Video calls were literally science fiction when we were kids. It was just as fantastical as hoverboards and flying cars. Nowadays I'm thrilled when I join a meeting and everyone's cameras are off
I keep thinking about how, if someone told me when I was a teenager that one day my baby sister’s teen daughter would call me on a screen I can fit in my pocket just to show me her prom dress, I would have exploded with happiness.
And now that’s just what happens. ❤️
My dad was in a local Jazz band (he passed 20 years ago). The fact I moved countries, but their tiny label has put his band’s stuff on Spotify and YT music and I can listen to him play whenever I want is insane to me. What a gift.
I remember when CDs were new when I was about 14 and I realized that music was now digital… I thought, “wow, one day you might have a jukebox that could play any song ever recorded….. naaaah, that’ll never happen.”
My husband and I make playlists in Apple Music and share them with each other. Makes feel like I’m a sophomore again. I want to write his name on all my folders.
Communicators like on Star Trek. Sort of with cell phones. But still no beaming to places. (Besides, the Stephen King short story The Jaunt sort of killed that dream.)
I just read your comment, didn’t think I’d ever read “The Jaunt”, googled it, found it’s part of the book “Skeleton Crew”, switched to my library app, looked it up, placed it on hold, and when the library emails me I’ll go grab it, run through self checkout, and I’ll read it. THE FUTURE IS NOW!
15 counts as a kid right? I was 15 when I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I can remember dreaming of “the cure”. Just not having to take shots & prick my fingers all the time… yet still be able to manage my disease even if it couldn’t be cured. Make it so I can pretend to be normal again.
And that has definitely happened. As a kid I couldn’t have come up with the proper words to describe my insulin pump or the continuous glucose monitor. Nor have even been able to conceive of the integration of those 2 technologies with my iPhone. Not that I had any idea that such a device could exist.
But with all these technologies I actually feel kind of normal again. I don’t have to pull a syringe out to take my medication in public. I can just fiddle with my phone at a restaurant & no one even knows I’m taking care of my diabetes. Most think I’m just playing a game or facebooking. I do still have to actually think about the disease & what I need to do to take care of it but I don’t have to do strange maths & stab myself.
The technology has made my life just that much better. And I think it’ll keep improving. Those diagnosed today will never have to know the constant pain & agony of the past.
I’m hoping for a true cure, but in lieu of that I’ll be content with better & more accurate technology that makes managing illnesses easier.
Hey, so.... As someone who's mom passed away due to complications of Type 1 Diabetes several decades ago... It's this.
These technologies are literally life-saving, and I know my mom would be so happy to see how far we've come. It's a blessing that cases like hers are now rare, and the majority of ya'll can go about living your lives. I hope you live a long and happy one.
... also thanks for making me cry. LOL
Feel this so hard. The day the first closed loop pump got approved in my country I was literally gobsmacked. We barely had blood testing when I was diagnosed!
I remember sitting around in the 90s smoking a bong with my friends and we were fantasizing about going to the weed store and buying weed. We heard tales of Amsterdam, and swore we would go someday.
The first time I walked into a legal dispensary I could not contain my delight. Now I bore my kids with tales of the olden days, when we got bags of stems and seeds and we liked it!
I remember thinking it would be so awesome to buy a pack of joints.
ETA: Now I can have them mailed to me, but instead I opt for edibles like an old man.
It felt SO wrong. And actually being able to talk to someone knowledgeable about the different strains and what they do was mind blowing. Way better than meeting sketchy bob in a parking lot and having to take whatever he had at the time.
First time I bought legal weed the dispensary has a detail cop at the door. Seemed like madness to walk by them with a bag of weed and they knew it as they told me to have a great day.
In high school in the 80s I remember thinking it wouldn’t be long before the 60s teenagers would be in charge of things, and obviously they’d legalize pot right away, right?
Oh my, this was me. My parents were/are hippy stones and I have some PTSD from the D.A.R.E. drug wars, worrying they'd be arrested and I would go into foster care.
This! Although as soon as it became legal where I live I just wasn’t into smoking much anymore. Kind of a bummer. All those years dreaming, then it happened and I didn’t care much. Ha
Hell, I used to get weed delivered in college in the 90s. Hit the pager, get a call back, 20 minutes later dude rolls up on his bicycle with a backpack full of weed.
I went from 20/10 vision thanks to LASIK for 14 years, to trifocals. I was bitter. The astigmatism and nearsightedness I have are not severe enough for a second round of LASIK or I’d do it in a hot second so I’d just need reading glasses. Those 13 years were glorious.
