67 Dystopian Things And Experiences That Have Somehow Become A Normal Part Of Everyday Life

Fictional dystopias have traditionally given us societies where ordinary people have little control over their lives, while governments, corporations, or institutions call the shots—just think of Orwell’s 1984, Huxley’s Brave New World, Collins’ The Hunger Games, or Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. But you don’t need a totalitarian government or a post-apocalyptic wasteland for something to feel dystopian. Sometimes, it’s the growing uneasy sense that the systems that govern everyday life simply aren’t working for the people they’re meant to serve.

That feeling—that the systems around us aren’t working for the people they’re supposed to serve—isn’t imaginary, either. A September 2026 survey from the Partnership for Public Service found that just 27% of Americans said that they trusted the federal government, down six percentage points from the previous year. As Paul Hitlin, the organization’s senior research manager, said, “It’s a small decrease, but the larger overall trend is a real concern—that only about a quarter or so of the public trusts the government.”

It’s perhaps reassuring, then, that the picture looks a little different when it comes to Americans’ thoughts on civil servants. The survey found that for each of the last four years, at least 42% of the public said they trust them. And sure, that number’s not particularly high (it’s still greater than the trust given to the federal government), but the survey did see improvement when it came to people’s views of civil servants: 61% agreed with the statement “Most civil servants are committed to helping people like me,” while 65% said they considered civil servants competent.

But while Americans may be warming to the people working within government, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve developed newfound faith in the system itself: About 72% described the government as corrupt (up from 67% in 2025), and about 75% called it wasteful (up from 61% in 2025). Only 37% agreed that the government has a positive impact on the country (down from 42% in 2025).

The report notes that these negative views of government aren’t problems that started with the current administration, but argues that they have been “exacerbated” by it, adding that “The persistence of negative views that the government is corrupt and wasteful is a trend that warrants urgent attention.”

But there’s another finding that complicates the picture. Despite the low trust overall, Americans who have had direct experiences with government viewed those experiences more positively than negatively, the Partnership’s research showed. About 49% of the public said they had had positive personal experiences with the federal government, down slightly from 51% last year—but still higher than the 38% who said they had had a negative personal experience.

That suggests the problem may not always be the people Americans encounter, but the larger systems they’re interacting with—and the disconnect between what those systems are supposed to do and how they’re perceived. Hitlin said transparency could help close that gap, particularly by making the impact of government work more visible to the people it affects.

“Really focus on how the work federal employees do impacts the people directly—make that connection really clear to people,” Hitlin said. “That’s helped in the messaging work we’ve done to make government seem more relevant to people.”

And perhaps that disconnect is part of what makes some aspects of modern life feel so dystopian: the growing sense that the people making decisions and the people living with the consequences aren’t always the same. And that goes beyond government, extending to the technology, workplaces, corporations, and other institutions that increasingly shape our everyday lives. Sometimes, it’s simply the realization that the people and systems shaping our lives don’t seem to be working as well as they should—or, at least, not for everyone. And these folks have the receipts to prove it.