Shouldn't it be "how I feel..."?

It's said like "how am I supposed to feel?" sort of shortened.

memes probably aren’t the best authority on what is generally considered “grammatically correct”

It seems like a rhetorical question, so, no, it needs a “do.” > How do I feel when every person I’ve ever met has told me that they thought I was a ~~bitch~~ at first? Without the “do,” this question would only make sense as a confirmatory response to something like: > A: I want to know how you feel. > > B: [You want to know] How I feel when every person I’ve ever met has told me that they thought I was a ~~bitch~~ at first?

It’s a [rhetorical question](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_question) - a question asked for dramatic effect or to make a point, not to get an answer.

i’m 99% sure the “do” should be dropped and that it’s a typo, and that it’s not a question at all. it IS a fragment, but it’s a caption for the picture/video, not a sentence.

Without "do" this is a sentence fragment: "how I feel \[when...\]" could be the subject or predicate ("how I feel \[when...\] *is bad*"; "*you know* how I feel \[when...\]" of a sentence. With "do," you are correct that this is formulated as a question, but conventional punctuation is one of the first things to go on the Internet and is sometimes dropped or modified for unconventional tonal effect. Omitting a period, for example, conveys a sense of incompleteness you can exploit deliberately

There are a lot of possible interpretations, and I agree with all the other commenters. I also think your interpretation could be correct, though not for a question. It's typical on the internet to say "How I feel when (something happens)." That could be short for "This is how I feel when (something happens)." It could also possibly be seen as the start to a list with points, as in "How I feel when (something happens): - exhausted - funny - etc" In these cases, they are not questions, they just start with "how" to indicate an explanation will follow (as opposed to "I feel sad when people think I'm a bitch," which starts with the answer and is therefore less engaging on social media).

You're correct. I assume it's a caption to the photo of a person looking sad - so the meaning is "\[This is\] how I feel when.." It doesn't make sense as a question - rhetorical or otherwise. Unless there's a new GenZ usage and I didn't get the memo (very possible)

gonna be honest, this reads like it was written by a non-native speaker, or they made a typo.

It seems like they're asking a question, so it needs "do," I actually thought it might've been a non-native speaker who made a mistake since there wasn't any *other* indication that it was a question, but assuming it is, it's correct.

Yes. If there was a question mark at the end of the sentence it would be okay.

You’re correct.