It all began with my interest in psychology. I wanted to know why mental illnesses have been on the rise since the invention of the Internet. Furthermore, I wanted to know why limited Internet usage used to be advised constantly and why everybody just seemed to stop caring about the potential over-usage of it.
Was it because the Internet used to be like the Wild West, where anybody could post anything, even if it was dangerous, or was it just the fear of new technology? Is the rise of mental illnesses only tangentially related? I had so many questions, so I started researching about thought patterns, because I believe they are the basis of critical thinking and any psychologist would tell you how the brain loves patterns. It loves to recognize patterns, it loves to create patterns and it loves to think in them.
That is when I started noticing how some peoples patterns were… off. Something was wrong with them, but I couldn’t really describe what it was. They would repeat certain phrases in an odd manner, or they would look at you with dead eyes.
I thought I was going insane, to be honest, I‘m not entirely sure wether I am sane, but I had to continue researching, because surely psychology has an explanation for such behavior. That behavior being mental illness, but that couldn’t possibly be the answer, because then 80% of the people I know would be considered mentally ill. Teachers, students and neighbors all having 10 or more symptoms for at least 1 mental affliction.
I understand that a therapist must also exclude a lot of mental illnesses for a proper diagnosis, so I tried being as strict as possible with my categorizations. Still, the vast majority of people in my surroundings were allegedly very mentally unwell. Of course I also found out that I was showing signs of being mentally ill, too.
My leading theory became that everyone is crazy including me. It did not last for long though, because it started to spread. I suddenly saw the same behavior appearing on TikTok, short repeated nonsensical phrases that looked like memes, but they clearly weren’t. All of these noises and phrases… they seemed to be exploiting the biochemistry of the human mind, they were abusing our pattern recognition abilities.
But how do they know? The idea of thought pattern manipulation took me quite a while to understand and even in modern science it’s mostly a theoretical concept or proposal of how our mind might work. And these Social Media nobody’s just happened to figure it out by chance all at the same time?
Something’s very wrong.
All of these memetic images and texts, could it be that they carry some sort of mind virus with them? No, I think this goes deeper than the mind. I think it affects our very soul.
Metaphysical viruses.
They disguise themselves as just a regular phrase or they imbed themselves in a seemingly normal image, so when an observer comes across this infected material they get “sick” with the metaphysical virus. They slowly become vessels for the virus, spewing incoherent words and making more infected Info-hazardous material so that they can continue to spread further.
It seems to take away the free will of the user and it replaces it with the viruses form of transmission. The affected Individual might even feel the loss of free will, but they are unable to describe their feelings and it is often mistaken for some form of depression.
Have you ever heard about the Wendigo? You don’t need to know what this is, but it is a Native American belief that has been categorized as a regional mental illness. This classification didn’t make any sense to me until I discovered metaphysical viruses. For the longest time they weren’t a huge problem, because they could only spread so far…
But due to the invention of the Internet, knowledge can spread across the entire world in an instant, including the harmful memetic metaphysical viruses.
They have spread. They have spread to a point where we can’t stop them.
Most of the modern world is infected by one virus or another. To be honest, I’m still not sure what they do, but I have a couple of guesses.
From what I’ve observed, they can cause:
Loss of free will
Thought loops
Mental paralysis
False memories (This would also explain the Mandela effect)
Loss of one’s identity
Incoherent voices
Inability to hold a thought
Aphantasia (Loss of the minds eye)
Insanity
And a form of locked in syndrome, where your body is still going through its daily routine, but you can’t do anything else.
These were the most severe and obvious symptoms, most of them just give you depression, anxiety, add etc.
If you have any of these symptoms, try to set up a healthy routine, before the virus has taken over, the routine might override the viruses control. But this procedure is inconclusive in it’s effectiveness. I just don’t have anything else that I could possibly suggest.
I’ve already lost one of my best friends to what I think is a metaphysical virus. I can’t stand seeing them trapped in their bed while their mind is actively rotting away. I can see how they’re trying to beg me for help with their eyes, but I can’t do anything. I just don’t know. I just don’t know.
I just
Don’t know.
I’m afraid I’m next
Because of their overlap with real mental afflictions it’s incredibly difficult to detect them. The only way you can escape them is by never going on to the Internet again.
Although I must inform you, if you’ve read this post in its entirety, you’ve probably been infected. I think it’s because the very knowledge of their existence is a virus.
I’m so sorry, but this is my last Hail Mary. Don’t become what I have become and log off indefinitely.
I have failed humanity.