Whether you’re a pessimist or an optimist, you probably have an opinion about the direction our world is heading. Interestingly, people’s attitudes toward the world's future depend largely on geography.
According to an Ipsos survey at the end of 2025, those living in Asia and the Global South were quite optimistic about the coming year, while large parts of North America and Europe were pessimistic and anxious about the political and economic future of their countries.
On the Internet, there seems to be more doom and gloom than hope, as people attempt to quell their anxieties about AI, political uncertainties, and the loneliness epidemic. In one recent online thread, one netizen asked people to share the things that are slowly getting worse without us noticing: “What are we being ‘boiled like frogs’ about right now that future generations will be shocked we accepted?”
And folks shared the issues that worry them the most, from the absurdities of capitalism and threats to ecosystems to the greediness of corporations and the normalization of hateful behavior.
#1
Loss of decency. Being hateful in public is getting more and more normalized.
Tolerating obvious lies from public figures and institutions. People are so bloodthirsty for anything they can shout at people they disagree with they don’t care if it’s true or not.
Tolerating obvious lies from public figures and institutions. People are so bloodthirsty for anything they can shout at people they disagree with they don’t care if it’s true or not.
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38points
#2
Allowing billionaires to not pay their share of taxes. Benefits are being cut across the board for working people and these grifters are sitting on their money and watching it grow without any regulation or oversight.
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36points
#3
How we've allowed corporations to have basically the same rights as a human being, with a fraction of the accountability.
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31points
#4
Lower standards for public servants. Before, a scandal breaks out, they have to resign or forced to resign. Now, I don't think there's any type of "Scandal" that can make some type of politician to stop, respect the position, and resign.
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31points
#5
Destruction of all programs to keep the elderly and poor from starving.
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28points
#6
Insects slowly disappearing. It's very bad. Aside from being pollinators (a huge aside), they are nutrient recyclers and the major food source for secondary consumers, who are in turn food for tertiary consumers, and so on. Insect population collapse means a subsequent systemic collapse in biodiversity and agriculture.
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23points
#7
All over the world, oligarchs are amassing the world's wealth into private holdings. The 1% is becoming smaller and richer.
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23points
#8
Subscription everything. I got called old and made fun of for clinging to my DVD collection. Now those same kids come to me, wanting to borrow movies that their streamers aren’t currently hosting. I still buy some every week. My husband and I joke that it’s just a civilization preservation project at this point. Currently, we're just under 3,700 movies.
What I'm really concerned about is the conjunction of three trends, which are the conversion of most tech products to incorporate AI, the conversion of everything to a subscription-based product, and token-based charges. It's a very small step from where we are right now to a place where we are charged for checking our emails.
What I'm really concerned about is the conjunction of three trends, which are the conversion of most tech products to incorporate AI, the conversion of everything to a subscription-based product, and token-based charges. It's a very small step from where we are right now to a place where we are charged for checking our emails.
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22points
#9
The mess we've created with microplastics. We literally cannot even accurately study their effects. There's no control group. Imagine we wanted to test whether they cause cancer. We'd have to look at rates of cancer in people exposed to microplastics vs. people not exposed, which no longer exist. So yeah, there's a chance they do nothing. There's also a chance that they're currently the biggest threat to our health. More likely, it's something in the middle. The problem is, we have no idea and no way to tell.
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22points
#10
The cost of healthy food. It should not be cheaper to eat from fast food dollar menus every day than to purchase whole vegetables and meats from the grocery store once a week. It’s by design, an unhealthy population is easier to control.
21points
#11
Dynamic Pricing= price gauging
Never being able to buy anything to own because everything is either rent or subscription.
Never being able to buy anything to own because everything is either rent or subscription.
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19points
#12
Antibiotic coverage (and herd immunity for vaccine preventable illnesses) are slowly slipping away.
18points
#13
The loss of hobbies. And by that I mean real hobbies. As kids we used to build thing. Models, radios, soapbox racers, all kinds of stuff. Now, it's exceedingly rare to find someone under 20 who's hobby isn't posting stuff online. Yes, I sound like an old fogey, but these things kept us together, and kept us happy. most of the stuff kids these days post online is about manufactured drama, fights, hate etc... It's so rare to see a video that's genuinely fun and happy by anyone these days.
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18points
#14
That for some reason working an entry level job means you don't deserve to make enough to pay rent.
Wait, that already happened.
That the rich actually deserve more.. No, that too.
That corporations are actually being generous by allowing you the privilege to intern at their company in exchange for exposure?
Wait, that already happened.
That the rich actually deserve more.. No, that too.
That corporations are actually being generous by allowing you the privilege to intern at their company in exchange for exposure?
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18points
#15
Echo chambers.
