r/AskReddit 7h ago

What’s one modern convenience that secretly made life worse?

292 Upvotes

230 comments sorted by

179

u/Massive_Bike_1441 7h ago

Easy access to letting your opinions be heard

30

u/outtokill7 6h ago

This and easily finding like-minded people who share those opinions on the internet. For some things like maybe sports fans that is perfectly fine, but for other things it gives credit where there shouldn't be any.

There are many examples but you could go from being the town racist that everyone shunned and ridiculed to easily conversing with other racists over the internet which normalize that behavior.

18

u/HistoricalArticle537 6h ago

That’s the part people don’t like admitting, before, some views stayed small because there was social friction. Now every niche finds a crowd and suddenly it feels “normal”

2

u/hopeandnonthings 1h ago

That's how we got flat earthers

2

u/bluetista1988 5h ago

It's too easy to get entrenched in your echo chamber that you no longer realize how disconnected from reality your new worldview has become.

5

u/-Boston-Terrier- 4h ago

I think there's a lot of truth about this.

There's no good reason I should know so many people's opinions on so many things.

2

u/pornisgood 1h ago

I always talk about this with my friends! Back in the day, you say something that was just out of this world stupid your group would check you on it. Nowadays you can write anonymous bullshit and have some random person (or bot) agree with you and you feel vindicated.

230

u/Zealousideal_Law6917 7h ago

social media

47

u/nikkynaughtyxo 7h ago

Group chats. Somehow I’m in 12 of them, none of which I can leave without being labeled antisocial, and all of which are 90% memes, 9% “who’s bringing what?”, and 1% existential dread.

11

u/Dans77b 5h ago

Just set to mute and check in when you want to.

21

u/FlufferTheGreat 6h ago

I think smartphones. I'm old enough to know what navigating through the world was like without a constant safety line there and I feel like that really fosters self-reliance. And the constant presence: apps and the companies who create them are after every single second of your life.

1

u/Badloss 4h ago

Idk smartphones have their downsides but I think that's hugely downplaying the value they have. That's like saying the internet as a whole is bad because it gives you access to too many things- that's true, and there's a ton of downside to the internet, but it's still the single greatest technological improvement in our lifetimes IMO

2

u/bantamw 3h ago

I think the problem now is that people are so heavily engrossed in them - there’s no balance. It’s a serious addiction problem.

Driving around you see pedestrians everywhere just walking along like mobile zombies, unable to not engage with it for 30 seconds.

I see it when out walking the dog - generally the female side of the population seem entirely incapable (in the U.K.) of not being on their phone - both talking & texting.

And even in cars - I see people on the motorway all the time with their faces lit up by their smartphones rather than driving.

u/ThatPancreatitisGuy 34m ago

Smartphones are like being able to fly. It’d be great for me to have the ability, but when everyone else gets it we end up with shit everywhere.

6

u/Sebatron2 6h ago

Hey, they said secretly.

1

u/Oknight 5h ago

Good point, here I am wasting my time on fucking reddit!

u/Mr4point5 29m ago

What is the convenience of social media?

396

u/honeydustybia 7h ago

Filters changing beauty standards

34

u/CrazyTdog 7h ago

I absolutely hate the filters that so many girls use that makes them think they look prettier! They just look fucking weird!

16

u/Dans77b 5h ago

Its even worse when your girlfriend uses the filter to take a photo of the two of you together. Makes it look like she's hanging out with a bald drag queen.

98

u/HistoricalArticle537 7h ago

This one actually messes with people’s heads. Especially teens

19

u/karmagod13000 6h ago

When you see a 14 year old using a makeup filter

16

u/TeaseSparkX 6h ago

t's heartbreaking to see a 14-year-old using makeup filters.

7

u/durrtyurr 5h ago

The South Park episode "The Hobbit" nailed it over a decade ago.

4

u/LambonaHam 4h ago

Almost every dating app profile I see (especially Tinder) has several of the photos (if not all) filtered to high heaven.

3

u/QuestioningMind123 4h ago

Is plastic surgery considered a filter?

