If the world has gone mad, where did we take a wrong turn?

Jokes about us living in a simulation, like a computer game, have gone too far.

Kids live on TikTok, while adults burning down their evenings on online casinos, betting, and OnlyFans.

Ordering food takes just five clicks, and it’s at your door in 20 minutes. Meanwhile, we don't see a doctor for years because ChatGPT diagnoses us perfectly.

The world hasn't gone mad. It's the same as it's always been. It's us. Humans.

We bought into cheap entertainment, forgetting how to meet people on the street or take a walk without a phone.

We care about what gets posted on social media—or rather, what the algorithm helpfully serves up—but we don’t care about what’s happening to our loved ones or neighbors.

Instant access to dopamine, yet perpetual boredom. When was the last time you paid attention to what people are doing in public spaces like buses or cafes?

If ten years ago every fifth person was hunched over a phone, now it's every second person—and sometimes literally everyone around you.

Even this text is written on a phone. It's funny to call this thing a phone when it's something we watch, read, and write on, but barely ever use to actually make a call.

The world hasn't gone mad. We just chose quick comfort, multiplied by an endless battle against boredom or stillness.

Everyone is consumed with themselves, yet has an opinion on everything. Now we even think through a GPT chat window.

And it doesn't matter if you're rich or poor. In downtown Dubai or the outskirts of Argentine favelas.

We have almost no free time left just to sit, do nothing, and look at nature around us.

Because we even enjoy nature through a camera lens—just in case that Reel hits millions later.

We crave attention, having lost the capacity to pay attention.

I’m not writing this to offend, complain, or vent.

I'm writing to document this: our civilization got distracted from everything for the sake of funny videos and machine-generated text.

Sure, there are exceptions. Some move to a village with no internet. Some pay for a group retreat just to experience silence or real human company. Some keep playing musical instruments on the street, without asking for donations or filming it for YouTube.

But this has become a rarity, an exception to the rule, a whole event. We are fascinated when someone chooses peace and reality. We gladly leave a like, save the post, and keep scrolling through the world.

The world is fine. The world will outlive us all, just as it has for four and a half billion years.

And we have a choice. Leave a comment, or pause for a second and think: are we actually living in this world, or just consuming it through a screen?