NAH, shut up, you have got to be kidding me, man! 

This phrase reappears often on Instagram, Reddit, TikTok, and every time it comes it throws upon a realisation, obsessing over which was definitely not on our to-do list. 

But wait, we understand we are all weird, but how can we feel the same things altogether not just as a country, but as a world? Jisse pucho, 2020 ke baad kise ke dimaag is flash drive kaam nahi kar rahi. Everything is a blur, and it’s not funny anymore! 

Temporal experience seems altered, human presence carries another weight and reality appears differently constructed today. A few maintain that we entered a divergent timeline, unnoticed! And WOAH, that sounds like a theory. 

Welcome to the internet’s most existential post-pandemic conspiracy.

2019: The Final Normal Year

A date frozen in digital memory, 2019 is framed by online groups as untouched by disruption. Before the rupture began, they say, things moved differently and that period stands apart, not because of progress, but due to its absence. 

Looking back, 2019 feels like a time of steady rhythm with concert halls full, festivals buzzing, coworkers chatting, trips taken without delay, people visible, and days unfolding as expected. 

Then came early 2020: the moment everything shifted! Yes, sudden restrictions arrived, national boundaries closed, and normal activities paused within days. Instead of movement, stillness took hold across cities. Life, once fluid, became measured in hours at home and what had been routine dissolved quickly into a shapeless amoeba (Sorry for this colorful example, I reached my E.T.C.). 

Public spaces emptied just as fast as decisions were made and a new, uncomfortable silence replaced what used to be noise. From one month to the next, familiar patterns vanished. After that, nothing resumed quite as before.

A break of that kind left a hidden crack in the mind’s structure.

Life moves in sequences. Expectation shapes perception; what came prior sets the stage for what follows. But the pandemic was thrown upon the world, and post that, adjustment did not come smoothly. Rather than adapt slowly, minds seized on a dividing line and 2020 emerged as that break. 

We don’t know about you guys, but we still calculate years as “2020 se kitna kam,” or “2020 se kitna zyada.” And this reveals more than just our injured math. 

When individuals mark a clear “before” and “yet,” false narratives rush into the space. While time divides, myths grow where facts pause and following separation of moments, unverified claims settle in. Once distinctions form between past and present, imagined connections take root and though clarity seems reached, confusion often follows instead.

Time Began to Feel…Different? 

Should someone be asked about the distance of 2020, responses differ greatly. Time perception shifts oddly across individuals.

One decade, they say, locked behind closed doors. From 2021 onward, time dissolved as dates slipped through fingers like sand. Birthdays came and went, unmarked by gatherings. Caps were tossed online, diplomas were shown through screens. 

Time feels altered, say experts in mind studies. Through new moments and stored experiences, the human brain tracks passing days. Without change or standout occasions, recollection tightens. Periods run together and duration thins out. Structure of years fades slowly, yessss, it is an actual “Kyun, hila daala na” situation in the brain. 

Yet within digital conspiracy circles, this is more than just a dilemma in the mind, it suggests that we have slid into a post-apocalyptic emotionless society after 2019. 

Kya aap logon ne bhi notice kiya hai ki 2020 ke baad logo thode zyada diljale ho gaye hain? Then you know what we mean. 

Time, they suggest, may have transformed independently. A change in the underlying rhythm of reality is proposed by some. Existence, according to these views, runs faster now, and is adjusted without notice.

The sensation appears genuine, but still,, its reasoning drifts into strange territory.

The Mandela Effect During a Pandemic

A different version of events emerges when people recall things that never happened. This idea ties closely to shared false memories, such as those seen in the Mandela Effect. Groups often insist on specific details despite evidence showing otherwise and such collective inaccuracies shape how alternate timelines are imagined. 

Memory gaps become foundations for these divergent narratives, so what feels real to many may not align with recorded history. These mismatches fuel speculation about parallel versions of the past.

It surprises some that the Monopoly Man lacks a monocle. Spelling “Berenstain” correctly feels wrong to many. A memory lingers of Pikachu with a dark tip on its tail. Online spaces interpret such mismatches as signs of altered timelines.

Even CERN was pulled into the discussion by some. Dimensional breaks, they said, came from particle collisions. The Mayan calendar’s 2012 prediction reappeared in another form. This time, judgment did not burn, it locked down instead.

Because it binds loose fears into one clear narrative, the idea persists, because what more the Internet loves than a half-baked narrative? YUMMM!!!!

Reality Began to Look Like Science Fiction

In 2020, dystopian fiction stopped feeling fictional.

Cities sat abandoned, streets came under drone observation and movement became managed through QR codes. Online platforms replaced physical work, classrooms, social bonds, also ceremonies like marriage. By the third year, systems powered by artificial intelligence produced artwork, written texts, vocal patterns, facial images, each matching human-made versions without clear difference.

Films once dismissed as fiction now seem closer to observation. Moments in Black Mirror shifted from fantasy toward record.

Without accepting fear-driven views, one cannot ignore the change in feeling. Through screens, nearly every exchange happens today and outrage grows peculiar because of social media streams. Events move faster due to nonstop news loops and reality becomes uncertain with deepfakes spreading. 

The planet seems altered, despite absence of any gateway between realms.

The Rise of Feeling Nothing

A change in feeling often marks what comes next. Emotional turns shape moments just as clocks mark hours, and feelings do not lie about timing. When inner states alter, something else changes too.

A sense of numbness surfaces today, flatness begins to mark exchanges between people and emotion appears less vivid. Along with this, cynicism climbs, temper flares grow sharper, and focus narrows unexpectedly today. 

Following 2020, signs of unease became more visible worldwide. Rising levels of anxiety and depression were recorded across regions. Confidence in established organizations weakened steadily. Alongside this, divisions in political views deepened noticeably and uncertainty about financial stability increased at a similar pace. At the same time, worry linked to environmental changes gained FAST momentum.

Dead Internet? 

Post-2019 conspiracies merge easily with other internet-born theories.

What if most of what appears online comes from machines? The “Dead Internet Theory” suggests exactly that, activity shaped less by people, more by systems running silently behind screens. Where real voices once thrived, automated streams now fill the gaps. 

This shift makes the web seem hollow, not just crowded, due to silent replacements happening over time. 

One might not accept that a hacker broke into reality itself. Yet a core change feels real to many, although they describe it through code-like ideas instead. 

A glance at TikTok reveals countless clips that reframe 2016 to 2019 as golden years. Old footage of festivals appears alongside slow, wistful tunes. These visuals carry words such as: “Back then, happiness felt ordinary.” 

Chahe hum tab bhi rote rehte ho, but today that time feels simpler, when we knew only one way of life existing. As something definitely has changed, even if we can’t pinpoint it exactly right now.