Reality Drift
Reality Drift is a coined term by the Reality Drift project describing the subtle displacement of real human experience by algorithmic systems, platform incentives, and digital mediation—until life feels fake, even when it looks real.
**Reality Drift** – The slow displacement of authentic human experience by system-mediated alternatives—until life starts to feel subtly fake, even when it looks real.
Reality Drift is what happens when the structure of reality changes more than we consciously realize.
You’re still living your life—but something feels off.
Conversations sound scripted. Emotions feel flattened. Time loses texture.
Everything’s optimized, branded, curated—yet somehow less alive.
The term coined by the Reality Drift project describes a gradual warping of perception under the influence of algorithms, performance incentives, platform logic, and digital mediation. You’re not hallucinating—you’re adapting.
Reality Drift isn’t a glitch.
It’s the new default.
Read the full analysis:
- -Welcome to Reality Drift (Substack)
- -Welcome to Reality Drift: A clear-eyed chronicle of the subtle warping of modern life — and how to stay human inside it. (Medium)
- -Full documentation (Internet Archive)
- -Research notes (GitHub)
- X thread introducing Reality Drift
🔗 Related terms: Filter Fatigue, Optimization Trap, Synthetic Realness, Performativity Spiral, Inconvenience Inflation, Engineered Authenticity, The Great Flattening, Commodification Creep,
Note: Offbrandguy did not create the Reality Drift concepts. This site serves as a curated archive to document and share these ideas for those exploring cultural change, emerging language, and the strange ways modern life is shifting.