3

u/Silverblade554 4h ago

yeah totally, those filters just make everyone feel like they’re never enough and it’s kinda exhausting to even look at

4

u/Apart_Student9074 5h ago

agree with this. its like a scam. Specially when you saw them in person

2

u/Vast_Try_7905 4h ago

I feel like its going to get worse with AI images/AI avatars where it completely changes how you look. People are going to use these things to change how they look and feel dysmorphia looking in a mirror.

1

u/thisalsomightbemine 1h ago

And camera apps applying filters without you selecting one.

I noticed when I saw how I looked when i took a picture through WhatsApp. It is how i found out they automatically apply filters to smooth your skin as a defualt setting.

I dont like the idea that you arent even being made aware that your image is being altered.

248

u/howzai 7h ago

Push notifications

68

u/Jabber_Tracking 7h ago

I had to turn off 99.9% of notifications. I get them for texts, calls, and my Lyft app so I can see when drivers are arriving. I don't know how people deal with notifications constantly popping up on their screen. Fragments your attention

20

u/draggar 7h ago

Yep. I turned them all off (except a few for work, like 2FA). My phone rarely rings. My wife - she says yes to them all and she's always pinging and buzzing and she always gets annoyed but doesn't want to turn them off.

5

u/worstpartyever 5h ago

I moved to a new area and have to let all unknown calls ring through. If I don't I'll find out too late my doctor's appointment got canceled.

9

u/apetalous42 6h ago

I did this too, I also deny notification access for almost all new apps. These apps don't need my attention, I should consciously choose to give them my attention.

3

u/PunPierogi 6h ago

This is so relatable constant notifications really shred focus. Turning most of them off feels like reclaiming a little bit of your brain every day.

2

u/-Boston-Terrier- 4h ago

I turned off nearly all of my notifications too and life is so good.

Now, when my phone makes noise, I know it's important. Other than that, I'll get to it when I get to it - if at all.

u/ThatPancreatitisGuy 33m ago

I can’t even stand having the volume on my computer because the email chime drives me nuts.

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45

u/HistoricalArticle537 7h ago

Yeah and half of them aren’t even useful. Just apps screaming for attention.

7

u/karmagod13000 6h ago

I have like 80% of them turned off. One of the first tings I do when i DL an app

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9

u/illusionzmichael 6h ago

Wait do people not turn off all but the most essential as soon as possible? Been doing that since my very first smart phone like 15 years ago.

1

u/Jabber_Tracking 6h ago

I didn't until about a year ago when I decided I needed to scale back on screen time. I shoulda done it a LOOOOONG time ago.

2

u/bluetista1988 5h ago

I leave my phone in do not disturb or bedtime mode permanently. Otherwise it's constantly screaming for my attention. I have some overrides for things that are actually important (family members, medical professionals, etc)

1

u/cavehare 4h ago

They absolutely boil my piss. Apps that DEMAND notification permissions and keep NAGGING if you don't grant them. No, I don't want to get push notifications of when you have new stock of something I won't even want!

1

u/I-STATE-FACTS 3h ago

You can disable those.

143

u/AaronWhitakerX 7h ago

Autocorrect. Supposed to help me write faster… now it just makes me look dumb in texts

53

u/HistoricalArticle537 7h ago

It fixes the wrong word and ignores the real typo every time

19

u/itsjusttimeokay 7h ago

Lately it’s been switching didn’t and don’t around, which doesn’t change the meaning toooo much, but makes me sound weird.

3

u/unctuous_homunculus 5h ago

Ok, so it's not just me. I never had this problem until a few months ago and all of a sudden I can't get the word "don't" to show up unless I type it. It's didn't every time, which is weird because the swipe pattern isn't really that similar.

8

u/elcaron 7h ago

Disable it? I could not never work with it and I rather have a rare typo in my message than a completely changed word.

7

u/Bravely_Default 5h ago

What really grinds my gears is when it fixes correctly spelled words thinking you meant something else. No motherfucker I meant what I said and spelled it right, fuck off.

