It’s kind of terrifying to think about what the world will look like in 25 years.

Will our robot overlords have taken over by then?

Will climate change have made things so bad that we can’t go outside anymore?

Time will tell…

But in the meantime, check out what Reddit users think is normal now but won’t be in 25 years.

Sad.

“People retiring.

I’m literally 25 years from retirement age and I’m putting every penny I can aside, which is few, because I know social security will be gone in the next decade.”

True.

“We’re slowly seeing paperwork go away in hospitals as nurses.

I often think about down the line when employees will think it’s crazy I worked when they still used paper.

Everything is online now.”

Pretty awful.

“Our current education system.

It needs to be drastically overhauled.

No Child Left Behind was well-meaning, but has created a nightmare environment for everyone involved in public education.

My wife teaches at a middle school, and there are basically zero consequences for students when it comes to failing to turn in work, failing courses entirely, or even failing to show up regularly.

Any standards teachers attempt to set are essentially unenforceable because the hands of administrators are tied by the school corporations, who only care about maintaining enrollment levels in order to secure funding.”

Way too high.

“Affordable college.

Most degrees don’t need students to be in a brick and mortar building, I hope in 25 years the cost of college is significantly cut down.”

A full slate.

“The sad: glaciers and snow during winter

The good: single use plastic and 5 day work week

The pessimistic: civilization

The optimistic: nuclear threat.”

That’s scary.

“Young adults having the ability to read and write.

Gen Z is functional, but Gen A seems to be severely behind in their academics and they don’t care.”

Let’s hope so.

“I hope the rampant political extremism that the US has created and spread to other countries, making everyone label each other as either “fascist” or “communist” with absolutely nothing in between.

That’d be nice to see gone!”

Seems like it.

“The nuclear family.

It’s already in decline, and now the majority of people don’t live in this family arrangement.

Extended families, lots of roommates, or living solo. But the nuclear family is ending.”

Doesn’t look good.

“Any quality of life.

Ever since Reagan we’ve politicized social safety nets, public services, and really any situation where we think of others.

Once widely accepted standards of truth, science, and decency are slowly being whittled away.”

Sounds good!

“Hopefully, 8+ work hours per day.

I hope for a future with 4-5 working hours per day at most, leaving time in the day to actually enjoy your family, care for your physical and mental health as well as having hobbies.”

Ugh.

“Giving kids tablets and phones to pacify their time.

Was in the waiting room for a doctor’s appointment, started reading a Psychology magazine and read an article that claimed in thirty years we will likely look at giving young children tablets and phones as child abuse.

I now see my nieces kids be fully addicted to screentime at the age of two and think about that article and how badly I want to take the screens away from them. It was was eye opening to think that a lot of our quickly growing generations have never been without screen addiction.”

Maybe…

“Gasoline-powered cars.

There will definitely still be some around, of course, but they will be old.

Some will survive as collector cars, but the writing is on the wall for the gas engine.

Jaguar will be all electric by next year.”

That doesn’t sound good.

“Seeing a doctor within a week or two.

Doctors are leaving in droves. Insurance companies set the standard of care.

Insurance companies say what we have to do in order to treat our bodies.

Not a doctor that sees our body, sees our pain and our struggles.”

Wow.

“Writing an essay…

My 17 yo cousin just had it generated by a chat bot.

I tried to do the same. I’ve generated a thesis on the same subject as my bachelor’s thesis… In less than 2 hours. 35 pages long and probably of higher value than my own work.

This doesn’t feel right. Have I known this earlier, it would save me tens of hours of research and composing.”

Yeah, people will have to keep studying and writing. But nice try.

If you enjoyed that story, check out what happened when a guy gave ChatGPT $100 to make as money as possible, and it turned out exactly how you would expect.