In the 1970s, a group of volunteers stepped into an all-white, silent, featureless room—only to emerge hours later shaken, disoriented, and forever changed. Stripped of sound, texture, and color, their minds began to fill in the blanks, conjuring phantom shapes, whispered voices, and visions no one else could see. Some claimed they could hear colors.

In this unnerving episode of Phantom Bytes, we explore the strange science of sensory deprivation—and its eerie parallels in the digital world. From algorithmic shadowbans to the silent exile of ghost accounts, discover how the absence of signals can be as manipulative, maddening, and dangerous as the flood of them. Because sometimes… what you don’t see is the thing that changes you most.