Echo‑chamber compression sickness

A social‑psychological mechanism where prolonged inhabitation of shrinking, like‑minded networks causes actors to lose touch with external reality, amplify performative signals, and mistake office or platform for substantive authority. That contraction produces reputational capture: institutions retain formal authority while the holder’s credibility and the institution’s value degrade. — If true, the concept predicts when and how institutional scandals and symbolic overreach (media stunts, token appointments, performative policy) will occur and persist, informing how institutions should structure dissent and external review.