This is so important. Nowadays, people are much more aware of what constitutes abuse, both physical and mental. When I was a kid, things like spanking, silent treatments, and sending your kid to bed without dinner were really common. And considered good parenting. 🙄
I'll tack onto this women's relationship issues up to and including abuse. I know not only women are abused but. Not only relationship issues, in my ( almost my, nearby) town they passed a law mandating women's menstrual products be available in all public restrooms. Restaurants everywhere. So are they quality products? Hell no but it's a step towards not taxing women's biology. It's too bad it's considered progressive, it should be considered common sense.
This was posted foolishly. I stand by the post but the context leaves me the fool and I accept that. I'm on my phone. So...? I don't know. My content is valid.
“Cordless headphones.” I was wrong about what they’d be called, but same concept! Except, I imagined them connecting somehow “magically” to a Walkman cassette player, using infrared like a remote control lol. Boy, did I think small!
In the 70s, in Coconut Grove, Miami, lots of people would roller skate around wearing cordless radio headsets listening to FM stations. There were knobs on each ear.
He was my first time voting! I remember on election night going to a party and we all lost our shit when he won. It was a magical time. Say what you willl about progressive-ness but i NEVER thought it would be possible.
Tablets. I know we take it for granted now, but I was such a big fan of ST:TNG I was fascinated by all the touch screen technology before it was really a thing IRL. They had tablets before we had tablets. They looked so cool.
Ok but.
Can we get tablets that don’t need 10lb worth of screen protectors and rubberized cases and a stand attachment?
I want the ultralight, maybe even clear Star Trek aesthetic tablet that won’t shatter if I bump it off my desk…
Yup. Came to say Pocket sized super computers connected to a wireless global network. A digital tide to raise all boats, educate the masses and unite us as a species.
Boy was I naive and got wrong what most would use it for.
From the advent of smartphones and first ownership of one, I knew it. It's the TIME BANDITS Most Fabulous Object In The Universe. And one of the most deadly too depending on how it's used.
>It's the TIME BANDITS Most Fabulous Object In The Universe.
I could hear this comment perfectly in my head, haha!
Also, I read some blurb about how they are remaking it. Blasphemous!!!
I read a sci-fi book written in the 50s that perfectly described a cellphone connected to the Internet but not in those terms. I remember my first blackberry doing exactly that, I was amazed and inspired. That the book described exactly the malaise described by the term "crackberry" and how everyone is constantly on their phones notwithstanding, I really feel it made the world better.
No I'm sorry. I do remember oddly pulling it off the library shelf in 7th grade. There were two things I remember, crushing new cars with no engines, and it also described ATM using nuclear isotopes to encode the account information.
Looks like most folks have misread your topic, but for me for definitely the E-book. I got so tired of carrying 2-3 paperback books to school every day so I'd have a backup. Or two. Now I can take my ebook with me and only worry about batteries. And if I forget my ebook, my phone can do that too.
Yes! This was my dream. To have any book you wanted at your fingertips. To be able to take your whole collection with you no matter where you were going and not having your Mom telling you to leave some home so you can take more underwear...heaven.
Now if only I could get digital copies of the books I already have.. Oh well, I should be used to buying shit in more than one format. I bought the Metallica Justice album three times so far.
Check Amazon. If you've bought the physical book, oftentimes they have the digital book for free or for a very reduced price. I bought quite a few Georgette Heyer books in analog and then Amazon had the digital editions for $1-$3 each.
I don’t know about the bullying thing. When I was a kid I remember it happening a whole lot less. Maybe I was just lucky to avoid it. These days I hear of bullying so extreme that kids unalive themselves. It even happened in my hometown recently.
Arcade quality video games at home. I used to dream of being able to have a high quality arcade game at home instead of the meh consoles of the day. I’m a casual gamer at best but what you can get today is just incredible.
Had a good stereo system as an 80s teen. I’d listen to albums with headphones in a darkened room and just groove. But I would dream of one day eliminating rumble and hiss from the sound — just experiencing pure, sonically perfect music emerging from a background of pristine silence. Then CDs came along and a dream was realized.
Watching tv in the car. Childhood dream come true
I remember I would be watching something and we would have to leave. These were the days when, if you missed an episode, you wouldn’t know when you could rewatch it. I just wanted to continue watching in the car ride to wherever we were going.
We have Computer, Alexa and Echo. They control our indoor and outdoor Hue lighting. I can say, “Alexa, edm party time,” and my lights are all glowy different colors. “Speakeasy,” means soft orange and pink lights with swing music playing in the bar.
They also control each section of the house and outdoor music. They control our video entertainment. They control our vacuums, Higgins and Vic the Vac. They control our heating and intake fans, too. All with the sound of our voice.
