If you’re living outside the United States, your frame of reference for life on the ground is what you see in the news. Most of it will likely revolve around political division and immigration-related issues that seem to be getting more problematic over time.

What you’re not seeing are the daily experiences of regular folks. You may not have a firsthand look at their struggles with rising costs, different forms of discrimination, and societal changes that may make life in America feel like a dystopian movie.

Here are some examples through images shared by the citizens bearing the brunt of it all.

#1 Sad That This Is What The Mcdonald’s Play Place Is Now. I Miss The 80s

#2 "Letting The Cat Out Of The Bag"

#3 America Is A Glorified Company Town

One reason people may feel like America has turned into a dystopian movie is rising grocery prices. Many people have struggled to buy the bare necessities because of food costs.

According to an AP News report in June, food prices have risen 33% in the last six years.

#4 If You See Someone Stealing Food... No You Didn't

#5 Bmw Showing Ads In Your $100k+ Vehicle

#6 Anti-Homeless Benches Designed To Prevent People From Laying Down Makes It Hard To Sit

The report also revealed more alarming data, including Texas beef prices. As AP notes, Texas has been the country’s top beef producer. However, as of June, the price of ground beef reached $6.82 per pound.

For context, it is 79% higher than it was at the beginning of 2019, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

#7 Ad Advertising That Companies Should Stop Employing Human Workers

#8 Anybody Else Not Allowed To Poop At Work?

#9 A/C For Robots But Not For Humans

Mild inflation is largely an indicator of a healthy, growing economy. Because consumers and businesses feel more confident spending money, prices rise. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a stable inflation rate is 2%.

However, higher inflation rates in recent months have become a burden for most working-class Americans. According to an AP report at the beginning of this month, consumer prices rose as much as 3.4% as of August.

#10 Texts With My Antivax Mom

#11 Your Sunset Is Brought To You By Pepsi

#12 3rd Bill For My 3rd Rabies Shot Out Of 4. This Is The Discounted Rate. Btw, Untreated Rabies Is Fatal

What hurts many Americans is that as inflation rises, unemployment is climbing too. To add insult to injury, mortgage prices are rising too.

For context, the average long-term mortgage rate is currently 7.28%, up from 6.34% last year. Meanwhile, federal, state, and local governments eliminated 17,000 jobs in September, pushing the unemployment rate to 4.2%, up slightly from 4.1% in August.

#13 My Mom Watching An AI Series

#14 Our Company Made Record Breaking Profit -- Employees Got A Pizza Party And Chapstick

#15 Shame That Nobody Could Erase This With The Stroke Of A Pen, Eh?

These images alone may give a certain impression of what life in America is like today. While they tell only part of the story, they can also make someone ask, “When did this all become normal?”

As bleak as things may seem, here’s hoping a thriving country like the United States doesn't turn fully dystopian, as some may fear.

#16 Mcdonald’s New “Play Place” For Children. Two Screens/Two Chairs

#17 Am I Crazy For Thinking $101 Should Get Me More Groceries Than This?

#18 My "Caprese" Chicken Sandwich That Cost $17

#19 It's Not Like The Food's Not Out There, Though, At Least In The Us. We Have Enough Food To Feed Everyone. We Choose Not To

#20 There Isn’t Going To Be Such Thing As Non-Pay Parking Anymore Is There?

#21 My Birthday Present To Myself Was Using An Extra July Paycheck To Make A Big Final Push On My Student Loans. In The Time It Took My Payment To Process My Loans Accrued $0.37

#22 Flock Camera Pointed Directly Into A Michigan Dispensary Parking Lot. Dispensary Reacted Accordingly And Correctly

#23 Relying On Chatgpt To Have A Basic Conversation

#24 I Want To Fight Whoever Made This Billboard

#25 America-Dystopian-Pics

#26 I'm More Confused On Why Milkyway Is Green, Like Isn't It Supposed To Be Blue??

