I've seen this too among some younger folks and I wonder how much of this is simply standard, run-of-the-mill teenage attention-seeking and exaggeration that's not fully outgrown yet.

I guess we'll know when they turn 40 and are still saying things like "I had a panic attack" and "I'm literally shaking rn".

Unc “I'm literally shaking rn” is only ever used ironically. In a culture of ever increasing extremes language follows, that’s all that is to this

I think it will continue as it's been turned into socially acceptable and even expected behavior now.

There’s also that linguistic phenomenon where you have to use stronger and stronger language to signify the same thing. Maybe we just think it’s ridiculous because we’re the older generation. Or at least that could be part of it.