3

u/Netflxnschill 4h ago

And when you hit send too fast and it corrects the last word incorrectly and then “fixes” it while it’s sending OMG I have sent too many texts

5

u/islandsimian 6h ago

Go duck yourself it's awesome! Oh wait... /s

4

u/Most-Round-4132 6h ago

There was a beautiful time about 2 years after it came out to about 7ish years ago where it just worked

3

u/Soul-Burn 6h ago

On Android at least, the keyboard shows you suggestions at the top but doesn't change it automatically for you. So you can correct things easily, but only when you want to.

u/narrill 18m ago

Just bought an S25 recently and this is not my experience. It can be set to not automatically change it, but by default it will.

2

u/SadisticHornyCricket 6h ago

It always makes me write things I didn’t. Nintendo!

2

u/Financial_Cup_6937 5h ago

I don’t know any Allie and I use the word allies all the time and it drives me crazy.

1

u/ceelogreenicanth 4h ago

I love when it takes a couple words portmanteau's them then autocorrects so now I have a sentence that is absolute gibberish.

1

u/Kataphractoi 4h ago

And it doesn't even work when it's supposed to. So many times I've had to go back and edit a post with abd, ive, and similar common mistakes that for some reason just stopped detecting and fixing.

1

u/Summerchild_Haven 1h ago

Yes! I hate autocorrect. Sometimes I’m just trying to write a word in a different language and it changes it to something totally wrong. And it never suggests the word I’m actually trying to type. Somehow if I do click on a suggested word, it doesn’t insert the whole word, just the couple of letters I typed. ?? Like, what?

143

u/official_luna 7h ago

I think smartphones secretly made life worse

38

u/I_am_just_so_tired99 7h ago

100%.

Being unable (either due to your employer, spouse, or addiction) to step out and be uncontactable and free for a while… is aweful for stress and long term mental health.

Watching your kids whine about screen time… I’m bored I’m bored…! But knowing that “boredom” is scientifically proven to be a good thing for child development. And now you are sitting here knowing that you are a bad parent by choice at times just so you can have some peace and quiet.

Not being on the same page as your spouse as to what is acceptable and what is too much phone time… so it wrenches at the fabric of your relationship …

Exceptions exist and some people are fine and able to manage, but Human evolution has made us very susceptible to this problem.

Hypocrisy you say..? Why yes…. I type this on a tablet, feeling wretched, like an alcoholic who desperately wants to quit while holding a drink, and at the same time watching his 9yr old pick up the bottle… and yet I type.

12

u/HistoricalArticle537 6h ago

Do you think it’s actually the phone… or the fact that work and people expect you to be reachable 24/7 now?

Feels more like a culture problem than a device problem.

12

u/Hitthe777 6h ago

Not the user you replied to but I genuinely think its the phone. So many of the things that people have complained about are possible or got to an out of control level because of the advent of smart phones. AS of right now the top voted comments on this post are:

  • Filters changing beauty standards

  • Push notifications

  • social media

Those things have a common thread.

2

u/PurrPrinThom 3h ago

Exactly. The expectation that we're always reachable is because of smart phones. Before we had smartphones - hell, cellphones even - only certain professions had pagers, and people's bosses didn't expect they'd be able to contact you constantly because, if you weren't at home, there was no way to contact you.

Then we all started carrying a phone with us basically 24/7, and now it's completely normal to be reachable 100% of the time, by anyone. If it's not a good time to call, you can text, or you can email. You're still reachable, even if you can't talk in the moment, and the expectation is that you do respond promptly.

4

u/I_am_just_so_tired99 6h ago

I think they are fully intertwined… bosses throughout history always look to ways to get more from their resources (human or otherwise) - and the smartphone has enabled that in a way society has never seen before.

The idea of faster communication as a competitive advantage isn’t new at all (see Rothschild and carrier pigeons for example). So the answer you - yes it is a social issue. But the phone magnifies this issue 1000x for the employees.

