“It used to be millions of unique, independent websites. Now it’s just five giant apps sharing screenshots of each other.”

"When I left teaching a few years ago, I knew multiple teachers who'd had mental breakdowns — one was a SPED instructor without a permanent classroom who was asked to float between FOUR different schools. Private and charter school teachers are paid even less, often because they have fewer educational requirements, but that also means they're even less equipped to deal with the sharp rise in poor behavior, students who are way below grade level, struggling parents, and the politics of education. It's bad out there."

"We aren't creating content for humans anymore. We are training AI models on data written by bots, who are reacting to screenshots generated by algorithms. It’s just an endless loop of an echo chamber."

"Hotel quality has declined. I travel a fair amount, and I'll look at the conference rooms that haven't been used in forever, the rundown gym that you could tell was nice at one point, the locked pool that is drained, the dated bar with maybe one or two people there, etc. You notice all these small things and wonder how nice that hotel was in its heyday. When I first noticed this, I figured I just got the bargain hotel, but going across the country and staying all over the place, it's depressingly prevalent. What happened to nice hotels?"

"My state just ended a fund that helps families in emergencies (like when power is about to get shut off). We could get approval within hours and pay whatever bills they needed to keep their family together. They restructured it and just eliminated it. My clients have zero safety net at this point."

"I ended up in psychosis because my grandmother spent 14 hours screaming at me and biting and kicking me after not sleeping for 48 hours. All because she kept trying to throw herself out of bed and fought through all the meds. This is common. About 40% of unsupported caretakers die before their charges because of the extreme stress. It’s torture for everyone."

"Teacher here. An alarming amount of upper-grade students read below a 6th-grade level. One third are illiterate illiterate, and around half would not be able to get through, say, To Kill a Mockingbird or Fahrenheit 451. Not that novels are the point necessarily, but they sure as fuck can't navigate complex news, differentiate between opinion and fact, interpret data or scientific articles, make informed financial/political decisions, and so on. We're heading toward a pretty bleak world where half the country can be manipulated by people who won't even have to try very hard."

"It’s always a damn consultant. The company hires one; they claim the company needs a 'huge overhaul'; massive layoffs ensue, and then the company starts floundering and wondering why they’re barely hanging on by a thread."

"Neighbors these days are all basically strangers. At best, you'll get distant waves for a 'Hi' and 'Bye', or a nod with no eye contact. It used to be that neighbors would come to your aid, and you could even share your house keys with them in case you got locked out or needed them to check on something."

"Almost nobody still alive today remembers what the Dust Bowl was like. People suffocated from the particulates. Also, at the rate the Ogallala Aquifer is being depleted, desertification is inevitable in that region — it is a non-replenishing aquifer."

"I think we’re already on that slippery slope. People are getting burned out, 'being the only one doing the right thing.' I mean, I’ll never stop returning my shopping cart, but I get it."

"I am right there with you. This super El Niño has me thinking we may see mass death and destruction in biblical proportions here pretty soon."

Note: Responses have been edited for length/clarity.