ㅤDead Inside is a youth subculture popular among teenagers in CIS countries (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and so on). The term refers to young people who play the computer game Dota 2, watch anime, and position themselves as depressed, sad, and disappointed in life at their young age.
The traditional symbols of this subculture are the game Dota 2 and the anime Tokyo Ghoul, often using pictures of characters from the aforementioned anime which they often use in their profile. Classic expressions: "I don't care, I'm dead inside", "1000-7".
The expression "dead inside" came about in 2014 when ALOHADANCE, a Dota 2 player, said in an interview that he was "dead inside and didn't care about the game". He made the expression his trademark and even tattooed himself with the phrase.
In 2021, the phrase gained new popularity and began to be used to refer to pessimists who realized the complete meaninglessness of everything that was happening in reality, and decided to do nothing more. Such people began to discuss online what was happening, the decline of the world, everything else they saw.
By 2022 "dead inside" is more popular as a meme than as a self-designation for "sad" people.