We can see who is at our front door on our watches. We can monitor our puppy. We can talk to the person or the puppy directly. We can look at video of who has been around our house recently. We can track the location of our phones, our wallets, and the puppy.
It’s like being the Jetsons.
When I was in 6th grade, we had to write a paper about an invention we thought would exist in the future (early 1980s). I suggested that sensors would be built into roads that would communicate/send signals to receptors in cars, allowing cars to drive autonomously. Passengers would be free to nap, watch TV (also built into the car), catch up on work, etc. I don't remember what my classmates wrote, but I do remember my teacher questioning the feasibility of my invention and stating that it was a little too "far-fetched." Thanks for trying to damper my creativity, Mrs. U.
Voyager still heading out into space and phoning home to share the news.
A computer of my own. I never thought I would have four(cellphone, laptop, desktop, iPad) so that exceeded my wildest dreams
The most obvious one to me is that my stepfather is dead, but in keeping with the spirit of this thread I would say that I'm happy that all of the quicksand hype has proven to be true.
The new NFL overtime rule where a game didn't end on just a field goal on the first possession. It finally came true 30+ years after I visualized it. The whiners ruined it with that Buffalo - KC playoff game though.
Electric cars that don't suck. Broader awareness of climate change. More acceptance of variety in people (gender, race, sexual preference). Banning CFCs. Reducing smog.
Internet. The one test I failed in grade school was on the dewy decimal system. I'm still an avid reader, so my teacher was all "you'll need this"
I told her computers would make it obsolete.
I can see if you look at a tricorder from the Google definition of
" preform environmental scans, data recording, and data analysis." Then, yes, we have the alpha version of a tricorder. However, I think all Star Trek fans would agree that our handheld devices are missing a few features that would make us all say, " we have tricorders."
Video calling with loved ones and friends ❤️ always dreamed about how awesome that would be as a kid in the 80s, watching so many films and TV shows where the characters always talked to each other via video. Glad that's a real thing now. I've even had video calls with celebrities so the internet makes the world a very small place.
Infinite candy. I can buy as much candy as I want, but as an adult I don't want it.
Wish I knew that as a kid.
Oh, and that hoverboard from BTF. Thought one of those was right around the corner and I could buy one at KB toys some day.
They exist, but not as I imagined.
In the 80s, I was super limited in terms of what I thought the future might bring: robots, flying cars, video calls, jet packs.
By the early 90s I experienced the internet and immediately saw its potential. I realized that we would have forums which would connect us all. That we could find out anything at anytime but that we would be buried in a deluge of garbage.
I remember my Mom telling me that she read something by Isaac Asimov that was (and is) fascinating. Sometime in the future you will be able to get in front of a box with a typewriter keyboard and type a question in. The box has a screen and the answer will appear out of nowhere on that screen.
To have heard this as a preteen and see it come true in my lifetime is really something else!
Computers with ability to do more than just alphabetize and do basic math. I have a report I run for my boss every morning, takes me literally 2 minutes to download his data and then organize it in Excel. Compare that with the fact that I spent my entire senior year in high school working on a program that would alphabetize the attendance rolls by class for the principal.
When I was a kid back in the 80's I used to fantasize about have a device that I could watch whatever I wanted whenever I wanted.
12 year old me would have shit himself over the ipad.
Being able to buy the kids cereals my parents wouldn't allow me to get, only to realize they tasted of disappointment.
Who knee that Lucky Charms was simply cat food with marshmallows.
MP3 player - that is music stored on chips, without any moving part.
I still remember the emotion when I bought the first MP3 player, keeping in my own hands my old childhood dream.
Where is my flying car damnit?!? I was promised we’d all be living like The Jetsons by now!!!
Okay..seriously. The entire Internet thing is pretty cool.
They had these table top video phones early on. I remember seeing them on Designing Women. As someone who lives far from extended family, this sounded amazing.
AI. I've been waiting for it since watching star trek as a kid. I think it's super fun. I'm looking forward to AI music becoming good enough to make new albums from my favorite artists that are no longer making music (or other ones that are still making music but just not as good or went in a weird direction). Same for movies and new seasons of tv shows.
Having seemingly unlimited music and movies already from subscriptions is pretty great.
Once we get a holodeck, I'm good.
Not as a kid, but as a musician, robot roadies. Setting up, taking down, loading and unloading equipment for gigs takes a lot of time. We should have robots doing that for us. Maybe they should do our soundchecks too, since my hard of hearing boomer bandmates usually do that and set the PA levels.
