Reality shift

In July 2024 Dazed magazine explored the practice of reality shifting, in which participants try to transfer their consciousness to become aware of a desired reality. Shifters use various methods to experience alternative realities, which might be fictional worlds like the Marvel Universe or the Harry Potter stories, or an imagined reality. The phenomenon, which has spawned almost 40 million posts on TikTok as of December 2024 and multiple sub-Reddits, may sound like old-fashioned daydreaming but its proponents say it is more akin to manifesting.

On that topic, “manifest” has been declared the word of the year for 2024 by Cambridge Dictionary, which notes a growing momentum behind the concept of willing your dreams into existence. Ariana Grande partly attributes her success to a “manifesting gift” and in 2024 the media pored over an unearthed tweet from 2011 in which the singer spoke of her now realized dream to play Glinda in Wicked.

There is global appetite for alternative realities: 67% of generation Z say they like the idea of escaping to a different reality using technology, compared to 58% for all ages. This cohort is also more likely to enjoy taking part in cosplay or live action role playing (51% compared to 41% total). The phenomenon is even showing up in culture: Dazed cites the A24 movie I Saw the TV Glow in which teenagers seek escape from their real-life dramas by immersing themselves in a fictional TV world.

The fascination with different realities is also suffusing the creative space as designers leverage generative AI tools to stretch the boundaries of realism. Adobe’s Creative Trends 2025 report sums up its Fantastic Frontiers trend as “bringing unreality to life.”

Adobe 805135133 — Adobe Stock Fantastic Frontiers

Fotolia 716898535 — Adobe Stock, Fantastic Frontiers. Fotolia.

What is driving a generation to reimagine reality? VML Intelligence spoke to Dani Reyes, a psychometrician and researcher based in Manila, Philippines, and a card-carrying member of gen Z herself. Her TedX talk, “How gen Z’s delulu culture impacts their reality,” had garnered more than 440,000 views on YouTube as of December 2024, and explains how gen Z has co-opted the term delusion from its clinical definition and reframed it to stand for a kind of hope. Reyes says that an “unwavering optimism” is characteristic of her generation, which leads them to believe that “things will be fine, even if they don't have tangible evidence of things being okay.”

Rather than signifying literal delusion, she says it’s a coping strategy. Generation Z has come of age in challenging times, economically, socially, and politically. Social media has conditioned them to aspire to a good life, which they are struggling to realize. Reyes explains, “People just want a better life for themselves, to be able to rent, live a good life, to have savings, to travel, all these kinds of things. And I think these are very bare minimum wishes to have.” Hence the phrase, “delulu is the solulu” (delusion is the solution).

People just want a better life for themselves, to be able to rent, live a good life, to have savings, to travel, all these kinds of things. And I think these are very bare minimum wishes to have.

Dani Reyes

Psychometrician and researcher

Sean Pillot de Chenecey, author of The Post-Truth Business, sees this as “an entirely reasonable and coherent choice” based on the world right now. Indeed, 73% of gen Z think that “the way things are going, the real world feels increasingly surreal.” Behavioral psychologist Jo Hemmings adds that practices like manifesting are “quite important in self-identity, because [they] give you a slight tribal sense of belonging, because a lot of people are doing it. It gives young people a platform where they feel they can relate to others.”

Embracing delusion then, is highly intentional: a form of optimism, and a route to imagining, or manifesting a better reality than the one in which you find yourself. And despite the precariousness of their future, gen Z is an optimistic generation, embodied by Reyes, who says: “As long as we’re still here. I think we have a shot at experiencing better things. I think that we’re bound to experience some kind of systemic change soon. I feel like it’s a matter of when, not if.”

The Intelligence Take

Generation Z’s embrace of “delulu” culture and reality shifting is about optimism, not opting out. Brands can help by working towards better real-life futures with and for them, and salving their sense of detachment by fostering real-world connection and community with their peers.

All images courtesy Adobe Stock, Fantastic Frontiers.