No joke for real. I used to beable to see 1000s upon 1000s of stars. the last couple times I've went out on clear nights theres only around 10-15 visible stars. I checked online to see if others have noticed this (nothing found) and what fake stream science has to say which is always worth a laugh - https://www.space.com/hunt-for-universe-missing-stars-space-mysteries
regardless this is weird to me. I don't live in a city, I'm on the outskirts of a small town way up north so i don't think light pollution is a thing.
So we got a telescope, and went out further away from the city. Then there were tons of stars. We still see quite a bit at home in our suburban backyard. Even when we went to TN a few years ago, way more stars when you have less light pollution.
Going up the mountains in Mexico at night was a mind-blowing trip. Also scary as shit.