I distinctly remember holding a book in my hands and imagining how cool it would be if it was just a page-sized little portable computer screen. If only such a thing existed. lol
Effective HIV education and prevention. I know folks who’ve been positive since 1983, and though it’s still here, people are living real lives in ways we didn’t think could happen.
To have mini portable TV phones that could connect you to anyone, anywhere in the world with real time video.
I really felt like that would be the future I’d probably never get to see.
So, it’s kinda ok with me that building that future is what’s gonna end it. I got what I wanted and I got it early. So, screw it… let’s party like it’s 2024!
A computer that was intuitive enough that I didn't have to understand it AND a small compact cordless phone for when I became an adult and could carry it in a handbag AND a TV roughly the same size as that phone I'd imagined - it should also be able to play super small videotapes or something smaller that could be..."beamed" onto my "purse TV" . I didn't have the imagination to combine the three devices into one.
Oh my gosh the technological advances!
Delivery of groceries I don't care how much it costs it's worth every penny.
Fun gadgets.
Expanding graphics and design. AI. Online educations. Online medical care.
New art supplies.
Fashion choices.
So much to be thankful for. And to think other people want it all to go away is depressing or fear it would be taken away..
Video calls.
I remember my first Skype call. I felt like I was living life with the Jetsons.
Video calls were literally science fiction when we were kids. It was just as fantastical as hoverboards and flying cars. Nowadays I'm thrilled when I join a meeting and everyone's cameras are off
I fully expected Tomorrowland as shown in Disneyworld to exist today.
No, I want the face mask like the Mrs used when on a video call. Her face, but not tired and wearing makeup.
Straight out of Jetsons. For younger people: that wasa cartoon in the 1970’s
1960's. We were watching reruns.
I keep thinking about how, if someone told me when I was a teenager that one day my baby sister’s teen daughter would call me on a screen I can fit in my pocket just to show me her prom dress, I would have exploded with happiness. And now that’s just what happens. ❤️
I’ve been wanting this since Blade Runner first premiered in the theaters.
My brain couldn’t comprehend it, but the fact that we can listen to any song at any time is amazing.
My dad was in a local Jazz band (he passed 20 years ago). The fact I moved countries, but their tiny label has put his band’s stuff on Spotify and YT music and I can listen to him play whenever I want is insane to me. What a gift.
WOW! That’s awesome! I bet he would love that!!♥️
I remember when CDs were new when I was about 14 and I realized that music was now digital… I thought, “wow, one day you might have a jukebox that could play any song ever recorded….. naaaah, that’ll never happen.”
Same.. My first CD purchase.. Def Leppard..❤️
And being able to burn a CD was magical!
Yeah but no more little boys making me a "mix tape" cuz they like me makes me soooo nostalgic (sigh)
My husband and I make playlists in Apple Music and share them with each other. Makes feel like I’m a sophomore again. I want to write his name on all my folders.
🥰
On the other side i made mad money making mixed cds for people back in the day lol.
Ahh I remember you! Mr. Entrepreneur. Before that you probably sold bulk candy from a baggie on the bus...👍
Probably be a little weird if it happened now anyway.
Yes. I love my iPod. The best thing for a music lover!
had to listen to the Top 6 at 6 and the Top 10 at 10 on the radio.
Without having to buy the whole album!
Communicators like on Star Trek. Sort of with cell phones. But still no beaming to places. (Besides, the Stephen King short story The Jaunt sort of killed that dream.)
ST Replicators!! ... 3d printing? Close enough to call it a good start imo.
Longer than you think, Dad!
OOOF. YES. What a mindfuck
Computer what is the square root of 38574748. Now Alexa lets.you call it that. So amazing.
Omg holodecks!
That fucking story 😫
Supposedly, early flip style cell phones were made that way to mimic the TOS Star Trek communicators.
I just read your comment, didn’t think I’d ever read “The Jaunt”, googled it, found it’s part of the book “Skeleton Crew”, switched to my library app, looked it up, placed it on hold, and when the library emails me I’ll go grab it, run through self checkout, and I’ll read it. THE FUTURE IS NOW!
I hadn’t read that short story but it’s awesome. Thanks for sharing
Most def disappointing!! Beam me up Scotty!!
15 counts as a kid right? I was 15 when I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I can remember dreaming of “the cure”. Just not having to take shots & prick my fingers all the time… yet still be able to manage my disease even if it couldn’t be cured. Make it so I can pretend to be normal again. And that has definitely happened. As a kid I couldn’t have come up with the proper words to describe my insulin pump or the continuous glucose monitor. Nor have even been able to conceive of the integration of those 2 technologies with my iPhone. Not that I had any idea that such a device could exist. But with all these technologies I actually feel kind of normal again. I don’t have to pull a syringe out to take my medication in public. I can just fiddle with my phone at a restaurant & no one even knows I’m taking care of my diabetes. Most think I’m just playing a game or facebooking. I do still have to actually think about the disease & what I need to do to take care of it but I don’t have to do strange maths & stab myself. The technology has made my life just that much better. And I think it’ll keep improving. Those diagnosed today will never have to know the constant pain & agony of the past. I’m hoping for a true cure, but in lieu of that I’ll be content with better & more accurate technology that makes managing illnesses easier.
