"It's So Expensive, Americans Are Moving Into 4-Foot Apartments": 55 Genuinely Disturbing Photos That Sum Up The State Of America Right Now
Hannah Marder
Wed, December 17, 2025 at 12:16 PM UTC
6 min read
1. It’s peak dystopia to use people’s inability to afford food as a way to sell appetite-suppressing drugs that celebrities use to promote unrealistic body standards.
2. Introducing what the people really want: AI-powered war!
3. Nothing but totally normal, non-dystopian stuff here!
4. Well, that's a horrifying thought!
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5. Requiring smartphones, QR codes, and likely access to your data just to pee? Worse than Urinetown!
6. What was that about Trump/Republicans being good for the economy?
7. And the tariffs being paid by other countries?
8. At least wages are increasing with inflation! (This is sarcasm. I am being sarcastic.)
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9. Struggling with addiction, but can't afford care in a real clinic by a licensed professional? No worries, speak to a made-up robot person inside your phone!
10. This Black Friday, we're excited to offer you a discount on staying alive!
11. Oh look, more discounts on dystopian costs that shouldn't exist advertised as fun Black Friday promotions!
12. Call me woke, but I'm convinced unfettered access to AI is rotting our brains and causing us to lose the ability to generate original thoughts.
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13. Can we at least acknowledge it's bad to feed old people on Facebook AI images that are just straight-up misinformation?
14. Gotta start 'em young on that great American propaganda!
15. Maybe it's just because I live in NYC, but I swear inflation is higher than it is being reported to be.
16. This is a wild cost just to eat food to survive.
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17. Prices should not be up this much.
18. Does this just feel like blatant propaganda to anyone else?
19. Has no one read Feed????
20. I just want to enjoy things without every second being manufactured specifically to surreptitiously influence my subconscious into buying something.
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21. You can't even eat produce without seeing an ad these days.
22. Or go to the beach.
23. I guess this isn't just America, but it feels like a representation of how every second of attention is monetized here.
24. Don't believe me?
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25. You literally cannot escape advertising.
26. Now we have advertising for gambling too, which is just great.
27. Betting is getting completely out of control.
28. "Up to $12 per hour" being called "competitive" is just sad.
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29. How are we supposed to afford essentials?
30. Seriously.
31. It's not like we don't have enough food, either. It's just wasted, overpriced, or in the wrong places.
32. This doesn't feel dystopian to anyone else? No? Just me?
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33. Sure, prices may be up, but at least eugenics are back!
34. AI should NOT be used for everything. It's making things easier for scammers and for businesspeople who want to lie to you.
35. I am so sick of every tiny charge being passed on to the consumer. Just pay your staff enough!
36. And AI, which is still riddled with errors and inaccuracies, certainly shouldn't be used to teach people.
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37. If this is what a literal celebrity has to do to pay for cancer treatment, how are the rest of us supposed to afford it? Something is deeply wrong here.
38. Miles is Native American, jsyk.
39. The fact that different companies can set different prices for medicine should be illegal. It should also not be allowed to cost much more than it takes to manufacture.
40. This comment on the above photo has once again mystified why people are so terrified of universal healthcare.
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41. This is why people don't go to the doctor until they have no choice — leading to much more serious health issues and more spent per person on healthcare. We could literally curb costs with universal healthcare.
42. Average doomscrolling experience:
43. Yeah, sounds about right.
44. It's degrading, the way people are forced to essentially beg for a job these days. Especially a likely minimum-wage one.
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45. What does this even mean? Why is AI everywhere???
46. Still not understanding why unfettered AI is bad?
47. Why don't they call it Labor Day? Hmm, could it be due to union-busting efforts or not wanting to acknowledge workers' rights? Just a thought!
48. We need more worker protections.
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49. Uh, quick question. WTF?
50. There are too many things wrong with this image for me to even get into it...never mind, I will. It can reinforce treating women like submissive sex bots IRL, its lack of regulation can literally lead people to suicide, and it's emotionally stunting young people, who are talking to AI over their peers or actual support systems.
51. I swear that every year, health insurance coverage becomes worse and requires more actual costs during the year, despite the price you pay per pay cycle remaining the same.
52. This is why no one can afford a house these days.
53. Everything is so politicized in the US right now that we literally can't have a breast cancer tribute without censorship.
54. Yes, people are stealing a lot these days, but it's because no one can afford anything. And the band-aid solution is just to make stores look like jails where no one can get what they need.
55. And finally...same.
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