By the time I've eaten lunch, I've been exposed to propaganda from every media portal in a fairly relentless manner both in the form of advertising and manufact

By the time I've eaten lunch, I've been exposed to propaganda from every media portal in a fairly relentless manner both in the form of advertising and manufactured messages disguised as news. That may include comments created by algorithms and posted by bots impersonating persons. I can't deny that existence increasingly feels inauthentic by design and that alone creates subtle anxiety every day. Add in the constant high-attention grabbing headlines, images, or videos – are those the cause of my escapist dreams? Like you, science fiction has been a cornerstone of my life since early childhood. For the longest time, I believed our digital selves we're capable of being functional alter egos in a new digital medium separated from physical existence, but that is not what happened. Instead, our real selves and the digital world have merged and in many ways they are inseparable. The pitfalls of this intertwined world are all too visible as society finds itself in drastic divides ranging from political views to music tastes. This coming from someone who believed positive technology advancements would outweigh the negatives, but I can only see the downsides lately. I think I lost the plot and it is all too blurry now. Maybe I need a vacation.