Did they block me and ghost me indefinitely? Or did I unintentionally leave them speechless using my unbelievably fascinating personality and now they’re taking their sweet time to craft a careful answer on how to respond to me? The latter, duh.
Maybe I’ve become chronically online and I should use my phone less because my screen time notification was “correct” to notify me that my daily average screen time increased significantly. Or actually, my daily screen time notification must’ve miscalculated because I can’t be staring at the screen if the same TikTok is replaying over and over again — so no, I don’t think I need any less screen time than the perfectly healthy amount I already spend.
Maybe the answers have always been the former, being exactly as how we’ve gotten ourselves answers with “it is what it is” — but now, what if it wasn’t? Instead, these new answers to our concerns and questions have followed a rite of passage through manifestation and taken on a new allure of “fake it till you make it” in what we call delusions or what the internet has dubbed — “being delulu.”
This new phenomenon has taken the internet by storm and perhaps may explain our existing concerns away — but, that is, if you’re also “delulu” like the rest of us. Being delusional very much remains a symptom of a mental disorder, and struggling with this condition can be difficult — which is why it’s important to note that it’s almost unserious and ironic that Generation Z has especially given new meanings to pretty much everything.
Across the internet, “delulu” is a quirky wordplay that signifies individuals embracing their delusions for several reasons, but it’s become increasingly clear that it has served as a newfound source of humor, self-confidence, motivation and hysteria.
Arguably, being “delulu” can be considered as false hope or fake confidence, but that may be a pessimistic view. Rather, being “delulu” has satirical undertones and, knowing Gen Z, there’s no other generation that has been more self-aware about their own issues and tribulations. Therefore, it’s motivating to allow these “delusions” to interject on our perceptions of reality, hilariously explaining away why things happened the way they did and denouncing the ideas that “it is what it is” because it absolutely wasn’t!
Growing up, we’ve all heard of “faking it till you make it,” and that included putting on a smile to lock in the pretend confidence so it led us to self-assurance. Hysterically, the internet has elevated this idea in the philosophy of “delulu,” and Gen Z has become inclined to adopt delusions to find motivation, humor and solace in life’s uncertainties.
It’s a sure way to not take life too seriously and promote the willingness to step out of our comfort zones — despite the absurdity of our own delusions sometimes. Even then, the absurdity surely adds to the humor and hysteria of it all and being “delulu” certainly becomes an empowering experience for us to “absolulu find the solulu.”
