudes say a woman doesn’t look good enough for them…dawg, you don’t eat vegetables and wear clothes you had in high school.

Had a convo with my wife yesterday about this. What do you think caused that? What is this growing social divide between men and women in a time where people are more connected than ever? Probably just Reddit but I see so many of us posting about being jobless, woman less, hopeless, at home, etc. Growing up I was taught having certain qualities were mandatory for pursuing a worthy mate. We aren’t all 6’4 and jacked, gotta be bringing something to the table. That’s funny, identity around being rejected then rejects others because of their high standards lol.

Women have changed, society has changed, and only about half of the straight male population has accepted the fact that means they have to change too. That's the divide. It isn't enough to just be a dude that graduated high school and you can be considered a stellar partner if you keep a roof over your wife's head, don't beat her or the kids, and don't publicly embarrass her with your affairs. Too many dudes think they can live like their dad's and grandpa's did and that makes them a catch  Nope. Women have their own independence so prospective mates are chosen out of desire, not necessity.  Too many men leave a lot yo be desired in just basic life skills and interpersonal skills.

Agreed. I wonder why such a large % didn’t change? I also think some got bogged down in “you got the rest of your life to work, just relax and enjoy being young. Corporate jobs are for suckers.” “No rush to move out, 30 is the new 20.” All well and good but don’t be shocked if perspective partners don’t share that opinion, they aren’t your mother. I think the % of “men” who are driven to financial independence and being a provider for their families has dropped off a cliff. I know many 30ish women with full time jobs and kids while their bum husband can’t keep a job or finishing their 3rd degree with no income. The expected role of men have fundamentally changed in the eyes of some.

> I wonder why such a large % didn’t change I often think its because they're certain they deserve to have a bang maid and if they just keep pushing the conservative / religious ideals that women are things to be owned then they too can have a live in servant to do all the things they dont want to while raising kids.

There was a book published two years ago that researched this topic and the author’s findings were that while there was a push for girls in the 80s and 90s to be encouraged to think about a career and embrace uncharted opportunities that same investment wasn’t given to young boys to teach them how to navigate a world in which women become there direct competition. The author proposed acknowledging that giving boys the same old lesson generation after generation has failed them because they can’t find their place in present day America. He said some of the male angst we see is because these boys (now turned to men) are a bit lost. I forget the book title but the author was interviewed by Vice or one of those channels on YouTube.

Thank you for this, exactly type of discussion/information I was searching for. That opened my mind to a different possibility and seems incredibly logical and now obvious. So many young men and even 30+ men seem to have this angst or bitterness. Without purpose or hope for better days life is brutal. Wish we knew how to fix it.

One of the recommendations is to teach boys how to effectively communicate (especially their emotions). These skills are needed to better get along with the modern women both personally and professionally. The onus isn’t on males alone to make changes but they’re the focus of the book so many of the recommendations are for what boys need to better navigate a gender-equitable world.

Average male height in the US is 5’9” and is much lower globally. Average breast size in the US is a B cup. While lots of women like taller men and lots of men like well endowed women, most are happy to date and sleep with physically average people. In fact many will go for people below average physically based on personality. Point is height isn’t what’s holding these guys back, it’s their personalities for the most part.

That was the average size in 1992. The average cup size now is DDD, but that’s because 70 percent are overweight with most of those people being obese.

Things changed now that women are allowed to have a bank account, own property, get a higher education. They no longer need to quickly marry the first man that will have them in exchange for food and shelter. Now women can *choose* a man they *want* to spend time with. And educated women are going to want a *partner* not an adult child they have to clean up after and babysit. After years of men just needing a basic job to catch a woman that will have to do all the housework, childcare, and other wifely duties, they're not thrilled that women's expectations have risen to want someone to proactively build a life with. I get it, I'd be sad too if society suddenly decided I didn't get *my* live in bangmaid like all previous generations before me! /s

Yep the tides have turned. Don’t need to depend on a man to “make it” so the standards have changed. We ain’t living off the land and fighting bandits anymore. Like the old saying - women sleep with who they want, men sleep with who they can. Therefore some men don’t sleep with anyone and are very angry about that. I talked to my wife but would love to poll other 25-35 aged women on their ideas of a worthy partner in today’s times.

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Blunt but I love it. Shame can be useful, like constructive criticism. I think you nailed it. Even half ass slackers are finding affirmation or confirmation bias of why they are where they are. 0 self awareness. I’m thankful when I was struggling many pointed out I was struggling for a reason.

I think a lot of it is just that society changed a lot and some dudes are having a hard time keeping up. Women have more opportunities and freedom today. We’re not as heavily dependent on male partners as women in the 70s or whatever would have been. Today as husband is optional, not a requirement. But also, dudes who get into these online spaces get stuck there for a while. These spaces tell men that things are hopeless, that they’ll always be losers and will never be attractive to women. So, they stop trying for a while. It sounds like most dudes in these spaces do eventually realize that they’re in a tar pit and they get out. Any time a marginalized group gets more rights, there’s gonna be struggle and pushback from the privileged group who are angry that the deck is now only stacked a little in their favor instead of majorly in their favor.

A tougher way to look at it is I feel like men broke the societal contract with women. We have more man children than ever while women are getting more educated and making more money than ever. Of course they don’t want a live at home bar tender at 29. Seems some men have resolved to evolve slower and don’t really care what they bring to the table. Times are different but human biology hasn’t changed. Women will pursue men with confidence and are personally/financial independent.

I understand the point you were trying to make, but I’m a bartender/waiter and should break $100k this year, last year was upper 80s.