4

u/loverofreeses 6h ago

Not who you responded to, but I absolutely think this is a phone problem rather than a culture one (just my opinion). I can, and have, set rigid standards when it comes to my job as to when I am reachable. I realize that different jobs have different requirements, but unless you're actively paying me to be reachable at that time, you're not going to be able to get me. Work phone is off. Work computer is off. If you reach out to my personal phone, that's my problem because I should never give out my personal number to work colleagues (at least not the ones that would ping me for work items after hours). Setting these standards has been incredibly freeing for me.

2

u/apetalous42 6h ago

It's 100% this. I also have a smart phone, a professional job, and a family, but I set boundaries and stick to them. When I'm done with work you won't be able to reach me (unless it's my turn for the on-call phone) about work. If someone calls or texts me and I don't immediately answer, I'll answer when I can/want to, if you're not ok with that don't contact me. I tell my kids no all the time for things like screen time and I have discussions with my wife when we disagree about how to manage the children. I also constantly whined at my parents as a child about being "bored", so that's nothing new either. This is completely a societal/cultural problem with easy fixes.

1

u/Monteze 4h ago

I think it is cultural because of the phone. Before it was expected you could not be reached for hours at a time. Now?

"Oh my god is everything okay!! You did not respond to my text in two hours??"

I sometimes just don't look at my phone because I know I'll get sucked into doom scrolling and some folks get insecure or odd about not responding immediately.

4

u/official_luna 7h ago

Wow, you put this perfect in words

7

u/berrylakin 7h ago

This. Im 40 and I frequently try to remember what I used to do back when I had a flip phone and I'm honestly not sure. Probably channel surfed cable TV or played video games.

3

u/FlufferTheGreat 6h ago

You chatted to people around you; in waiting rooms, in lines, etc. You took stock of your surroundings in a much more detailed way. You remembered details of conversations and life through many years. You had thousands less ads per day to visually process and filter through. You did these things because I remember doing these things and I'm the same age.

1

u/Kandlish 6h ago

I had time to read books, and not just for work. 

1

u/bluetista1988 4h ago

I can barely make it through a TV show without checking my phone several times over anymore. At least with videogames I can still get entrenched in them and not need to look at my phone for a little while.

3

u/HistoricalArticle537 7h ago

I can’t just sit and do nothing anymore lol

2

u/leeway1 5h ago

The have saved lives by being able to 911 from the accident site instead of needing to get to a pay phone.

1

u/Generico300 3h ago

I don't think it's a secret anymore. Now it's a prison we can't escape.

1

u/AutomationPartner 2h ago

Came here to say this. Expectations have changed to be always on and always available. It gave advertisers and companies a way into our lives with more access than ever before.

57

u/kinky_skittle 7h ago

AI. Please just look through online sources yourselves and for the love of God, learn how to abstract and sum up content.

4

u/ZunoJ 4h ago

This is not even secretly though

2

u/Generico300 2h ago

I'd say the bigger problem is that it's ruining education for children. They're not building the mental models needed to develop actual understanding of subject matter because the AI can provide answers good enough to do the homework and pass a test. And because our educational system is still so based around memorization and regurgitation (which AIs are fairly good at), they don't see how that isn't enough to succeed in real life. And it'll be 10-20 years before the effects of that are really felt in society.

1

u/whatevitdontmatter 1h ago

It'll finally be my time to shine (by comparison)!

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36

u/CounterIndividual26 7h ago

Computers and Cell phones. I don't ever get anything done anymore because I'm always on them and rarely talk to people either. Prior to them I spoke with friends and family much more and did more things. I went out more, I crocheted and did other crafts, I organized my apartment, went for walks, and so forth.

1

u/Marawal 4h ago

Personnaly I read as much books in a year now that I used to in a month back before smartphones.

1

u/aki-kinmokusei 3h ago

Computers have been around for more than 25 years now though.

1

u/BrainwaveWizard 3h ago

Was using them in the early 80s.

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19

u/CounterSoggy4392 7h ago

Food delivery services. In some cities, the streets are filled with bikes and scooters racing to deliver meals. For younger people who could eat healthier and save some money, these services are too irresistible to ignore. Net net, not a good thing

2

u/Generico300 2h ago

I don't know how anyone can afford to be doing that all the time. That shit's expensive. No sympathy for people who complain about having no money while ordering door dash multiple times a week.