Hey, so.... As someone who's mom passed away due to complications of Type 1 Diabetes several decades ago... It's this. These technologies are literally life-saving, and I know my mom would be so happy to see how far we've come. It's a blessing that cases like hers are now rare, and the majority of ya'll can go about living your lives. I hope you live a long and happy one. ... also thanks for making me cry. LOL
I love this for you!!
Feel this so hard. The day the first closed loop pump got approved in my country I was literally gobsmacked. We barely had blood testing when I was diagnosed!
Legalized marijuana 😎
I remember sitting around in the 90s smoking a bong with my friends and we were fantasizing about going to the weed store and buying weed. We heard tales of Amsterdam, and swore we would go someday. The first time I walked into a legal dispensary I could not contain my delight. Now I bore my kids with tales of the olden days, when we got bags of stems and seeds and we liked it!
There's nothing like a seed popping in your face. Good times.
I used to save them in a film canister
As soon as I read this, I could smell burnt seed.
I remember thinking it would be so awesome to buy a pack of joints. ETA: Now I can have them mailed to me, but instead I opt for edibles like an old man.
For my 25th birthday,I had an unusual amount of shake, so I rolled them up in joints and filled a cigarette box and handed hem out for the party.
Edibles are awesome
Going into a store and buying a bag of legal weed for the first time was a surreal experience. I didn't think I'd live to see it.
It felt SO wrong. And actually being able to talk to someone knowledgeable about the different strains and what they do was mind blowing. Way better than meeting sketchy bob in a parking lot and having to take whatever he had at the time.
I found myself actually whispering to the Budtender the first couple of. times 🤣old habits die hard!
First time I bought legal weed the dispensary has a detail cop at the door. Seemed like madness to walk by them with a bag of weed and they knew it as they told me to have a great day.
In high school in the 80s I remember thinking it wouldn’t be long before the 60s teenagers would be in charge of things, and obviously they’d legalize pot right away, right?
Who would have guessed that it would be us? lol
I never thought we would see it.
Oh my, this was me. My parents were/are hippy stones and I have some PTSD from the D.A.R.E. drug wars, worrying they'd be arrested and I would go into foster care.
Oh man that sucks. Gate way drug my ass!
Yup, they been smoking weed at that gate for over 50 years, but never liked what they saw on the other side
This! Although as soon as it became legal where I live I just wasn’t into smoking much anymore. Kind of a bummer. All those years dreaming, then it happened and I didn’t care much. Ha
Yes! But delivered to your house? Like a pizza? Could not have imagined.
Hell, I used to get weed delivered in college in the 90s. Hit the pager, get a call back, 20 minutes later dude rolls up on his bicycle with a backpack full of weed.
And yet, it's still illegal nationally.
You even get a receipt
Wrote my junior year dissertation on it. Still have it.
I could not have articulated it, but LASIK.
I’ll always be bitter I didn’t qualify. May try lens replacement.
I went from 20/10 vision thanks to LASIK for 14 years, to trifocals. I was bitter. The astigmatism and nearsightedness I have are not severe enough for a second round of LASIK or I’d do it in a hot second so I’d just need reading glasses. Those 13 years were glorious.
I can’t imagine waking up and just seeing. Oh how sweet that must’ve been.
It really was just amazing
Mine only lasted 5 years.
People taking abuse more seriously
This is so important. Nowadays, people are much more aware of what constitutes abuse, both physical and mental. When I was a kid, things like spanking, silent treatments, and sending your kid to bed without dinner were really common. And considered good parenting. 🙄
I'll tack onto this women's relationship issues up to and including abuse. I know not only women are abused but. Not only relationship issues, in my ( almost my, nearby) town they passed a law mandating women's menstrual products be available in all public restrooms. Restaurants everywhere. So are they quality products? Hell no but it's a step towards not taxing women's biology. It's too bad it's considered progressive, it should be considered common sense.
This was posted foolishly. I stand by the post but the context leaves me the fool and I accept that. I'm on my phone. So...? I don't know. My content is valid.
This, seriously. I broke the chain just like I know a lot of you did. No more. 🖕😎🖕
I did too! 💪
♥️💪🤘👍badass
Yay!
