by The reality shifters are a group of people who believe they can transport themselves to different realities by using techniques learned from jobs on the internet. Some of these techniques are like ancient breathing, affirmations and visualization. But one of the most important techniques is very contemporary: an app on your phone.
A reality shift started in the late 2010s on Amino, a small fandom-centric social media platform. But TikTok first gained mainstream attention in 2020, a time when many people – especially young people who grew up in a fantasy and online world – had reason to discover that they were currently lacking reality. It’s the unique blend of spirituality, technology, and social community that draws hundreds of thousands of people who subscribe to reality-shifting online communities on Reddit, Discord, and TikTok.
Using specific rituals, shifters could go to their “desired reality” (DR) and travel to places like Hogwarts or Westeros, or they could even shift to an alternate reality of their own world. There are as many opinions about transition as there are about transitions, but in general, the public believes that we live in a multifaceted world, so all these realities are equally real. To go from your original reality (OR) to DR is to unlock the power of your mind.
According to a 2021 study published in Current Psychology, some report “spinning, rocking, falling sensations” as the body enters a trance state and the new reality takes hold. Ears ring and ring, voices are heard, and phantom sensations are felt. The details of each experience, like the realities entered, are different.
How People Snuggle, Snore, and Snooze in Virtual Reality Every Night
But one thing seems to be universally true: Transition is hard. Online community spaces are full of people complaining about how they want to transition with age but can’t, and asking for help.
Of course, skeptics point out that much of it is essentially very vivid, lucid dreaming – but some serious movers disagree. For those who are “successful,” a reality shift session might begin with the “raven” or “star” method, which involves lying on the ground, counting to one hundred, and saying an affirmation such as “I am in my desired reality and it can be felt” between each number. Some use “subliminals,” which are specially selected audio tracks, to help them translate. A key part of the practice of many people who are translating is to “script:” write out in detail before you translate what the DR is.
Or, you could just use the app.
App to leave reality
The app is called Lifa, and is intended to help users “script” what happens when they reach a new reality. Although the app was released in the Apple and Google app stores in 2023, a former member of the Amino community first conceptualized Lifa in 2019. In their description, the app did not exist in this reality—but as an app in your desired reality.
Think of it as a kind of WeChat for the multiverse. The DR Lifa app allows you to create a portal to move between realities like you would Uber in real life. It also allows you to represent any object or outfit, and allows you to remotely view your original in your desired reality as if it were a Netflix show.
As it moved beyond Amino, it moved into “ShiftTok,” the loose community of the practice on TikTok, and a constellation of subreddits and Discord servers. At each step along the way, different users shared new versions of their own Lifa app.
OR Lifa offers various tools for scripting, through which you can access mock versions of your bank account app or social media platform and write in your own balance and follower count. It could be understood as an “instrument of faith,” in the words of one translator who spoke to The Daily Beast on condition of anonymity.
screenshot via Aidan Walker
DR Lifa is envisioned as a technology company with a logo and UX. It exists to give you complete freedom and access within the reality it brings – but if you don’t know what you want, you know DR Lifa well enough to make something that is “a trillion times better” than you might want to, one said an anonymous shifter The Daily Beast.
TikTok, Meta, and Apple can only hope for this kind of power—but DR Lifa’s mythology mirrors their real-life brand identity and advertising promises. Just as these technology companies make our relationships with things and people within this reality more and more, Lifa does the same for a desired reality. It combines all functions and centralizes all actions on one interface.
“People have been doing this with technology for years,” Heidi Campbell, a professor of digital religion at Texas A&M University, told the Daily Beast. “Whatever your understanding of the spiritual world or the divine world is, you tend to transfer that and put it on technology.”
“Infinity and Freedom”
The Lifa app in this reality is more humble than the DR version. It is available for free on the Google and Apple app stores, where it has nearly a million downloads and approximately 100,000 monthly active users. However, the app’s developer, Arthur (whose last name has been withheld to protect his anonymity) told The Daily Beast that he is not a shifter, but “more of a creator.”
Arthur first came across a TikTok post from a user who shared his design of an image board for the Lifa app. Arthur saw that Lifa did not exist in this reality but was an important part of the transition, and he stepped in to “fill the community’s need.”
Every aspect of OR Lifa stems from something suggested by the community. “I appreciate the individuals in the community,” Arthur said. “And I want them to enjoy their journey into these worlds as much as possible and the comfort and security these travelers bring them.”
OR Lifa offers various tools for scripting, through which you can access mock versions of your bank account app or social media platform and write in your own balance and follower count.
Shot of Lifa. The Lifa app in this reality is more humble than the DR version.
screenshot via Aidan Walker
OR Lifa could be understood as an “instrument of faith,” in the words of one translator who spoke to The Daily Beast on condition of anonymity. Scripting a fax of what your phone would look like in DR helps guide you toward that goal. The same translator said that the Lifa app represents “a good proclamation of religious change: infinity and freedom.”
Arthur agrees saying “the allure [of shifting] It comes from the fact that you can design any world, any character you want, and you can make that world a reality – a world where you are free from inhibitions, free from judgments and the pressures of our ORs.” He’s now working on a new app for a more general audience of “casual creatives” who want to make an immersive fictional world “without the learning curve of book writing.”
A Digital Cheers Bar
In some ways, it is more accurate to speak of “changing communities” than “transitional communities”. The different subreddits and Discords differ from each other and occasionally. ShiftTok is a chaotic space, uncontrolled by mods, which is difficult to track. But in general, each community is focused on helping others on their transition journey, sharing tips and lore. Change may mean leaving this reality, but through these communities, it seems to be affecting lives in this reality.
The most extensive psychological research on transfer is a 2021 study published in Current Psychology, who likens it to “day immersion practices,” and points out that if not controlled and done responsibly, reality shifting can turn into a form of “inappropriate daydreaming.” There are reports in transmigration communities of people unable to stop transmigration, being stressed by what they encounter in DR, or using it as an escape from problems in their original reality. But most translators seem to be in control of their practice.
When you join a Discord dedicated to reality shifting (and there are several others) you’ll see channels about what you’d expect, like scripting desired realities. But you’ll also see channels focused on board games and conversations about exercise routines. There are no details on the subject, but the community seems to involve people from all over the world: most of the posts are in English or Spanish, and many users practice a second language in the online communities.
A practice that has been criticized by some as a way to escape reality acts as a way to change people’s experience of this reality, helping them find a connection. “Everyone wants their digital Bye bar,” Campbell told The Daily Beast. “A place where everyone knows your name, and is glad you came.”
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