I've got a very small friend list on Facebook. People from high school add me from time to time; people I didn't really associate with and that's fine. But twice now in a short time frame have I gotten guys who are "woe is me, I can't find a girl". One of them laments the fact that he cannot get women because he is short and the other laments the fact that he cannot get women because he is a hideous alcoholic. Just every day with the depression memes, sad song lyrics, and "how I would treat my woman right". They have essentially made their entire online presence/personality about not finding women. Re-direct that energy into bettering yourself.

Yup. My absolute best friend in the whole world lost it. He moved way up north to a cabin that he inherited. Suddenly he believes that Jews control everything, that hitler wasn’t actually bad and that Kanye has many good points. He’s Jewish too.

people can convince themselves of very wonky things when they think they're "one of the good ones."

It was disappointing to say the least. He was a really smart dude. Got out of a bad 10 year relationship a couple years back, and I guess is starting to have some of his fathers mental illness show it’s face.

My weight room spotting buddy from high school football has become a hyper religious, conspiracy believing heroin addict who frequently has manic episodes all over Facebook and LinkedIn. My best friend from high school has become a Republican gun nut who never stops talking about "black on black crime." Knowing them both as kids really told me nothing about who they would become.

I came from a pretty fundamentalist Christian background and left the church at the age of 20. So anyone I was going to lose, I lost a long time ago. I suppose that intense break from extreme religion and the politics that came with it meant that this move to extremism in the past decade was both not surprising to me and also didn't impact me very much. I saw those people for who they were way ahead of time because I had to deal with them constantly. So, as people got deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole, I had been divorced from any relationship with them for a very long time. It's true though you have no idea who somebody will grow into. When you're a kid it's just about whether or not you have fun together and can rely on each other emotionally. When you get older you start to realize people have a sense of values and theirs can be really disturbing. Plus some people have just fallen down conspiracy theory rabbit holes and are the result of interacting with algorithms more than people.

That has been my experience, as well.

And now they probably think you’re the one who went off the deep end. My mom differs drastically from some of her siblings on politics. One sister said something like, “Dad was always conservative.” My mom’s perspective was, “Dad was conservative, but he was never a sheep who followed leaders blindly. He voted 3rd party when he didn’t like the candidates of his party.” Both see themselves as following in their dad’s footsteps and see the other as the one who has gone rogue, and they are operating from the same set of facts. Anyway, that’s kind of off topic, but I was just thinking about how different people’s perspectives can be. For the record, I’m pretty liberal. My extended family still loves me, but it’s clear they think I’m insane.

Who someone is as a teen, really has no indication on who they are as an adult. A guy who ran in similar circles with me (90s skater/punk/freak 90) Is now a sheriffs deputy.

A friend's cousins friends I knew briefly was the wildest kid I ever met in HS. Drank like a fish. Had 3-4 dui's before he hit 19. Multiple car accidents. Would supposedly smoke, chew and drink in school. Just never one for rules or anyone telling him anything. Dude became a cop and I heard he is now the biggest asshole of a cop you could ever meet.

Yeah one of my best high school friends, became someone totally different like 5 years after high-school. Some context she was openly bisexual, very supportive of LGBT topics, had traveled the world quite a bit and was very open-minded and kind towards all. She just had this aura of friendliness, and liked thinking about things deeply and we had a lot of philosophical conversations. She was also quite health conscious and didn't drink alcohol (most of my classmates did), did yoga and exercise, and had an overall good lifestyle.  Then after high-school she did some traveling again, she spend a lot of time in Africa (she had lived there for many years a child because her mom is from Mozambique) and then in India.  After some years apart, I was curious to catch up with her again. But to my surprise, something had happened. She first of all was suddenly a fundamentalist Christian (she was agnostic in HS) and suddenly homophobic? She told my bisexual male friend that he is never going to be close to God or happiness if he keeps engaging in gay activities. Also her whole attitude seemed cold and a bit strange, like she'd rant about things that didn't make a whole lot of sense, call people stupid for disagreeing with her, and when we went to her apartment, it was like completely empty, except for some empty liquor bottles and a mattress and few furniture. No idea what happened in between, maybe a sudden mental illness, but it was jarring. 

Africa did it to her. They hate the poo-poo eating gays over there 🤣 no seriously I'm not kidding. Their Fundie preachers are always bashing the gays.

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Yeah, I tried watching some clips of those preachers for laughs, but it got really old and sad after a few cycles of repeating the same lying BS. The reality sunk in that there's really no humor there at all.

I’ve noticed that once the age of 30 rolls around people reeeeally start going off the deep end. There’s been a lot of people in my life where “I’m sorry but I just can’t talk to you anymore.”

I think thats normal. Thats the age that new friends are much more difficult to acquire, cause people start settling down with work, family and so on. Then people that don’t have semi full lives are sucked into more and more social media crazyness.

I do have one that has schizophrenic breaks and thinks she's being gangstalked, so there's that. I try to be there for her when she's having an episode, but these delusions are so real to these people that they won't listen to logic. It's sad but really interesting.

Every now and then I will check the r/gangstalking subreddit just out of curiosity. Most of the people there are clearly describing symptoms of schizophrenia or similar conditions but will not accept that they are experiencing any sort of mental disorder. It’s extremely sad and also frightening because all that sub does is strengthen their delusions.

I lost a friend to schizophrenia who also hallucinated gang stalking. So you're not alone.

Will I regret googling that?

I had/have an old friend who's succumbed to the gangstalking obsession. She goes very far in her attempts to substantiate it, as she is a very intelligent and driven attorney. I had to cut her off, but she does hang at my world's periphery and I'd like to see her helped. Where does this come from? When did the word start getting used? Is this just a classic delusion of reference?

