The fictional island of Psimythos, brought to life by ChatGPT, inspired by creative descriptions from X users.
You know those people who, when you mention any band, will slowly take a drag from their vape and say: “I saw them once in a basem*nt in Bristol. It was a unique experience, but then they went downhill.” Or when you tell them you visited a pristine beach, they reply: “Pfft, you’re still going there? The in spot is the cove right next to it.” (Another drag.) Well, over the weekend, those people got roasted on social media.
But let’s start from the beginning. It all began when journalist Kostas Maniatis, known as Beat Bukowski (@beatbukowski), posted the following on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter): “Invent a fake name for an island, something trendy, like Psimythos, and say that’s where it’s happening this year. Haven’t been to Psimythos? Oh man, you missed out – it was wild this year.” Facebook didn’t catch on immediately – after all, us Facebook folks are getting older – but on X, it spread like wildfire. Thalis (@th4lis) jumped in quickly with a reply: “It’s gone downhill, in my opinion. The last time it was worth it was (insert the year your friend went, minus one to make them feel insignificant). Now it’s all about Antipsimythos, if you ask me.” “It’s been downhill since the 90s,” added Moglis (@moglis_). “Some of us were going to Psimythos back in the 80s for the festival of Agios Sertikos, as kids. Back then, there wasn’t even a boat, and we had to swim 6 miles with our parents to get there… We even caught mackerel on the way, which we gave to Mrs Leni at the kafeneio, and she grilled them for us,” shared AAP (@sonJLB). Kyriakos Angelakos on Facebook added his own twist: “When we were going to Psimythos with just a sarong, a sunhat, and ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude,’ you were hopping between Paloukia and Selinia (on the island of Salamina), feeling like Magellan.”
‘We chuckled at our screens, the vibe reminding older users of the good old days of Twitter’
And then came the photos of the August full moon from the island, the nostalgic memories of festivals in the central square. Beautiful moments. “Psimythos is fantastic. Unreal,” wrote Nikos Schoretsanitis on Facebook. Gradually, the professionals of the platform joined in. Someone created a fake Wikipedia entry, another wrote a travel guide for OneMan, and someone else even set up a proper website, psimythos.gr, with all the necessary details for travelers. There was even a trailer for a documentary about the island. Pop singer Pan Pan shared a poster for his next concert on Psimythos, while Odigitis, the magazine of the Communist Youth of Greece (KNE), announced events for its upcoming festival on the island (including a discussion about conditions at the island’s health center, a big concert with veteran rocker Vassilis Papakonstantinou, and a traditional island feast).
Because, let’s face it, Psimythos has its problems. The island is slowly being deserted. Everyone has seen the photos of the little boy marching alone in the national day parade (what, you haven’t?). Meanwhile, the island is suffering from drought and overtourism (as fellow Kathimerini journalist Giorgos Lialios noted, “A tourist village with 100 ultra-luxurious villas, pools, spas and a hotel has received preliminary approval from the Ministry of Environment”). The last doctor on Psimythos recently resigned due to overwhelming pressure (“No news outlet covered the story!”).
It was inevitable that some people would get lost in the whirlwind of comments and start googling “Psimythos” while others believed it was all part of a grand conspiracy against them. Conservative Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis blamed the Psimythos hype on “opposition trolls,” who, he claims, are promoting a false image propagating the collapse of the National Health System (ESY). “But what they did today [Sunday] crossed the line. It all started with a story about ‘the last rural doctor who posted on Facebook that he couldn’t take it anymore and was leaving…’ and then came the posts about how ‘Psimythos has been left without a doctor,’ etc. And ‘This is Adonis’ ESY,’ etc. But not only is the news about the doctor’s resignation false, but the island where healthcare is supposedly collapsing doesn’t even exist! (…) And they shouldn’t say they did it for fun, because by tomorrow, if I hadn’t made this post, half of Greece would believe that… Psimythos had been left without a doctor and that ESY was collapsing… So, at some point, this all had to stop.”
Well, for a brief moment, we were all part of something special. We lived our Psi-myth in Greece, to paraphrase the old slogan of the Greek Tourism Organization. We chuckled at our screens, the vibe reminding older users of the good old days of Twitter. That is, until the next argument.
Note: Special mention goes to two other fictional islands, Ifkinthos (a blend of “If” and “Kinthos”) and Kivdilos (meaning “fake” in Greek), both ideal destinations for the truly sophisticated. The first, created by Chryssa and Vassilis, spread from group to group in the early 2000s, before social media, to the point where even a famous director once asked for help finding accommodation there. The second is the creation of journalist Giorgos Pouliopoulos, who has been regularly reporting from there since 2017 (“90 euros for a double room without air conditioning on Kivdilos. SHAME!”).
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