Back in 1949, when George Orwell’s 1984 was published, the novel was deemed a depressing masterpiece and prophetic warning. Readers were horrified by the idea that the future might eventually reflect the themes in the book. Nowadays, however, we know all too well how accurate the story has become.
It seems like every single week, news headlines are more and more dystopian. Artificial intelligence becomes increasingly pervasive by the day, and governments around the world appear to be taking steps to remove individual freedoms, rather than expand them. And if you’re interested in seeing some harrowing examples of what’s happening to society, you’ve come to the right place. We visited the “That’s Dystopian” Facebook group and gathered some of their most unsettling posts below. From employees working past the age of 100 to citizens being encouraged to snitch on shoplifters, our lives are starting to feel like we’re living in a Black Mirror episode.
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For the most part, technological advancements are a positive thing. It’s amazing that we can use our phones to give us directions while driving, play music whenever we want, provide us with access to all the knowledge in the world, and allow us to keep in touch with people all over the planet. Meanwhile, we need scientists to continue finding cures for diseases and creating new vaccines to keep us safe. But there are certain aspects of technology that feel just a bit dystopian.
According to a report from October 2025, more than a billion people across the globe say that they now use AI at least once a month. But many are using it every single day, whether that’s to help them write an email at work or to provide advice on how to handle issues in their relationship. People are starting to turn to computers to solve every single problem they have, and life is beginning to feel like a sci-fi novel.
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While AI can be a helpful tool, IBM warns that there are some potential risks associated with these technologies. First, they note that humans are innately biased, and humans created artificial intelligence. Sometimes, these biases and prejudices are reflected in the technology, so it’s important that we don’t take everything an AI model spits out as gospel.
At the same time, AI is sometimes used to launch cyberattacks. Voices can be cloned, and identities can be faked to scam people out of money. AI tools can also be used to create convincing phishing schemes to compromise an individual’s or an organization’s privacy and security. It’s becoming increasingly challenging to determine what was crafted by AI and what was created by a real person.
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Another major concern that critics of AI cite is the environmental issues. The data centers that AI technologies run on use an incredible amount of water to keep their servers cool. In fact, one study found that just one language processing model emits over 600,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, which is almost 5 times the amount of emissions a car will produce in its lifetime.
It feels a bit dystopian to know that we’re wasting water and polluting the planet, so people can talk to ChatGPT. Meanwhile, a quarter of the world’s population still doesn’t have access to clean water.
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In 2024, Newsweek reported that a survey of 1,000 Americans found that 26% of men and 14% of women believed they were living in a dystopian society. In fact, one-fifth of Americans said they were living in an even more dystopian society than the one described in Orwell’s 1984. Reasons cited for this were the overturning of Roe v. Wade, shifting gender norms, cancel culture, and more. But today, people might have even more reasons to believe that they’re living in a sci-fi story.
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Unfortunately, there’s more than one dystopian piece of literature or film that has come eerily close to predicting the future. The Guardian published a piece earlier this month discussing pieces of media that seem to have predicted the future. Neal Stephenson’s 1992 novel Snow Crash, for example, has an immersive virtual reality called the “metaverse,” which requires a headset to access. And we all know that Mark Zuckerberg renamed his company Meta and announced a plan to develop his own “metaverse”.
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Meanwhile, Octavia E. Butler’s 1993 Parable of the Sower and 1998 Parable of the Talents have unsettling similarities to our current age. The stories, which are set in a post-apocalyptic California, describe a wealthy community that has sequestered itself away from the dangers of the world. At the same time, the climate has been destroyed, and the president claims that he will “Make America Great Again”. Sound familiar?
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Everyone knows that it’s impossible to predict the future. But in many regards, at the moment, it does look bleak. Climate change is undeniable, and the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to avoid using AI, and it’s widely understood that the government is watching and listening to pretty much everything its citizens do. We know that the world can be a scary place nowadays, but if it brings you some comfort to call out just how dystopian it has become, we highly recommend that you do so! You might even want to share your findings with That’s Dystopian on Facebook.
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Are you feeling unsettled after scrolling through these photos, pandas? Keep upvoting the ones that you find particularly eerie, and let us know in the comments below what the most dystopian thing you’ve witnessed recently was. Then, if you’re interested in checking out another Bored Panda article discussing similar societal issues, look no further than right here!
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