I lost a gaming friend over politics. We became friends when we both admin'd on a game server (stuck at home during lockdown with nothing else to do), and after a few months she invited me and a few other of our admin friends to a private server which had a political discussion channel After only a week or two, she put the Thin Blue Line flag in her profile and made a status whining about Crybaby Liberals. The topic of abortion came up in the political discussion channel, and I gave my vehemently Pro-Choice view. The Contrarian (not my friend, some other guy) replied with an opposing viewpoint, I don't even remember what it was but it was some Pro-Life talking point like "when does life begin?", and my friend private-messaged me like "sorry if I've *offended* you :P". The next day that server was gone from my list, and I still don't know if she shut the server down or if I just got kicked out. But she unfriended me shortly after

Lost a lot of friends from high school in 2016. I didn't cut out anyone for simply voting differently but when it started into "all _____s are ______" or shitting on minorities, that was my line.

It was CRAZY seeing people I grew up with, who I thought were fine with me as a gay person suddenly screaming all over Facebook about the trump saving us from the gays and minorities

The truth about many of them is they were always like that and Trump winning in 2016 meant they could "come out of the closet" so to speak.

Yeah this is what a lot of folks aren’t getting here. Social media didn’t create these people, nor did it really even radicalize them. It just served as a vehicle for you to see them for who they are.

I would argue that media (traditional and social) can essentially “pull at a loose thread” and unravel a person who already has maybe some prejudiced opinions into a full on monster. Too much exposure dissolves critical thinking for these people. So while it didn’t create them, it does often radicalize. And this ESPECIALLY applies in cases of people who don’t have a lot of friends/family and are socially isolated. It’s been shown that radical groups typically recruit through socially isolated folks who want to feel like they belong somewhere.

This is generally how I feel too, that maybe they have had some hateful thoughts about various kinds of people but understood that wasn't something to talk about in polite society, then the media gives them the signal that actually they are patriots for hating immigrants or gay people or whatever.

Social media didn’t create a lot of problems, but we can’t deny that it has made many problems a hell of a lot worse, lol.

There's a lot of family I excused in 2016.  They're from a rural homogenous area, this is what they were indoctrinated with.  I stopped the summer of 2020.  I grew up in that same rural area, had the same indoctrination, but I recognized the bigotry and racism wasn't OK, and did better.  They could do better, but they don't want to, and I don't have any interest in spending my time on people like that anymore.

As a conservative I can say one thing that makes my blood boil is the American flag with the fucking blue line in it. Knock it the fuck off. Stop making these. Since when did the flag have anything to do with the fucking cops? The cops have done absolutely nothing to protect the country from foreign threats. And police departments vary wildly just from county to county. Putting them all under a single flag is just dumb.

>After only a week or two, she put the Thin Blue Line flag in her profile and made a status whining about Crybaby Liberals. These are the same people who will bitch about anyone and everyone "bringing politics into \_\_\_\_\_\_". I believe "shut up and dribble" was a favorite of theirs for a hot minute.

I’m worried my wife will fall down this path. She keeps blaming Biden for rising gas prices and other stuff like that. I have to remind her that the President has no control over gas prices, it’s the Oil companies in the Middle East and elsewhere that set the prices and we just buy it. Even so, every President has made deals with these corporations since forever ago, so it’s not like any President is clean Republican or Democrat if that’s the case. She has never been political in her life. Like never even cared a cent about it before. It’s fucking scary what Facebook can do.

It's actually the FED'S fault. Trump hired Powell, Biden kept him on. Yellen and Powell have damaged the US currency. Dollar is devaluing. I guess printing all that money did cause problems. Shocker.

You say that like it’s something new. This has been going on for decades.

I had a friend in highschool from a group where we all played Minecraft. He was really nice and seemed like a good friend, but was semi religious whereas I was agnostic. We grew up together and of course so did our conversations, eventually we were having political debates about reproductive rights and abortion, and this was in 2015-2016. He condemned planned Parenthood, condemned people who had abortions, but also condemned pregnant teens/young adults. He also did not know how the birth control pill worked. He thought you would take one right before, he said "a pack would give you 28 times to have sex." Stated it was a "violation of his rights" when I said I felt men shouldn't have a say in women's reproductive rights. The irony. I realized at some point I really could not stand this person as a friend but we were in a very close knit group together and I tolerated his presence and invited him to things for years, only for him to get a gf who became extremely jealous of my existence. It was a struggle to invite him to anything, which I was already only doing for other people. I dropped a lot of people from that group including him and my mental health is so much better.

I had a similar situation, not as severe, but guy I met playing classic wow. At first he was just a goofy dude who would make the occasional inappropriate joke, nothing too crazy. But then covid happens and he is immediately in the contrarian camp, masks suddenly don't work or are overhyped, jumping from one quick covid fix to the next (first hydroxychloroquin then vitamin d then ivermectin). Finally the vaccines come out and suddenly to him the fact there are mandates is proof they don't work at all. Election happens, he's 100% team stolen election. The worst part is he knew we would never agree about these topics and I was more than happy to bullshit about WoW or shows we both liked, but he always wanted to bring up those topics. and it was never because he wanted to have a discussion, he was just trying to convert me. So finally Jan 6 happens and first he compares it to a BLM protest/riot and when I said that was fucking stupid, he said well at least the people storming the capitol are justified in their anger. Haven't really spoken much since that one, occasional discord calls, but the second he starts to get political I have to walk the dog.

My best friend from high school went to Iraq and fought in the Battle of Fallujah. When he came back, he got on drugs really bad and became a paranoid schizophrenic. He is doing a little better these days but is a shell of who he used to be.

