May 6, 2023 at 12:01 pm

People Used To Say “That Calculator Won’t Always Be In Your Pocket”. They Were Wrong. What Are We Saying Now That In 20 Years Will Be Wrong?

by Trisha Leigh

If you’re someone of a certain age, then you probably had a math teacher tell you that one reason you had to learn how to add or subtract or multiply without using a calculator is because you “wouldn’t always have one in your pocket.”

Obviously, that did not turn out to be true.

In 20 years, there will surely be something else that people swore we needed to know that we actually didn’t, but what?

These people have some pretty interesting ideas!

Already going away.

“You’re not going to have internet access everywhere.”

This one’s already going away. I used to use the lack of wifi in fast-food places as a way to sit on my laptop and do offline things (photoshopping, writing homework assignments or fun stories) without being distracted by the Internet.

Now I don’t have that sort of refuge from being Always Connected, and there doesn’t appear to be a Windows app for “temporarily disable the Internet for the next 2 hours, then automatically switch it back on.”

I certainly hope so.

Fingers crossed: “Finish your food, there are people in Africa starving”.

Finger’s crossed.

You’re not always going to have someone to clean up after you.

Robot butler has entered the chat.

That sounds right.

Clean air doesn’t grow on trees!

I am the Lorax, I speak for the trees, Do not litter, Or I’ll break your f**king knees.

At the far end of town, where the Grickle Grass grows, if I find your f**king trash, I’ll break your f**king toes.

A problem of the past.

What if your car runs out of gas?

It seems like it’s taking awhile.

You’re not always going to have autopilot in your car.

Problems solved.

“And what if your phone doesn’t have service?”

“And what if the battery dies?”

Maybe not everything.

“Well you can’t automate everything.”

Tell that to my car that drives itself, house that cleans itself, yard that mows itself, and coffee that makes itself. But, sure, that one thing you’re thinking of totally can’t be automated.

I hope you like them.

You won’t always be living with your parents!

“Hey let’s go get f**ked up tonight”

“Asked my mom she said no”

“Bro ur 38”

“Yee”

Because there aren’t going to be more fish.

“There’s plenty more fish in the sea” won’t make any sense.

It will go away.

What’s the WiFi password?

I see this as something that’ll go away. There are already a number of options that try to make this simpler with syncing buttons and QR codes on routers.

I can see some system allowing you to easily give somebody access from your device being in the near future.

Maybe it won’t.

Teachers saying “you’re not allowed to use a Wikipedia article”

I hope that doesn’t change, encyclopedias in general have always been frowned upon as sources because their entire purpose is to give an overview.

Wikipedia’s biggest advantage is that it makes it easy to find primary sources, such as books or articles, which are then acceptable to cite because they should go into more detail.

Don’t believe it.

“I have a right to online privacy”

I hate their reply

“if you have nothing to hide why are you worried”

Like. Wanting some privacy doesn’t mean you are hiding 30 murder crimes

Then we’re not eating there.

“This restaurant doesn’t deliver.”

Although hopefully not because we end up with another global pandemic so f**king soon.

I’m not sure whether or not any of these are going to be right.

It’s certainly interesting to think about, though.

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