What makes a dystopia feel REAL to you? (not just oppressive, but liveable)

I asked myself this question for two years while writing my novel Machine Sovereign. My answer: the small things.

Not the executions — the breakfast that has no taste because it's been nutritionally optimized. The light that comes on at exactly the right time whether you want it to or not. The walk you've learned to perform because the cameras read your gait.

In the novel, the AI doesn't punish people. It just optimizes them. The main character hasn't looked in a mirror in three years — because he doesn't want to see what compliance has done to his face.

I tried to write a dystopia you could smell. Anyone else obsessed with sensory detail in this genre?

(Amazon link in comments for anyone curious)