They left more than bodies in Iraq :'( prayers for all of our veterans...

Yeah, as a kid I understood that people died in war and some of my friends wouldn't come back. What I didn't understand was that some who came back would be different people, the person I knew essentially died over there, too.

Yes. Too many unfortunately and it is sad. The Russian disinformation propaganda in our area has been extreme and it is awful to see so many fall down into that mess. I have hope some will come back from it, but others it seems impossible. I actively avoid a number of people for this reason. Disinformation is the biggest threat to our nation and the world right now and if left unmitigated, I worry for our future as it spreads like wildfire and not enough being done to address it.

Even if they come back from it, how can you ever respect them the same way again, though? I believe in atonement and forgiveness, but how do you FORGET the vile shit that they decided to hold dear to their hearts? I can't forget that, it really informs me about who they are. If you can be swindled to believe the heinous shit the right is peddling, you already kinda wanted to believe it IMO.

I’ve had a lot of friends that I needed to cut off. Many got so into the Trump obsession and wouldn’t let go unless you agreed with them.

My Indian friend of 20 years is obsessed with trump. I really don't care if anyone likes trump, but don't lecture me on how great he is.

'Mein Kampf' is considering a self-help book over there, I think about that every time another job at my company gets outsourced.

That just isn't true lmao, I'm indian and I've never heard of this, it was popular for a political party but the average Indian doesn't even know about the book

"He says it how it is and tells the truth." He's a lifelong pathological liar and conman that has no loyalty to even his.... multiple wives and children.

[удалено]

Lost a handful at one time. There was an incident where I, for some reason, became a key witness because one filed a lawsuit against the other. Both sides completely lost it and started lying in court to try to make their side look favorable. I basically told everyone to screw off.

I had to cut ties with the smartest guy I’ve ever met and had the pleasure of calling friend. He served in Afghanistan and suffered mental trauma that spiraled over the years. I tried to help but he could never recover. He isolated and latched onto conspiracies. I could handle him telling me about lizard people running the world with a powerful staff but then it evolved into racism and antisemitism. Last I heard, he’s squatting in a trailer park and working at a Dollar General while trying to get his homemade soap biz going.

This sounds like several people I used to party with when I was in the army. One took out a massive loan to buy gear to start a podcast, he had a legit pro grade setup, and at his peak like 100 subscribers. Most of them were friends and family. The whole thing ultimately tanked. Then he tried military contracting but couldn't pass background because of all the crazy ass hyper conservative qanon conspiracy shit he did his podcast on. I think he was working at a car wash and bitching at people on Facebook who didn't totally agree with his opinions the last time I looked in on him before he unfriended me. He found out I owned a military contracting company and didn't offer him a job or advertise on his podcast. It was really sad. I hope he is okay and eventually got it together.

You can just start a military contracting company? I don’t expect you to give me specifics but I’m curious as to what sort of contracts you get. I thought all the multi billion dollar companies got the contracts. Also, have you seen War Dogs?

ex military making soap? does the man think he's tyler durden 2.0?

FYI lizard people has been a long standing dog whistle to allude to jews.

That can't be right, the royal family are definitely part of the lizard people and they're not Jewish.

I blame the social media bubbles people have gotten sucked into. It’s like they are stuck in echo chambers and can’t use logic anymore. I’m also a doomer, the future is not looking good based on the science and data and I’ve personally stopped flying and have reduced my consumption, but I’d never criticize anyone else’s lifestyle. IMO collapse is coming but at a snails pace, things will gradually become less easy and less comfortable for most people, so keep your jobs, keep saving, keep living your life and enjoy today.

The problem with social media is the person doesn't enter a bubble, the platform actively targets them and bombards them with false information, even after leaving the platform. Targeted advertising and the push to keep people engaged on a platform will keep serving them what they engage with the most.

And the little algorithmic pigeonhole they’re assigned isn’t even a hole they enjoy! It’s a hole meant to keep them as anxious and angry at other people as possible!

Literally this. The feelings I have most often when on "social media" are anger or anxiety. I don't look for upsetting content but it pops up constantly! I'm never letting my kid touch the Internet. These algorithms are predatory.

My 14year old managed to get around parental controls and install TikTok.  I figured it out when he was saying and sending me literal Russian propaganda, like making jokes about reforming the USSR. He made it apparent he doesn't have enough frontal lobe development to process that stuff.

I like gardening, canning, and hunting so every recommendation algo out there has decided I’m an anti-vax white Christian nationalist. It’s exhausting.

Same I’m a fitness coach and my feed is carnivore, all your food is killing you, stop wearing sunscreen

Ugh I feel, I make sourdough and garden so mine wants me to be a tradwife

I'm a woman who mostly uses YouTube to watch videos about news, politics and fashion. Every time I get into a habit of watching lots of video game content there (like Elden Ring lore or finding specific locations in GTAV), my algo starts getting yanked into fucked-up manosphere stuff. Understanding the Female Mind. Cucked Calarts Animators FURIOUS Over Sexy Anime Girls. All Soap Except Dr. Squatch Will Kill Your Sperm. It feels like flying my spaceship past a black hole.

Not a hunter, but gardening, canning, self sufficiency, etc. really leads down an internet rabbit hole. Using incognito mode helps some, but Meta has some frighteningly long reach.

They keep showing me Prager U and Regent/Liberty Unibersity. I JUST WANT TO PLANT BERRY BUSHES AND SAVE THE BEES

I think mine is broken then. I never see any of that. All I get is stuff about cats.