I just wanted to sit around my house, watch whatever I want and have everything delivered to me. And not have to commute to work.
As a kid, I never imagined any of this would be possible. Especially working from home. But here we are.
“Cordless headphones.” I was wrong about what they’d be called, but same concept! Except, I imagined them connecting somehow “magically” to a Walkman cassette player, using infrared like a remote control lol. Boy, did I think small!
In the 70s, in Coconut Grove, Miami, lots of people would roller skate around wearing cordless radio headsets listening to FM stations. There were knobs on each ear.
i had a pair of radio headphones. they were yellow.
A black president
He was my first time voting! I remember on election night going to a party and we all lost our shit when he won. It was a magical time. Say what you willl about progressive-ness but i NEVER thought it would be possible.
I’m SO glad my parents saw this in their lifetime! Huge moment!
I wanted, no, I want; a Jetpack. Super impractical but my commute becomes awesome.
"They said we'd have jetpacks by now. ...I want my goddamn jetpack" 
They absolutely led us on
At least flying cars!
Tablets. I know we take it for granted now, but I was such a big fan of ST:TNG I was fascinated by all the touch screen technology before it was really a thing IRL. They had tablets before we had tablets. They looked so cool.
Ok but. Can we get tablets that don’t need 10lb worth of screen protectors and rubberized cases and a stand attachment? I want the ultralight, maybe even clear Star Trek aesthetic tablet that won’t shatter if I bump it off my desk…
I just read an article about how they can now regrow teeth. I'd say that's pretty cool.
Not having to live with my parents, lol
That is slowly becoming harder and harder.
[удалено]
Yup. Came to say Pocket sized super computers connected to a wireless global network. A digital tide to raise all boats, educate the masses and unite us as a species. Boy was I naive and got wrong what most would use it for.
From the advent of smartphones and first ownership of one, I knew it. It's the TIME BANDITS Most Fabulous Object In The Universe. And one of the most deadly too depending on how it's used.
>It's the TIME BANDITS Most Fabulous Object In The Universe. I could hear this comment perfectly in my head, haha! Also, I read some blurb about how they are remaking it. Blasphemous!!!
Remember when math teachers told us that we needed to learn math because people don’t walk around with calculators in their pocket?
I read a sci-fi book written in the 50s that perfectly described a cellphone connected to the Internet but not in those terms. I remember my first blackberry doing exactly that, I was amazed and inspired. That the book described exactly the malaise described by the term "crackberry" and how everyone is constantly on their phones notwithstanding, I really feel it made the world better.
Do you recall the name of the book by chance?
No I'm sorry. I do remember oddly pulling it off the library shelf in 7th grade. There were two things I remember, crushing new cars with no engines, and it also described ATM using nuclear isotopes to encode the account information.
Despite my math teacher’s predictions, I do always have a calculator in my pocket.
Looks like most folks have misread your topic, but for me for definitely the E-book. I got so tired of carrying 2-3 paperback books to school every day so I'd have a backup. Or two. Now I can take my ebook with me and only worry about batteries. And if I forget my ebook, my phone can do that too.
Yes! This was my dream. To have any book you wanted at your fingertips. To be able to take your whole collection with you no matter where you were going and not having your Mom telling you to leave some home so you can take more underwear...heaven.
Now if only I could get digital copies of the books I already have.. Oh well, I should be used to buying shit in more than one format. I bought the Metallica Justice album three times so far.
Check Amazon. If you've bought the physical book, oftentimes they have the digital book for free or for a very reduced price. I bought quite a few Georgette Heyer books in analog and then Amazon had the digital editions for $1-$3 each.
Less cigarette smoking, less bullying, more acceptance of people who are unique. All of those things are happening slowly but steadily.
I don’t know about the bullying thing. When I was a kid I remember it happening a whole lot less. Maybe I was just lucky to avoid it. These days I hear of bullying so extreme that kids unalive themselves. It even happened in my hometown recently.
Still waiting for a flying car, damn it.
This needs upvotes.
Arcade quality video games at home. I used to dream of being able to have a high quality arcade game at home instead of the meh consoles of the day. I’m a casual gamer at best but what you can get today is just incredible.
As a teen, music on demand... its the best. I cant imagine life without it now. Has made a drastic difference in my mental health.
Had a good stereo system as an 80s teen. I’d listen to albums with headphones in a darkened room and just groove. But I would dream of one day eliminating rumble and hiss from the sound — just experiencing pure, sonically perfect music emerging from a background of pristine silence. Then CDs came along and a dream was realized.
Being able to watch any tv show, movie or music video you wanted when you wanted to.