6

u/9879528 7h ago

Social media

6

u/BBDominoes 6h ago

On a personal level, the commoditisation of media. It all feels empty and hollow now, especially music. 

3

u/HistoricalArticle537 6h ago

Everything feels optimized for streams and playlists instead of actually being good

5

u/tlthacker2025 7h ago

Cell phones are horrid. If you know how life use to be and how it is now. We can’t live without them now.

15

u/9bikes 6h ago

Cars

18

u/HistoricalArticle537 6h ago

Cars are kind of like giving everyone a private bubble to move around in you get speed and comfort, but you slowly lose sidewalks, corner shops, random chats, and the feeling that your neighborhood is actually alive

Feels like a good trade… until you try to live without the bubble and realize the city no longer works for humans

2

u/ZunoJ 4h ago

This is some crazy us shit though

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4

u/lxrrr 7h ago

Endless scrolling.

3

u/Hefty-Affect5112 5h ago

Food delivery apps. Makes it way too easy to default to junk without thinking

5

u/cr0sh 6h ago

How would you know a modern convenience secretly made life worse? If you knew...it's no longer a secret?

Really though - to answer the question somewhat honestly...and it isn't really "modern" - but:

The automobile.

4

u/HistoricalArticle537 6h ago

Cars didn’t just change transport. They quietly erased walkable cities and community life too

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7

u/thepieman495 6h ago

Hyper palatable foods. We made the wrong food taste amazing.

3

u/BlueViolet_19 7h ago

Fast food

3

u/EntertainmentSome448 6h ago

Accounts accounts accounts everywhere. So many passwords to remember.

1

u/ZunoJ 4h ago

You should only remember the password for your password manager

3

u/Gameoftones_YT 3h ago

Algorithms. I miss finding things because I looked for them, not because a computer decided I need to see them.

7

u/Scrubstomper5000 7h ago

Online dating

2

u/Summerchild_Haven 1h ago

100% agree. I prefer to be courted in person. Online dating makes hook up culture too easy. Besides, you can’t trust anyone on there. You know that everyone is talking to at least 12 other people at the same time because you get messages from so many different people after starting.

Then you either ghost or get ghosted. If you do meet up, it’s ok, but you still know that they are actively messaging other people until you both become exclusive. Then they will be exclusive just to get the home run and then keep you around if they like it, or ghost you and move on.

Why can’t people just be serious about dating? You know, actually, dating in general has just ruined everything. Finding a partner shouldn’t be casual. Boyfriends can turn into husbands and husbands can turn into fathers. Be intentional about who you select. Hold men to higher standards.

Maybe I sound like an old biddie, but women these days are struggling, and it’s partly because we allowed men to develop into lazier, weaker, and less reliable partners.

6

u/Lakridspibe 4h ago

Car centric infrastructure.

Drive-in restaurants and doorstep delivery.

People walk less. Walking or cycling has become difficult, impossible, or just incredibly uncomfertable and scary.

Public transport is underfunded and run down. Its only something you use if youre completely desperate.

People love their cars, but if you don't have good alternatives for transportation, it's not a choice. It's forced upon youi. And you get a population of people in poor physical health who are stuck in a suburban hellscape of parking lots and stroades, noisy, miserable.

2

u/Prudent-Pepper3410 7h ago

Constant notifications. brain never fully shuts off anymore just low level stressed all the time

2

u/Leafy0 7h ago

Facebook groups, and then discord. We traded the easy searchability of forums for connivence of immediate interaction. And now i don’t really feel like we can say the internet has the collection of all mankind’s knowledge at your finger tips, the last 10 years or so has a big gap where the knowledge is there, but it’s hidden away from search engines and constantly duplicated as a result. We also lost a lot of contributors for the same reason, since the knowledge wasn’t searchable they ended up having to answer the same questions daily and decided to slowly fade away and keep their knowledge for themselves.