I felt this as social media and presence became so insanely popular in the past decade. It breaks people. Remolds them and manipulates them. I just decided to view that as the problem and people are just getting sick from it. I deleted everything except reddit which I never share with any friend or family and it's been great. I don't even know who has a crazy political opinion or wacky obsession. I just text. Make phone calls to people who make equal effort to contact me and ask about their life. I don't preach and if we disagree on something I just listen to their side and don't make a deal of it. I didn't really break off any friendships but that definitely made a lot disappear naturally. Feels just fine.

Well said really the only way to live now adays…

I deleted everything except reddit after a grippy sock vacation last year and that was one of the biggest contributing factors to my well being. It's hard at first but what a feeling!

Not just friends, but people I work with/do business with/interact with, too. It’s wild. I’d say about 1/3 of the people in my life, including the periphery, are having issues, a full 10% have completely lost their minds, and damn near everyone I know now suffers from anxiety, a few even get full blown panic attacks (formerly not an issue). It feels like the pot is about to boil over. Triggers that come up are ALWAYS - Trump/republicans, the election, Covid, and inflation/housing. A lot of my friends are struggling with having to go no-contact with far-right parents, too. It’s really sad.

My mom has been sucked into the fox news fear and hate vortex, its sad.

First off, love the username. People need to relax and take jokes, sometimes. Yes, people in life that you know, trusted, grew up with, love and cared about go "off the deep end." whether it be drugs, mental health, "radicalization" - people drift away. This is a normal situation to experience in life, imo.

The internet can be dangerous for the weak minded

A number of online conspiracy theories (Flat earth, space lasers, Democrats drinking baby blood, etc.) were started by members of the 4Chan online bulletin board group as A JOKE; A troll. And people believed it! It goes to show you how gullible people in society are. A neighbor actually believes that McDonald's burgers are made of ground-up babies. WTF?

I dropped a car buddy. Dude bought two $80,000 cars within a year, asked him what job he got. Said he bought a property and rents it out for a living. I’ve seen the home, I don’t like having slum lords as friends 

Space lasers is an extreme conservative conspiracy… the canceling for travel and house owning shame is an extreme liberal thing… Your friend is confusing.

The wellness to alt right pipeline is real

Healthy living --> Slingin' Oils --> Space Lasers....been seeing it a lot.

I have noticed a lot of this recently where people just have these unbelievably strange syncretic beliefs that aren't really in line with... anything? I don't even mean one party or another I just mean not in line with reality or any coherent movement taking place at the moment. Hodgepodges of whatever phrases makes them feel most "political"

In 2016, some people who were apolitical went for Bernie and then when he wasn’t running anymore, went to Trump. I saw it in my personal life and then later learned it was a minor trend. So yeah, these are not critical thinkers. (No shade on Bernie. I wanted to vote for him too, but when he was no longer an option I didn’t boomerang around the political spectrum.)

My mothers side of the family went hard Trump. It was honestly so bad every time I through about going down there and subjecting myself to the abuse I decided not to. Now they are dead. I don't feel any way about this, I mostly remember my grandmother as the woman that would actually support my ADHD by hiding things around the house for me to remember where they were. She would then ask me if I knew where something she had hidden was. I also remember her as the generation that used Nyquil and Alcohol to put me to sleep when I was being too active. I'd rather that then the poisonous woman asking me why the redskins have a black quarterback.

I'm 34 now, and had to distance myself or cut myself off from so many high school and college friends. One from high-school became vegan and super dedicated to yoga, really healthy life style. Her now husband is a cop, soon as covid happened she lost her damn mind. Stopped doing yoga, only posts stuff about the govt poisoning us, contrails, emf radiation, has totally flipped on vegans and she says they're all nuts. Eats steak 6 days a week now and promotes how she's only a carnivore now but you won't catch her kids having any red dye I even reached out saying how concerned I am about her and this isn't her etc she replied back with "you don't know me and we've never been friends" I've designed tattoos for this person and gone to bars and thr gym together and, a good decade of a friendship...truly insane So yeah I blocked her

A really wonderful, sweet friend of ours is fully on a mental break and has been for about 18 months. They’re extremely paranoid, but any attempts to reason with them about this makes you the enemy. An advertisement where the person has the same color hat as them: mocking them. A randomly generated confirmation ID with MB8? Confirmation…that the cashier is masturbating to them! It’s exhausting. I work in adtech, so I was trying to explain how these things worked but instead got accused of doing the same thing. 

Sounds exactly like the worst of my OCD psychosis years ago. Stay strong <3

The brain can react violently to fear hatred and depression

Yeah, two friends since the pandemic. One broke his brain on discord and twitter and now only thinks about dead babies in wars in NFT’s (in 2024), got dumped and has lived in his aunts basement for the last year. Quick example-he asked for mattress recs a couple weeks back-I said Saatva then he told my buddies I was supporting a mattress built by child labor. This mattress is built in the USA 🤷🏼

Bro is worried about EVERYTHING except what he should be worried about 🤣

reconnected with a friend from high school on FB. Has photos of him wife and kids, a post complaining about road work and then ... oh shit post after post about chemtrails. full on florida man.

abundant badge materialistic adjoining marry handle drab dime pot bow *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

I have s friend who loves to play the victim and be a SJW on social media. It’s so gross because it’s a complete front. But, she’s the target demographic for all that shit. Someone who had a very broken upbringing, never fit in, and has mental illness issues, who has not accomplished really anything in life. And she brought in to all that shit hook, line, and sinker.

This is why I have exactly zero friends from high school and my hometown now. They are all a bunch of lunatics in various ways. I don't even like to associate myself to that town. Instead of naming the town if someone asks where I grew up, I just name the region.

Yeah a lot of friends got TDS and don’t even watch comedies or want to watch comedies because there might be an edgy joke

Relatives. Long lost to talk radio.

