Social Media Psychosis

A colloquial term for a breakdown in the perception of consensus reality, induced or severely exacerbated by prolonged, immersive engagement with social media ecosystems. It is characterized by the inability to distinguish between algorithmically-amplified narratives and offline reality, adopting the extreme affective states and persecutory frameworks of online tribes as one's own, and experiencing relationships and events primarily through the interpretive lens of viral discourse. This is not clinical psychosis, but a culturally-specific distortion where the curated, performative, and conflict-driven social media environment becomes the primary source of "reality testing," leading to paranoia, identity fragmentation, and emotional reasoning detached from embodied context.

Example: Someone who spends hours daily in political hashtag wars begins to believe that people in their offline workplace are "NPCs" (Non-Player Characters) part of a secret ideological plot, interpreting neutral comments as "dog whistles." They feel constantly monitored, attribute mundane events to vast online conspiracies they follow, and their speech becomes a series of slogans and accusations lifted from tweets. Their social reality has been wholly colonized by the architecture and culture of the platform, inducing a functional psychosis specific to the digital age. Social Media Psychosis.

by Dumu The Void January 27, 2026

Mass Media Trauma

Psychological harm inflicted by the relentless, omnipresent barrage of traumatic content from 24-hour news cycles, sensationalist journalism, and trauma-porn entertainment. This includes vicarious trauma from witnessing endless cycles of violence, disasters, and war; moral injury from exposure to systemic injustice with no avenue for response; and the erosion of safety caused by fear-based reporting that paints the world as perpetually dangerous. It is the trauma of being a passive, connected witness to global suffering without agency, healing, or respite.

Example: A retired person watches cable news all day. After years of mass shootings, political scandals, climate disaster footage, and pandemic death tolls, they develop severe anxiety, hopelessness, and a belief that it's not safe to leave their house. They have nightmares of news graphics. This is mass media trauma: their nervous system has been hijacked by a curated stream of catastrophe, sold as "information," which has systemically destroyed their sense of security and trust in the world.

by Dumu The Void January 27, 2026

Mass Media Trauma Syndrome

The chronic condition arising from Mass Media Trauma, marked by a pathological relationship with information, characterized by doomscrolling addiction, apocalyptic thinking, and social withdrawal. Sufferers are simultaneously addicted to and terrified by the news, unable to disengage. Symptoms include catastrophic cognitive biases, paralyzing cynicism, the inability to plan for a future perceived as doomed, and a shattered "assumptive world" where basic beliefs about safety, order, and human goodness have been systematically dismantled by media narratives.

Example: A person refreshes five news apps hourly, jumps at every phone alert, and can only talk in terms of systemic collapse. They've abandoned career plans ("the economy will be gone in 5 years"), don't want children ("the climate is doomed"), and view any positive event as "propaganda." They are exhausted, isolated, and functionally depressed, yet cannot stop consuming the very content that makes them ill. This is mass media trauma syndrome: a state of informed helplessness and addictive despair manufactured by their media diet.

by Dumu The Void January 27, 2026

Mass Media Psychosis

A psychotic break in which the curated reality of mass media—its narratives, characters, and symbolic events—completely replaces lived experience. The individual may believe they are living inside a news broadcast, that they are a celebrity or a wanted criminal from a TV show, or that world events are part of a scripted drama with them as a key, hidden player. This often involves the literalization of media metaphors (e.g., believing "the war on terror" is a physical war happening on their street). It represents a final dissolution of the boundary between the mediated spectacle and the mind.

Example: An individual, isolated and watching reality TV non-stop, begins to believe their apartment is a hidden camera show. They narrate their actions for an imagined audience, interpret mail delivery as "plot twists" from producers, and confront neighbors believing they are "fellow contestants." They call news stations to report on events in their home as "breaking news." This is mass media psychosis: the performative, narrative-driven world of television has become their only operational reality, erasing any sense of a private, unobserved self.

by Dumu The Void January 27, 2026

Mainstream Media Fallacy

The erroneous assumption that ideas, aesthetics, or opinions are inherently superior, correct, or more "authentic" simply because they are amplified by or aligned with dominant cultural institutions (corporate news, major studios, popular influencers). It conflates prevalence with validity, market share with truth. Conversely, it can also manifest as the inverse snobbery of automatically rejecting anything mainstream, but the core fallacy is granting automatic epistemic authority based solely on broadcast reach.

Example: "You think that indie theory holds water? Please. It's not on CNN or the NYT Bestseller list. If it was really important, it'd be everywhere—that's just the Mainstream Media Fallacy in reverse." This implies truth is democratically determined by airtime and that marginality, in either direction, is a marker of falsehood.

by Dumuabzu February 3, 2026

Theory of Media Social Control

A broader cousin to the mass media theory, this encompasses all media technologies and formats as tools for behavioral regulation. It looks beyond just news to include entertainment, social platforms, and even architecture (like a panopticon). The focus is on how the medium itself—its structure, accessibility, and logic—shapes social interaction, attention, and norms, creating environments that facilitate surveillance and promote self-censorship.

Theory of Media Social Control Example: The "Like" button and algorithmic feed on social media. This isn't just about content; the media format itself controls. It quantifies social validation, trains users to seek rewarding (often conformist) engagement, and the algorithm's hidden logic dictates what is visible. The medium structures behavior, creating a system of constant performance and feedback that controls social dynamics more effectively than any top-down censorship.

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 7, 2026

Theory of Mass Media Social Control

This is the classic "manufacturing consent" model. It analyzes how large-scale, centralized media outlets (TV networks, major newspapers) act as a control system by selecting, framing, and repeating narratives that shape public perception on a massive scale. Control works through agenda-setting (telling you what to think about), priming (telling you how to think about it), and cultivating a shared, often simplified, reality that serves established political and economic interests.

Theory of Mass Media Social Control Example: During the lead-up to a war, every major news network endlessly repeats government talking points about "imminent threats" and "national security," while giving minimal airtime to anti-war experts or diplomatic alternatives. This mass media control creates a overwhelming consensus narrative that manufactures public consent for military action, marginalizing dissent by making it seem fringe and unpatriotic.

by Abzugal Nammugal Enkigal February 7, 2026