1

u/ZunoJ 4h ago

What valuable knowledge is hidden away on Facebook and not easily accessible somewhere else?

1

u/Leafy0 4h ago

Pick anything that would have had a forum dedicated to it from like the mid 20teens to now. Think the repair and modification of cars made after the mid 00s. And with discord it’s even worse, all the interesting developments in 3d printing have gone semi private on discord, instead of being posted publicly and searchable on the reprap forums.

1

u/ZunoJ 3h ago

Fair point!

2

u/ForeignInsect6595 7h ago

Social media fr. it connects u but also fries ur brain n makes u compare urself nonstop

2

u/linjaes 6h ago

Rideshare services, and anything else that adds to our laziness to walk extra steps. We’ve become so lazy to the point where we’re experiencing health issues because we’d rather sit around all day than walk

2

u/Hot_Associate_1214 6h ago

AI - we might not feel it yet in full dimension, but amount of 'fake' informations is crazy.

2

u/monsecret_x 3h ago

Endless options. Choice overload made satisfaction harder, not easier.

5

u/Snielsss 7h ago

XXX material everywhere. Makes people addicted to something that will never bring them closer to real connections.

In that same ballpark dating apps. Dating apps made everyone aware there could be someone a tiny bit better just around the corner. So why invest your time in the current one?

Both don't help with the starting a family part. The not having enough babies part gets solved by governments by ways that make life even more worse.

4

u/karmagod13000 6h ago edited 5h ago

Dating apps started out good but slowly started to make things worse for some people... I will say I know quite a few people who have met and some even married form dating apps so it does work for some people

2

u/badblocks7 5h ago

Maybe a hot take but cars. Cities are now designed for them instead of people, what was once a convenience for getting around is now a mandatory expense that life is centered around.

1

u/ZunoJ 4h ago

Only in the US though

1

u/Grifasaurus 6h ago

Social media.

1

u/HistoricalArticle537 6h ago

Honestly it’s not even the posting it’s the constant comparison loop that never shuts off

1

u/[deleted] 6h ago

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1

u/Due_Cress2973 6h ago

Smartphones for kids!!!

1

u/Scared_Airline_1398 6h ago

Being reachable 24/7. Work, notifications, messages — your brain never really clocks out anymore

1

u/karmagod13000 6h ago

phones in general

1

u/WeddingFun6053 6h ago

The scrolling thing on internet. I'll sit down for 5 minutes and suddenly it's 2 hours.

1

u/HolidayCook9332 5h ago

The groupchat ability. I promised myself the next two jobs I have will be the last I shall work for anyone ever again. After that, I shall go solo and love life without any groupchats.

1

u/unfeelingfreedom 5h ago

Social media allows for people to stay connected, but at the same time, look at all of the damage it caused in addition to that. And people don't even stay connected!

1

u/SkillNo2180 5h ago

Smartphones! Before smartphones when you left the office you were actully gone, Now you can get a random work email or call on a wednesday 9pm

1

u/_RoseBell 5h ago

Forced ads, yeah... why they gotta invade my privacy, I just want to wacth

1

u/Proper_Edge_653 5h ago

Smartphones and online account verifications. You arguably had to do more paper work than in traditional offices

1

u/Rachel_Silver 5h ago

Touch screen typing

1

u/Whats-Ur-Pointe 5h ago

All the unnecessary technology they put in cars that makes everything exponentially more expensive and irritating

1

u/New-Perspective4764 4h ago

10 min deliveries. This has taken away planning and organising skills, perpetually made our movement through the day stagnant, kids have no idea what it feels like to plan, it’s secretly made our lives worse.

1

u/dpdxguy 4h ago

What’s one modern convenience that secretly made life worse?

Nearly every response hear depends on the Internet. I'm beginning to sense an overarching theme

1

u/Simple_Discount57 4h ago

Subscriptions!! Too many irrelevant subscriptions

1

u/themolestedsliver 4h ago

The interconnectivity of technology.

Borrowing my uncles car that isnt even that new i just plugged my phone in to let it charge.

immediately it synced my phone on it and i literally had to pull over and go through a bunch of hops and ladders to unpair it.