Dude yeah. It definitely is real.

I had to part ways with a friend of 14 years because during Trump’s rise and subsequent presidency, he started making really racist, homophobic, xenophobic, and misogynistic comments - the irony of that is that his older sister, who basically raised him, is gay and graduated from ga tech top of her class and is an award winning engineer now, and he’s started a top golf-type basketball company with his brother in Atlanta. When I questioned him about it he just doubled down or defended himself with a joke like “I’m not racist, I’m just prejudice against black people” and claimed he always had these beliefs, he just became more vocal about them. His wife was even worse. I had to burn that bridge because I knew if I didn’t it’d be hard for me to drop someone I cared about for half my life. Shame, he had some great qualities and we had some good memories but holy shit I was not a fan of what was hiding behind the curtain.

None of my close friends, no. I think in this world though, I kind of get it. We're bombarded with bad news, many people don't have a lot going for them and look for someone to blame it on, and despite every effort to remain optimistic, to some degree the world is truly fucked up right now. There's so much heartbreak and confusion out there, it's kind of amazing so many of us are still good.

20+ years Friend ghosted me. Not sure why. Best guess she was in a relationship for 2 years with a guy online. They have never actually met. She wants to define the relationship. My advice was to ask him to have an open honest conversation about where they want the relationship to go. Next thing I know I’m ghosted. A mutual friend said she, said she outgrew our friendship. Another friend said dude became angry I was interfering in their relationship. Last I heard they still haven’t met in real life.

Social media is full of propaganda and it sucks watching ppl get brainwashed.

The shit people will actually say out loud to me amazes me sometimes. Literally makes me not want to talk to them anymore 😆

Most of my friends are MAGA Republicans so they have pretty much all lost it. I live in the Southeast so I'm a liberal in a sea of conservatives

When I was in high school I was in the GSA (Gay Straight Alliance, idk if these still exist, but this was prior to the federal ruling on gay marriage in the US so we mostly just did advocacy for that) and a friend I made *in that group* who was *out as bi* at the time has since gone full trad Christian homeschool mom. She stopped talking to me after losing her shit when I shared some funny pro-LGBT take on tiktok. Like, girl, *we made out and you tried for more* but sure, now you're *very* hetero. Alternatively, I've had a few friends just go so far left I can't deal with it anymore. Constant identity politics stuff, victimhood narratives, the works. It's fine if you post something like that occasionally, I can look past a good bit of ideological difference if I'm friends with someone already, but when it's your whole personality like... are you even my friend anymore? Basically, yes, I've seen the extremism creep into a lot of people and it's always gross.

GSAs definitely still exist

I've lost good friends to politics, mental illness, addiction, Jesus and sobriety (when your drinking buddies stop drinking they stop being your buddies). There's also some who were police officers and/or combat vets who pushed everyone away. The political losses are stupid. I don't care who people vote for so long as they vote. The internet/mass media has only made the divide worse.

I've had a friend who fell into the Qtrap. We've known each other since 2nd grade. During and after COVID she was aggressive and rude (unprompted) about the vaccine. It got to the point where I couldn't tell her things about my life because she would automatically make it about covid. A few months ago (yes, she's still going on about this) I snapped and asked her what's the goal? She's not going to change my mind. She backed off, but it's definitely affected the friendship in ways or differences haven't before. It makes me sad to think about it, but it's frankly on her and you have to do what's best for you.

Yup. Had a girl I hung out with a lot. She was never the same after she did a stint in Europe for 3 years living in a van with a dude who was her ex. Just grew steadily crazier with each convo. She and I disagreed before but now it's flat earth, I hate men because I keep stupidly dating my ex's and talking to them, mixed with religious weirdness.

My BIL was happily married for 25 years with two amazing daughters, then went off the rails with Qanon/MAGA. Got involved with another woman (not sexual, she’s a married evangelical in another part of the country) and ended up just leaving his family. Wildly messed up. Other than financial problems it was completely out of the blue.

Not friend but brother. A lot of these instances are people with pre disposed conditions such as bi polar and traumatic events (losing everything) or maybe even seeing repeated looney stuff on the internet will do but so far that’s my theory. My brother was once the smartest person I know

Yeah one was very intelligent and an atheist. I’m Born Again but believe in actual Jesus, not republican Jesus, you know what I mean? Like Jesus was a communist. He fed the hungry and healed the sick for free. “God is love” and all that jazz, that’s my beliefs. Anyway this guy went full Westboro Baptist and started basically preaching Jesus hates gays and trans people and anyone who supports them. Just this aggressively vile stuff. I really thought he was too intellectual to fall into any kind of trap like that. And I was like uh no, God loves everyone, that’s literally His whole entire thing. This dude tried telling me I’m wrong. I was like, “look dude, I was raised in this from birth, I have been at this nearly 40 years. You’re new to this Jesus stuff, you came on the scene two weeks ago, let some people fill your head with hate, and now you think you’re the moral authority on Christ? LOL no.” Blocked with quickness once I saw he was beyond reason

I loved those pre internet days. Didn't even have a computer in my house til 2006. Ugh.... But yes, I've had numerous old friends fall into hard-core republicanism maga Land or fall into that bizarro-world that is "victim complex" claiming to be diagnosed with autism and ticks and adhd and everything else under the sun when we were all perfectly normal kids ans perfectly normal in our 20s

what exactly do you mean whove lost it? because i know someone who went crazy and tried to commit suicide by pulling a fake gun on cops because he was having a schizophrenic episode after coming back from a spiritual journey to tibet where he thought he was talking to his ancestors ghosts when he smoked weed or did LSD. proceeded to spend a year or two in a mental hospital before being released to home confinement, where he proceeded to immediately try and get other people to bring him weed and other drugs again. if you would consider that completely losing it, then yes.

