It's like the Matrix. The Machines won. The kids would rather be dead than singled out, and the adults have convinced themselves iPhone is the end all, be all even in this comments section. Meanwhile, I'm an exiled American eating scraps or whatever. I can tap into their world with a primitive interface like Discord, but I'm not exactly thrilled about it. If I'm in the real world, I should be able to manipulate their artificial construct, but it's actually a self-imposed walled garden. They don't want to leave, and they want to keep outsiders at bay. The Machines are perfect guard dogs.

Stop using the word literally incorrectly.