The specific paranoia and operational stress associated with the encrypted, channel-based messaging app favored for everything from niche fan clubs to, well, darker stuff. The trauma comes from the sheer velocity of information in massive channels (thousands of unread messages inducing anxiety), the constant low-grade fear of being in a group that might get raided or banned, and the whiplash between innocent sticker packs and stumbling into ideological rabbit holes with no content moderation. The app feels like a series of backrooms—some cozy, some deeply unsettling—and exiting one just leads to another.
Example: "He joined a Telegram channel for vintage synthesizer repairs. Two weeks later, after a labyrinth of forwarded messages and linked channels, he was seeing conspiracy theories about 5G and music theory. His trauma from the Telegram app is the feeling that no community is ever just about what it says it's about." Trauma from Telegram App
by Abzugal January 30, 2026
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