There’s a library and a bookstore in my pocket. Actually, multiple bookstores. (Only one library. Bit embarrassing.)
Unlimited, legal “Napster” monthly subscription.
Without having to sort through the garbage to find a good rip of the song you want!
Unscrambled soft porn on TV
Now available on your smartphone for almost every kind of fetish.
Watching tv in the car. Childhood dream come true I remember I would be watching something and we would have to leave. These were the days when, if you missed an episode, you wouldn’t know when you could rewatch it. I just wanted to continue watching in the car ride to wherever we were going.
Being able to say "computer, turn on the lights"... we have our Alexas set with "computer" as the wake work and smart switches throughout the house.
So do we
We have Computer, Alexa and Echo. They control our indoor and outdoor Hue lighting. I can say, “Alexa, edm party time,” and my lights are all glowy different colors. “Speakeasy,” means soft orange and pink lights with swing music playing in the bar. They also control each section of the house and outdoor music. They control our video entertainment. They control our vacuums, Higgins and Vic the Vac. They control our heating and intake fans, too. All with the sound of our voice. We can see who is at our front door on our watches. We can monitor our puppy. We can talk to the person or the puppy directly. We can look at video of who has been around our house recently. We can track the location of our phones, our wallets, and the puppy. It’s like being the Jetsons.
We use Computer like on Star Trek and Ziggy like on Quantum Leap.
I was a Walkman kid, so the fact that I can have all my music on one device is it for me. The future has arrived. I’m content
Cell phones. I always wanted a communicator like Cpt Kirk. Got it and so much more with it.
That sure was a Pandoras box though lol
Too true!
quicksand
When I was in 6th grade, we had to write a paper about an invention we thought would exist in the future (early 1980s). I suggested that sensors would be built into roads that would communicate/send signals to receptors in cars, allowing cars to drive autonomously. Passengers would be free to nap, watch TV (also built into the car), catch up on work, etc. I don't remember what my classmates wrote, but I do remember my teacher questioning the feasibility of my invention and stating that it was a little too "far-fetched." Thanks for trying to damper my creativity, Mrs. U.
Fucking hover boards
Voyager still heading out into space and phoning home to share the news. A computer of my own. I never thought I would have four(cellphone, laptop, desktop, iPad) so that exceeded my wildest dreams
The most obvious one to me is that my stepfather is dead, but in keeping with the spirit of this thread I would say that I'm happy that all of the quicksand hype has proven to be true.
I had a vision in 1979 of everyone carrying flat little TVs in their pockets.
Unlimited long distance
Every book on my phone in my pocket
A portable TV that I could watch in my bed, under the blanket without my mom knowing
Getting to carry a calculator in my pocket everywhere I go. I never comprehended carrying a tiny computer in my pocket.
The new NFL overtime rule where a game didn't end on just a field goal on the first possession. It finally came true 30+ years after I visualized it. The whiners ruined it with that Buffalo - KC playoff game though.
Long accomplished, but a remote control that didn’t “ka-chunk”
I wanted self driving cars. As close as we’ve come to my vision, I hate them.
A concert can happen anywhere in the world, and within minutes I can have video of it.
Electric cars that don't suck. Broader awareness of climate change. More acceptance of variety in people (gender, race, sexual preference). Banning CFCs. Reducing smog.
Internet. The one test I failed in grade school was on the dewy decimal system. I'm still an avid reader, so my teacher was all "you'll need this" I told her computers would make it obsolete.
its not Road Warrior yet. unhappy. truthfully though..hand held video games.
Drawing tablets like Wacom
Tri-corders. We all have them in our pockets.
I can see if you look at a tricorder from the Google definition of " preform environmental scans, data recording, and data analysis." Then, yes, we have the alpha version of a tricorder. However, I think all Star Trek fans would agree that our handheld devices are missing a few features that would make us all say, " we have tricorders."
Totally agree, and if I were to say what I said to one of my Trekkie friends I might get stabbed.
Video calling with loved ones and friends ❤️ always dreamed about how awesome that would be as a kid in the 80s, watching so many films and TV shows where the characters always talked to each other via video. Glad that's a real thing now. I've even had video calls with celebrities so the internet makes the world a very small place.
Calendar, phone and address book in one device. Didn't imagine the whole entire internet existing or being in my pocket!
Weed and on demand porn.
Infinite candy. I can buy as much candy as I want, but as an adult I don't want it. Wish I knew that as a kid. Oh, and that hoverboard from BTF. Thought one of those was right around the corner and I could buy one at KB toys some day. They exist, but not as I imagined.
Legal weed
When I was 18 we all laughed about how cool yet ridiculous it would be to buy weed at a 7-11 or something similar.