#27 Can't Find Any Microplastics If You Don't Look For Them

#28 I Am Now Getting Ads In My Android Messaging App

#29 I Went To See The Famous Giant Donut In La But It Was Covered With An Advertisement

#30 Getting A Bill For The Ambulance Ride After The Bill Is Due

#31 My Estranged Father Was On Life Support, I Was Forced To Make The Decision To Pull The Plug, And Now I Owe Over $2k

#32 The Doctors Office I've Been Using For 10+ Years Is Now Charging An Annual Fee

#33 Went Fan Shopping Due To The Current Heatwave. Rollback Sign Is Just Insulting🤦🏽‍♀️

#34 Going To A Concert In 2026

#35 Oh, Cool, We're Just In A Full-On Dystopia

#36 Robot Dog Firing Bullets With Minimum Recoil

#37 Female Robot Can Be Made To Look Like "Anyone You Want" To Be Your Girlfriend

#38 Just Gonna Leave This Here — Totally Not Related To The Last Beat!

#39 My Neighbourhood Has Been Taken Over By Delivery Robots That Crash Into People

#40 Like, Why Are People Feeding Into And Helping The Whole Mass Surveillance Thing?

#41 A Car With A Carburetor Would Never

#42 Painting Over Core Values At The FBI

#43 The Credit Score Is Audacity

#44 Glad Critical Medical Care Is Being Taken Care Of By Private Companies That Definitely Give A Shit

#45 Sums It Up Pithily

#46 This Bench Advertises That “No Kid Should Ever Have To Sleep On The Streets” And Then Adds Bars So Homeless People Can’t Sleep On The Bench

#47 Aww You’ve Been Sexually Harassed? Well Walmart Is The Real Victim Here

#48 How Is This Legal

#49 How Is This Legal?

#50 This Billboard Like 100 Ft Off My College Campus

#51 Do The Same Work. Get Paid Less

#52 Reality Is Often Disappointing

#53 Walmart Is Selling “Support Local” Shirts

#54 Only Donating To Charity If They Get Good Reviews

#55 This

#56 Smiling Through The Dystopian Nightmare

#57 The Sugar Inside Drinks Today Should Be A Crime

#58 My Insurance Paid 83¢ Of A $262 Bill

#59 I'm In Agony And I Can't Afford Us Healthcare

#60 My Psychiatrist Is In-Network, But Her Mat Leave Stand In Isn't

#61 Babies First Collection

#62 Save Act Ended And My Student Loans Came Out Flagged As 90 Days Overdue. Dropped My Credit Score To 493 As Result

#63 World Cup Final Ticket Prices

#64 Concert Tickets Should Never Cost The Same As Rent

#65 Appearance Over The Last Two Years Of Flock AI Mass Surveillance Cameras In Us States

#66 In Today’s Edition Of Dystopian America

#67 Facebook Page Generated An AI Video Of Anne Frank Eating Various Foods To Talk About Her Life

#68 Being Accused Of A Crime By AI

#69 Teachers Digging For School Supplies In The Trash

#70 My Mom Applying For Disability So That She Only Has To Work 40 Hours A Week

#71 80 Year Old Restaurant Owner Thinks That This Is Legal

#72 Chairs Removed In Our Break Room

#73 My Husband Showed Me Some Insane Job App Questions Today About Gender And Ethnicity

#74 Bro Thinks He's Special

#75 This Is So Dystopian, Company Makes A Bench Turn Your Bare Legs Into Ads

#76 This Year, Give Your Special Someone The Gift Of Accessing The American Healthcare System

#77 How Long Until We Match This Level Of Casual Cruelty And Turn Against These Jerks?

#78 An Oregon McDonald's Is So Desperate For Workers It Hung A Huge Banner Outside Calling On 14-Year-Olds To Apply - It's Medford

#79 Elderly Palestinian Couple Looking At The House They Once Lived In, Now Occupied By A Couple From Brooklyn

#80 Big Banks Using Heavily Edited John Stuart Mill Quotes In Their Advertising

#81 No Subtlety Anymore

#82 This Was What Kaiser Permanente Gave To Their Nurses To Recognize Them During Nurses Week

#83 Democrats Are Straight Up Admitting They Like Immigrants Because They Can Exploit Them

#84 Maybe

#85 Seen In Brooklyn. This Isn’t Clever, Doordash. Just Sad

#86 Ah Yeah Heaven

#87 From Our Newest Contract Holder

#88 Liberalism.jpg

#89 How Are People Even Existing?

89 Things About Modern Life In America That Would’ve Seemed Absurd Not That Long Ago