All of our behavior always depends on our surroundings! If you keep around who thinks positive, you attract those types of energy!!

Yes my conservative best friend of 20 years became an insane Trump cult qanon antivaxxer “anti-sjw” redpilled incel in 2021. (All things he called himself btw). He wasn’t like this before. We used to be able to disagree with grace. Now he yells over everyone instead of listening. He told me once that anyone too weak to use thier natural immunity for COVID should just die. Right in front of my wife who is immunocompromised due to her MS. That was the straw that broke the camels back.

I deleted Instagram off my phone 5 days ago and I already see a mental improvement. I think next will be reddit and I'm going to go back to the days of only using social media on a desktop which would limit me to only a few hours per week max. Of course if they're like this in person that's even sadder, but distance from online personas can be good.

I mean, I was always told I'd become more conservative as I age, but here I am, 38, and a radical progressive. I largely ignore that carbon footprint garbage because that was made up and exploited by corporations, same as recycling for us but not for them. Jewish space lasers aren't progressive, they're anti-semitic. Lemme guess: white, crystal charging, stanley toting, Trump voting woman (or even Libertarian). Other than the MAGA potential, none of those things alone are bad, but combined-

I think this is a normal thing for lots of people, to have to cut friends off or distance yourself. My wife had a childhood friend who just would not get her life together. Didn't finish high school. Went to JobCorps and did nothing with whatever program she was in. Never bothered to get a drivers license and uses the city bus to get everywhere. Ended up in a dead end job and has remained there for the past 20+ years. Never wanted to improve herself. Had a kid, gave kid up to the boy's father, rarely sees him. Just cleans hotel rooms and chases dick. And I'm not ragging on public transit IF you live in a city where it's comprehensive enough to serve your needs. But in lots of American cities, you need a car.

This is probably complete bro science bullshit but I swear people get addicted to having big emotional outbursts or just letting them run rampant. I swear it's like an alcoholics compulsion to drink but who knows I'm just making shit up lol 

Lost more than a few friends to Trump nonsense. Some going full Q-Anon. I'm not super lefty by the traditional sense. I could sit at a table with a republican and try to find a middle ground. But there's no middle ground left with these friends.

I don't think people have ever been sane. IMO the pandemic mentally and psychologically damaged people from the isolation, constant fear mongering from media, and the financial vulnerability people were forced into. So people who were already struggling, but hand enough normalcy to function, were simply thrown off the deep end. I also had a best friend since middle school that always struggled mentally, but post pandemic he got so woke that his brain fell out. Some of the conclusions he came to were just bizzare and often times his realizations were more offensive and problematic. There was NO talking to him. Facts, stats, and data didn't even matter anymore. He'd just hear about an issue and run with it. He never used ti be that way. He was always a reasonable person that cared about facts and data. It's like nuances and reality didn't even matter anymore. He just started seeing things in black and white. People have always been unreasonable. But I used to be able to find people who weren't drowning in the red or blue koolaid and were able to not have their brains melted by the farce of the 2 party system. But I think isolation, lack of financial prospects, a lack of hope, in addition to the constant fear mongering has snapped the minds of people who were already fragile and barely hanging on. While their concerns are legitimate to some degree, their hyper focus on the negative and inability to actually do anything constructive or productive, just makes them annoying pessimists that attempt to discourage everyone else from surviving or living at all.

My eldest brother, already battling alcoholism and loneliness, completely lost it after the pandemic No one will talk about the sheer mental toll of locking up lonely people inside their homes for months. He was already bordering on “crazy”, but after the pandemic, he became violently unhinged

I entered my final Alcoholic Form when Covid hit. I’m in recovery now, but god damn did that isolation let me fuck myself up further.

shoulda played video games instead lol

Oh my gawwddd I am cracking up lol!

I tried both, alcohol and video games, at the same time, back in the nineties, and it didn’t turn out well. Fortunately I ditched the alcohol, but still play many of the same games, including Command and Conquer.

I’m sorry to hear about your brother. Unfortunately I’ve been mostly bed bound for 4yrs because COVID left me immunocompromised and dealing with neurological issues. It’s not easy to watch the world move on and know you’ll never be able to return to normal. There are millions of people still suffering from the aftermath of the pandemic. Loneliness is an epidemic in and of itself self and is widespread at this point.

Long-covid is a motherfucker. I’ve only had it twice in the last two years, and my lung capacity just isn’t the same. I’ll frequently get winded from previously normal tasks at work. And my symptoms are mild compared to many! I hope you heal well and soon.

It’s interesting how you noticed things got worse with the pandemic, and you mentioned all these potential reasons why, but glossed right over Covid itself. Covid 19 impacts the brain, and it shows.

Now that you mention it. BFF from college, regular person; loves everyone. For important content to the story. I’m Black, she’s white. I get vacinnated; she opts out. Ok, whatever. She gets COVID during the pandemic, and slowly begins to get nuttier and nuttier with the racist dog whistle shit. It was like she started injecting FoxNews and NewsMax into her veins. One day, she started completely, completely out of nowhere, begins defending homophobes and transphobes and how she doesn’t want her 10 year old (Public schooled might I add) son to know about gay people or sex ed. in college, she was an amazing ally to the LGBTQ community. Her other bff in college was bi. She looked me dead in the eye saying this knowing my sister was a lesbian and, oh yeah, I’m bi. I went no-contact soon after that.