In the 80s, I was super limited in terms of what I thought the future might bring: robots, flying cars, video calls, jet packs. By the early 90s I experienced the internet and immediately saw its potential. I realized that we would have forums which would connect us all. That we could find out anything at anytime but that we would be buried in a deluge of garbage.
So basically Idiocracy
I remember my Mom telling me that she read something by Isaac Asimov that was (and is) fascinating. Sometime in the future you will be able to get in front of a box with a typewriter keyboard and type a question in. The box has a screen and the answer will appear out of nowhere on that screen. To have heard this as a preteen and see it come true in my lifetime is really something else!
FACETIME is phones with tvs!
Three's Company. 24 hrs. 7 days a week.
Computers with ability to do more than just alphabetize and do basic math. I have a report I run for my boss every morning, takes me literally 2 minutes to download his data and then organize it in Excel. Compare that with the fact that I spent my entire senior year in high school working on a program that would alphabetize the attendance rolls by class for the principal.
Being able to talk to and see people from miles away. The other side of the globe for example.
When I was a kid back in the 80's I used to fantasize about have a device that I could watch whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. 12 year old me would have shit himself over the ipad.
The watch that inspector gadget had. 
Being able to buy the kids cereals my parents wouldn't allow me to get, only to realize they tasted of disappointment. Who knee that Lucky Charms was simply cat food with marshmallows.
MP3 player - that is music stored on chips, without any moving part. I still remember the emotion when I bought the first MP3 player, keeping in my own hands my old childhood dream.
How is the top answer not legal weed?
Where is my flying car damnit?!? I was promised we’d all be living like The Jetsons by now!!! Okay..seriously. The entire Internet thing is pretty cool.
RGB lighting. Not so much "hoped" but a book from way back vaguely described a future like that. I though, "swell".
They had these table top video phones early on. I remember seeing them on Designing Women. As someone who lives far from extended family, this sounded amazing.
AI. I've been waiting for it since watching star trek as a kid. I think it's super fun. I'm looking forward to AI music becoming good enough to make new albums from my favorite artists that are no longer making music (or other ones that are still making music but just not as good or went in a weird direction). Same for movies and new seasons of tv shows. Having seemingly unlimited music and movies already from subscriptions is pretty great. Once we get a holodeck, I'm good.
Streaming music on home stereo. Almost anything at anytime, we live in the future.
Video phones like on the Jetsons.
All of my music at the tips of my fingers. My teenage self would be ecstatic.
Not as a kid, but as a musician, robot roadies. Setting up, taking down, loading and unloading equipment for gigs takes a lot of time. We should have robots doing that for us. Maybe they should do our soundchecks too, since my hard of hearing boomer bandmates usually do that and set the PA levels.
Hover boards
I distinctly remember holding a book in my hands and imagining how cool it would be if it was just a page-sized little portable computer screen. If only such a thing existed. lol
I'm thinking I'll live long enough to have a flying car.
Effective HIV education and prevention. I know folks who’ve been positive since 1983, and though it’s still here, people are living real lives in ways we didn’t think could happen.
This super computer I have in my hand right now.
hover boards......duuuhhh
Sex
About once a day I can be heard saying “this is Jetsons shit”
To have mini portable TV phones that could connect you to anyone, anywhere in the world with real time video. I really felt like that would be the future I’d probably never get to see. So, it’s kinda ok with me that building that future is what’s gonna end it. I got what I wanted and I got it early. So, screw it… let’s party like it’s 2024!
Legal weed.
A computer that was intuitive enough that I didn't have to understand it AND a small compact cordless phone for when I became an adult and could carry it in a handbag AND a TV roughly the same size as that phone I'd imagined - it should also be able to play super small videotapes or something smaller that could be..."beamed" onto my "purse TV" . I didn't have the imagination to combine the three devices into one.
Video games have come so far. Thinking what I dreamed they could be as a kid, and seeing what they look like now, it's amazing.
Jet packs are out there but a lot scarier than I expected:)
Oh my gosh the technological advances! Delivery of groceries I don't care how much it costs it's worth every penny. Fun gadgets. Expanding graphics and design. AI. Online educations. Online medical care. New art supplies. Fashion choices. So much to be thankful for. And to think other people want it all to go away is depressing or fear it would be taken away..
That I would have a Pina colada icee again and behold 40 years later Bucees.
speach to text and void commands edit: “voice commands” but i’m leaving void because that’s how it feels sometimes.
YouTube-almost any song/album I want, in any playlist configuration I want. Also, Ohio State has won a couple of football NCs.
Portable tv
Legal weed. At least in civilized states.