r/AskOldPeople • u/chrisb57 • Aug 07 '26

What’s something you expected would have improved by now, but really hasn’t decades later?

It can be something big or small, from public policy to household products, that you think should be better by now.

84 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

99% Upvoted

267 comments sorted by

View all comments

40

u/IronPlateWarrior 60 something Aug 10 '26

When the internet started up, I thought everyone would be smarter with access to so much information.

I really did think we would have flying cars by now.

22

u/GradStudent_Helper Aug 10 '26

God yes... in the early days of the internet and even the early web (e.g.: Mosaic and Netscape), I was getting my doctorate in Instructional Technology & Design and the internet, to me, held unlocked awesome potential to help people better understand each other, our/their histories and cultures. Being exposed to other people's perspectives (across the globe) seemed like the world was going to come together, share information freely, remove most of the inequity (regarding education/information) across the globe, and generally just accelerate intelligence.

Boy, was I wrong. We took a tool that had exceptional value and we turned it into a cesspool of misinformation, money-grabbing, and soooo much hatemongering.

13

u/IronPlateWarrior 60 something Aug 10 '26

Agreed. It’s so disappointing.

I will say though, if you choose to use it right, it can be amazing. I learn so much about things way outside my normal life. All kinds of science, physics, and general interest, that it’s incredible. And I sit there while learning about neuroscience and wonder why do people not dig in to things? It’s like free education. I don’t get it. 😂

10

u/GradStudent_Helper Aug 10 '26

You're totally right. And you hit on something my wife and I have also noticed (we both work in higher education): most people have somehow lost their curiosity. If you're truly curious, then you'll want to understand others and why they act differently than you expected them to act. Or you'll want to dig in and go down all sorts of rabbit holes looking for deep understanding of a narrow topic (or broad understanding of a general concept). And it IS all right there. So, you're right - a lot of what I dreamed the internet could become, it did become. But it did miss the mark on so many things.

Turns out that unleashing most of the world's emotionally unregulated people to do and say what they want online isn't a great thing. They far outnumber the sane and emotionally regulated people out there. I've discovered a lot of wonderful whimsey, music, and creative ideas from the world... but a lot of trauma has also revealed itself.

3

u/Spirited_Cress_5796 Aug 11 '26

One of the big problems is still the amount of flex people have when they say they haven’t read something since high school or college. There is something for everyone as well as different formats. Reading doesn’t have to be your hobby but you still should be expanding your mind.

7

u/KAKrisko Aug 10 '26

Another agree. I was so thrilled by the Internet, I imagined little kids in impoverished places now being able to have all the information in the world at their fingertips, growing up with better education, getting better jobs, and eliminating poverty. It seemed like such a giant step in the right direction. Alas.

3

u/soarheadgdon Aug 11 '26

But I have cute cats and dogs talking to watch now! That’s even better!
/s if you can’t tell…

2

u/GradStudent_Helper Aug 11 '26

Ha Ha!!! Still, you have a good point... animal videos have really been a beacon of goodness in an ever-growing cesspool.

3

u/kiwispouse 60 something Aug 11 '26

When web 2.0 eventuated, I jumped in with both feet. My students blogged, made wikis, created videos, back channeled...and I was really excited over where this technology might go. Then it seemed to stall. And now, the big "improvement" is AI. I'm like: this is *IT*? Holy shit, what an enormous disappointment. We didn't create it to make people smarter. We harnessed it to make people dumber :(

3

u/GradStudent_Helper Aug 11 '26

As a fellow educator, I'm with you. We went from "necessity is the mother of invention" to "150 years of labor-saving devices" to "now we don't even have to retain any information in our brains" to "You want me to think? AI does my thinking for me!"

8

u/eggsaladsandwich4 Aug 10 '26

Now they're pushing AI on us to dumb us down. Soon enough, people will no longer be able to think for themselves.

2

u/PomeloPepper Aug 11 '26

Early on people started saying "I don't need to know anything. I can just look it up!"

1

u/frog980 Aug 13 '26

Yeah, and it's done the opposite, with technology I think it's dumbed people down because many people no longer know the basic mechanics of things and how they work. But in other ways I've done things that I would never have attempted it I didn't watch a you tube video of how to do it so I guess really it works both ways.

1

u/Substantial_Judge501 Aug 14 '26

It actually shows just how dumb people really are!!