Over 10 years ago when Facebook went mainstream and grown ups were let in, everyone was worried about echo chambers, algorithms, and destruction of the monoculture. This was a genuine concern and people took it seriously. No one cares anymore and instead have all drunk the KoolAid.
Now people create their own echo chambers with impunity. They block people they typecast as 'one of them' based on a single comment, they build Discord servers were they can have their biases confirmed, they kick people off subreddits, they refuse to engage in good faith and are constantly angry thinking a comment they don't like is some 'gotcha' waiting to pounce.
The monoculture is done. There was a time when people would go to work (remember that?) and talk about the latest episode of the West Wing. There was a time when we used to look forward to September and the start of a new season of Breaking Bad. There was a time when the idea of being trapped in your own home and living the world through a screen you couldn't turn off was considered a dystopia.
Those days are gone now, and all that's left is people feeling isolated in an increasingly atomised society, and their solace is to hate everyone and blame them all for their anxiety and depression, typically curled up on a screen which gives them the view of the world they agree with.
We are all sitting in front of our own personal Mirrors of Erised, like Narcissus or Faust.
Over 10 years ago when Facebook went mainstream and grown ups were let in, everyone was worried about echo chambers, algorithms, and destruction of the monoculture. This was a genuine concern and people took it seriously. No one cares anymore and instead have all drunk the KoolAid.
Now people create their own echo chambers with impunity. They block people they typecast as 'one of them' based on a single comment, they build Discord servers were they can have their biases confirmed, they kick people off subreddits, they refuse to engage in good faith and are constantly angry thinking a comment they don't like is some 'gotcha' waiting to pounce.
The monoculture is done. There was a time when people would go to work (remember that?) and talk about the latest episode of the West Wing. There was a time when we used to look forward to September and the start of a new season of Breaking Bad. There was a time when the idea of being trapped in your own home and living the world through a screen you couldn't turn off was considered a dystopia.
Those days are gone now, and all that's left is people feeling isolated in an increasingly atomised society, and their solace is to hate everyone and blame them all for their anxiety and depression, typically curled up on a screen which gives them the view of the world they agree with.
We are all sitting in front of our own personal Mirrors of Erised, like Narcissus or Faust.
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17points
#16
Our total lack of privacy. Unfortunately, it seems like a lot of the younger generation is already totally comfortable with being surveilled. Like the location sharing feature on phones, where you can track your partner's location in real time, for instance. I was born in the 1980s, and I find this distasteful on principle, not because I'm hiding something, but because I just don't like the idea of being tracked 24/7, even by someone I'm close to.
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17points
#17
Pollution. The planet is becoming more and more toxic to animal life. We’re not going to survive another century or two at this rate.
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16points
#18
AI.
I feel like the caveat here is the a decent chunk of people are against AI, but it just keeps getting shoved into every facet of our lives. Like at this point I feel like the frog has tried jumping out of the pot several times now, but AI makes someone money so it gets shoved back in.
I feel like the caveat here is the a decent chunk of people are against AI, but it just keeps getting shoved into every facet of our lives. Like at this point I feel like the frog has tried jumping out of the pot several times now, but AI makes someone money so it gets shoved back in.
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15points
#19
Healthcare in the US. People still working desk/computer jobs 5 days in office.
I think it's wild how much money the suits take from healthcare, all while making healthcare worse for all of us. They don't care for any standard of care; they only care about how much money they can stuff into their own pockets
I think it's wild how much money the suits take from healthcare, all while making healthcare worse for all of us. They don't care for any standard of care; they only care about how much money they can stuff into their own pockets
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15points
#20
Insurance. Of any type. Car, health, home etc. you pay a bunch of money monthly to these companies for emergencies, and then when it comes time to use it, you have to pull tooth and nail to get a claim approved. They’ll fight the claim to pay out the least amount of money every time.
Because they’re the middleman too and sometimes you don’t see the final price of the service, it also creates this ability for the services to raises their prices for no real reason other than they can just get away with it because the insurance will pay.
Simple example: I pay $600/m for insurance. I wanted to go to a chiropractor. My copay was $100. I asked the chiropractor for the cash price because I was curious. If I went through insurance my copay was $100 because they were charging the insurance company $300 for the visit, while the self pay (no insurance) would’ve been $75.
Because they’re the middleman too and sometimes you don’t see the final price of the service, it also creates this ability for the services to raises their prices for no real reason other than they can just get away with it because the insurance will pay.
Simple example: I pay $600/m for insurance. I wanted to go to a chiropractor. My copay was $100. I asked the chiropractor for the cash price because I was curious. If I went through insurance my copay was $100 because they were charging the insurance company $300 for the visit, while the self pay (no insurance) would’ve been $75.
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15points