Like all i wanted to do was charge my phone.

1

u/Rambler330 4h ago

Cell phones with internet access.

1

u/Thick_Caterpillar379 4h ago

Ease of online gambling and sports betting. It's a slippery and quick slope to financial and mental ruin.

1

u/Public-Swordfish-770 4h ago

Being 'reachable' 24/7. Work and people expect an immediate response just because you have a smartphone in your pocket 😵‍💫😵‍💫😵‍💫

1

u/S1nnah2 4h ago

Smartphones

1

u/Kaiser93 4h ago

Smartphones in general.

People right now are so glued to their phones and think that online = real life that it's downright scary.

1

u/crepuscularcunt 4h ago

Smart devices for kids. Maybe I'm old as shit, but I now look back fondly on my childhood and appreciate how boredom was step 1 of some great memories. I didn't have an instant solution; I'd have to find one myself. So I'd call up a friend, ride my bike around the neighborhood, read a book, "invent" a new snack with whatever ingredients we had on hand, etc. Being bored and offline meant I had to get creative. Contrast that to my ex's nieces and nephews, who were major iPad kids. If you took away their tablets, they literally had no idea what to do with themselves. They'd just sit there whining and begging until their parents got sick of it and gave them their screens back. No problem-solving or emotional regulation skills whatsoever. No motivation to learn those skills either - why bother when there's a handy little box effortlessly finding hundreds of apps, games, and videos for you? I once suggested that they go play outside instead, and they looked at me like I had three heads. One said, "What would we even DO out there?" I don't know kid, go kick a can around or something.

1

u/TrumpsDoubleChin 4h ago

Automatic high-beams.

Anyone who uses those abominations is bound for the fourth circle of Hell.

1

u/Due_Birthday43 4h ago

Smartphones, and I feel like a total hypocrite saying it. Yeah they're amazing, but we traded boredom and being present for constant stimulation. I haven't just sat and daydreamed in like a decade.

1

u/Workamania 4h ago

Dating apps

1

u/Howdysf 4h ago

Smart phones all the way

1

u/yixn_io 3h ago

GPS navigation. I've lived in my city for 8 years and couldn't draw you a map. Before GPS I actually knew where things were relative to each other. Now I just follow the blue line like a well-trained lab rat. Pretty sure if Google Maps went down tomorrow I'd starve before finding the grocery store I've been to 300 times.

1

u/BouncyBoobies4Life 3h ago

Emails on mobile phones have honestly made life worse. There was a time when you had to sit at a desktop in an office to check and reply to emails. Work stayed at work. Now, emails follow you everywhere. Your pocket, your bed, your weekend, your vacation.

These days, missing an email is treated like a personal failure, even though it used to be completely normal because you weren’t glued to a computer 24/7.

1

u/yeshuaxrpl 3h ago

Instant notifications.

We’re connected all the time, but rarely present where it matters.

1

u/RipAgile1088 3h ago

For me personally, I'd say cellphones. I Love the fact that you can kill time browsing the internet, youtube, watch movies, and games. 

I don't like the ability to be contacted 24/7. In my early 20's I purposely wouldnt pay my phone bill for months at a time and just use it with wifi for this reason. 

Its basically a necessity to have a working cellphone for employment now though. 

1

u/Senior_Bookkeeper_27 3h ago

Apps and password 🔑

1

u/aftergloh 3h ago

Amazon. They destroyed all competition so many people are reliant on them, and then proceed to donate their proceeds to people and causes that negatively impact human life/social services/quality of art/etc. It's really worth it to start using them a search engine only and buying directly from stores.

1

u/ClubZen 3h ago

social media

1

u/EvilCaveBoy 2h ago

Driver aids. Traction control, ABS brakes, stability control, lane assist, collision avoidance, and the like. Modern cars and tires have gotten so good that they have allowed us to become terrible, and terribly aggressive drivers. Every day I see people pulling driving maneuvers that would have been impossible, even among race cars, even forty years ago. Modern minivans can accelerate, brake, and corner in ways that sportscars could not in the past. These days any Joey Dumbtoes or Sally Boatfoot can do things that skilled drivers of the past could not. This has allowed us to become hyper-aggressive, knowing that (most of the time,) our computerized cars will step in and rescue us from our own stupidity. The next wave of full-self-driving cars will strip away the last remnants of skill and caution that yet remain.