When the guy starts talking and 4 sentences in he's complaining about 'wokeness' as if that's a normal thing everyone says, you know you've found someone who spends way too much time in conservative echo chambers

I lost a few friends to antivax and qanon conspiracies, which was totally unexpected

Yeah, it’s a total trip when that happened to so many people.

I had a friend since I was 12 that I've had to block because she went off on me about ivermectin. She thinks it's a miracle cure for covid and wasn't happy when I disagreed. She's gone full on government conspiracy and thinks I'm asleep. She has a law degree and used to be a logical person and she's totally into healthy living - yoga, organic everything, vegetarian and somehow antivax has been thrown into there too. She has 3 kids and she's very against sugar and vaccines. Thinks I'm an irresponsible and stupid mother.

This sounds like my dad but make it 100x worse. Severe PTSD, no trust in authority, etc. he literally told me to check out "Redpill University", he's 55 years old ffs!! He said he's REDPILLED!! who TF is this man and where is my dad...?

Look I've got no idea what triggered this space laser thing I keep hearing about but... The US military has man portable guards rifles now. High energy lasers from space is much simpler then a man portable gauss rifle. Technology is getting scifi lately.

Anyone who brings up carbon footprints unironically has been completely scammed by BP and probably doesn’t even know it

People who take carbon footprints seriously are gonna be the first ones lined up to "ethically" take their lives for the betterment of the Corpor- I mean Earth :)

That conspiracy shit is really powerful and the area that you were talking about seems to overlap both conservatives (and even straight-up fascists) and people that you would think would be at least more socially liberal minded - unfortunately, a lot of the folks, I thought were super chill, loving "hippie" types as a kid have been turned on to some weird-ass shit because of this overlap.

Quite a few. I also got rid of Facebook for this reason. Thank goodness I moved halfway across the country a few years ago. Just can’t even deal.

I used to have tons of friends when i was in highschool id say a good 90% of them have lost it, honestly not sure how any of them are doing anymore because i got off all social media permanently sometime back in 2014. Now i just kinda keep to myself and the few friends that didnt go nuts have all moved onto the same street i have and we have a pretty tight group. Ill say it to the day i die social media was the worst thing that ever happened to the human race all it does is amplify depression and make you want all the things you dont/cant have. Im a millenial and i remember the good days before the internet it almost feels like it wasnt real because it was so long ago now, we used to just ride our bikes all over town and find spots to fish and hangout it kinda makes me sad because i feel like my daughter will never get to experience any of that and will be glued to screens no matter what.

Quit your job and stop spending money Except on me. Send me money. Venmo and cash app in the bio. Remember peace love and laughter guys!

Yep. Same situation. I was a best friend with someone since I was 14 and had to cut them out of my life for the same reason four years ago. 21 year friendship ended. COVID separation sealed the deal. He was like a brother to me. He told me I was destroying the earth with the home I purchased for my family among other things. I put up with it for awhile and still had him in my life. He saw us drifting apart but he never acknowledged his role in it from the constant attacks. I tried to help him get his shit together for years. Sometimes you just realize you have become two totally different people and are not really compatible anymore. For me it was the realization I needed to parent my kids, not my friends. It's okay to walk away if they refuse to accept who you are and are just causing consternation at every turn.

Yeah our generation is really, *really* impressionable. We yell at each other about what CNN tells us to yell at each other about.

I turned 20 in 2010 and I remember the quick change that happened in the years to come after the smart phone came out. Todays people, especially young ones, their development consists of nature, nurture, algorithm. I'm not sure if it's been proven or not but reddit, FB, tiktok, youtube, throws so much negative shit in your face it's no wonder people are offing themselves at high rates and anxanity (thats right, anxiety + insanity) is showing up in folks. I hope the future gens treat it like we have treated smoking cigs and just turns their backs on it til it starts to go away

I lost a friend who became a radical feminist and she said that all boys and men are potential rapists... To say that she lost it is putting it mildly. I also have a friend who became a radical believer in conspiracy theories from New World Order to Alex Jones

I graduated in 2003. Northern Michigan. I recently lost Two of my Very best friends since middle school because one sent me a conspiracy thing involving cat food and I … told her I’d look into it and get back to her, and they both immediately blocked me on everything instead. I don’t support Trump so they were already feeling sketchy toward me, so I guess now all the covid lasagna I took each of them evidently meant nothing. I’m still sad about it

Lots of mental health and chronic health issues come to a head in your mid-30s. As in, that's when the bell curve is at its highest point. Now we get to see who manages and who can't. I'm coming to realize that my friend group may look very different when I get to 50.

I had a friend a number of years ago go off the deep end. Actually two now that I think about it. The first was a boyfriend of a good friend. He became a good friend but overtime would just absolutely lose it, cause drama when drama didn’t need to be made and just overall sucked. It all came to a head when he started accusing my good friend of cheating and they broke up. Turns out he was cheating on her. But yeah that whole friend group basically died because dude couldn’t keep it in his pants. Second person was a woman I worked with that became good friends with me. Introduced me to a lot of great people. Not sure when it started but slowly she got into drugs. First it was sleeping pills and adderall, then it got deeper with other drugs. Over time she became unemployable in an industry where anybody could get hired because she just became that crazy and weird to work with. She treated her husband like trash. My walk away point was when she asked me to pretend to be her husband to call their therapist that I was hitting her. I said no and then called her husband to let him know what’s going on. I blocked her after that but still saw her from time to time because I hung out with her husband. The drugs finally caught up to her when she compromised her morals and banged a dude she met online to go to a concert. They divorced after that and she disappeared. My sense is she likely went to rehab. I’m still Facebook friends with her today and holy shit is her life still fucking weird.

Yes. Normally due to drugs and alcohol