Comment

Comment on Are we all suffering from "future shock" in 2025?

LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

Idk if anything technological change has massively stagnated because exploitation of workers is far cheaper than reducing costs through innovation.

Disposable culture: He predicted throwaway products, and now we have single-use plastics, fast fashion, and gadgets that feel obsolete within a year.

Tech burnout: Toffler said technology would become outdated faster and faster. Today, if you don’t upgrade your phone or update your software, you feel left behind.

Compare the leap between iPhone 3GS to iPhone 4 and iPhone X to whatever the newest one is.

My phone is a Pixel 4a and the only noticeable difference between it and the latest pixel is that this one has a headphone jack and the others don’t and they look like shit and have a worse selfie cam lol.

There used to be a time where upgrading your GPU every year would get you better bang for your buck long-term because improvements were so rapid. Now your 1070Ti can still run most games fairly well and with something like a 3090 you can last another 5 years easily, while the PS5 is barely any different to the PS4.

Information overload: This term literally came from Future Shock, and if you’ve ever felt exhausted just from scrolling through your feeds or reading the news, you know exactly what he meant.

I don’t get this one at all. I don’t feel exhausted whatsoever, information is actually stimulating. Of course if you only scroll the news you’ll feel depressed because we live in a dystopia, but that’s not information overload, it’s just sad. On the other hand if simply reading anything makes you overwhelmed that just seems like a lack of reading stamina so you can just not do that, or develop that stamina.

Transient relationships: He warned about shallow, fleeting social connections — something social media, dating apps, and global mobility have absolutely amplified.

I don’t think this is a bad thing.

Rent instead of own: Services like Airbnb and Uber fit his prediction that we’d move away from owning things and toward renting everything.

Job instability: He nailed the rise of the gig economy, freelancing, and how fast-changing industries make it hard to stay trained up and secure.

This is all basic capitalism and it’s consequences.

source

Sort:hotnew top

yarr@feddit.nl ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

EDIT: not sure what I said that was so controversial as to being deserving of downvotes.

I try to never just slam that button instead of replying, because then we all lose out on learning a bit more. When I read your comment, especially the bit:

Of course if you only scroll the news you’ll feel depressed because we live in a dystopia, but that’s not information overload, it’s just sad. On the other hand if simply reading anything makes you overwhelmed that just seems like a lack of reading stamina so you can just not do that, or develop that stamina.

That feels a lot like telling someone depressed: “Hey idiot, ever thought of just not being sad?” I think the really tragic point is there are some people extremely addicted to doom-scrolling, despite feeling awfully sad about it. Classical addiction.

And then, some other gems, like:

Transient relationships: He warned about shallow, fleeting social connections — something social media, dating apps, and global mobility have absolutely amplified. I don’t think this is a bad thing.

This feels profoundly against human nature. We seem predisposed, almost since birth, to try to form deep, lasting relationships with other people. You might feel this way but I’m not sure it’s a typical state.

Job instability: He nailed the rise of the gig economy, freelancing, and how fast-changing industries make it hard to stay trained up and secure. This is all basic capitalism and it’s consequences.

But it’s not though… capitalism is hundreds of years old, yet the gig economy is not. If it’s just “basic capitalism” wouldn’t we have expected to see “ye Olde Ubere” workers in 1560?

source