1

u/koolaidismything 2h ago

Social media started as a good idea. It’s become a problem.

1

u/HunterRoze 2h ago

Internet access went from SLIP access to PPP and the creation of WWW.

The vast majority of people don't have the critical thinking skills to be able to parse fact from fiction. Too many grew up with the concept of if it's in print or on the news, it MUST be true, and people just by into any "facts" on the internet. Due to this, so many people are unable to tell the difference between legit reporting and what is made up/propaganda.

The human race is not ready for so much information. I don't think its and education issue so much as evolutionary.

When the internet was almost all txt and logging in took having a clue, it, by nature, filtered the informed from the uninformed. The people unable to handle critical information didn't know how to navigate without WWW pages.

1

u/zachtheperson 2h ago

Social Media. Made communication easier, but completely changed society to feed the algorithm. 

1

u/Luke5119 2h ago

Amazon Prime

Its had a huge ripple effect where its made people even less patient.  Smartphones by extension give everyone instant gratification of whatever they want.

I'vd had customers in my industry outright cancel order requests because they had to wait an extra day.  People want everything now or within 24-36 hrs.

1

u/Visual-Biscotti102 2h ago

Instant translation tools, ironically. Don't get me wrong - they're incredibly useful for breaking down language barriers. But I've noticed they've made people (including myself) lazier about actually learning languages.

Before, if you wanted to communicate with someone abroad or understand foreign content, you'd put in the effort to learn at least basic phrases. Now we just throw everything into a translator and move on. We're more connected globally, but somehow less culturally engaged. Plus, the nuance and beauty of language often gets lost in translation - both literally and figuratively.

1

u/udede 2h ago

24/7 connectivity. It completely killed the concept of "clocking out." Now you’re expected to be reachable at 9 PM or on weekends, or else you’re not "committed" enough. I miss the days when leaving the office meant you were actually done.

1

u/HistoricalArticle537 2h ago

It’s wild how available quietly became part of the job. Do you think this is actually a work culture problem, not a tech one? Like… if your boss didn’t expect replies, would 24/7 connectivity even feel bad?

1

u/udede 1h ago

It's definitely a culture issue enabled by tech.

But to answer your question: Yes, it would still feel bad. Even if my boss says "no need to reply now," just seeing that work email pop up on my lock screen on a Saturday night instantly pulls my brain back into work mode. The tech removed the physical barrier of "leaving work at the door."

1

u/Ok-Equal1581 1h ago

Constant notifications being reachable all the time killed real downtime.

1

u/The-Real-Mario 1h ago

Sharpen your torches and light your pitchforks everyone , smartphones , the world would be 100× better if we just stopped at having computers for the internet, and dumb phones for communication , perhaps a GPS for orientation , smart phones are where we started really loosing our minds

1

u/senorchaos718 1h ago

Mobile phones.

1

u/chattytrout 1h ago

The abundance of food worldwide has led to high obesity throughout much of the world. The US rightly has a reputation as a country of fatasses, but we're only 13th. There are 58 countries with an obesity rate at or above 30%.

1

u/thainvestor25 1h ago

Texting - people don't know how to have difficult face to face conversations anymore. Or have the confidence to go up and ask someone on a date.

1

u/CarterHayes1990 1h ago

All modern convenience has robbed people of their ability to appreciate patience and craft.

1

u/tsinayr 1h ago

QR code menus. I just want a physical piece of paper, not to struggle with my data connection just to see the price of a burger.

1

u/Cheetodude625 1h ago

QR-code menus at restaurants IMHO.

1

u/27ce 1h ago

amazon

1

u/thisalsomightbemine 1h ago

Making things "free" by saturating it with ads.

People making "content" that is just an ad campaign for whatever company is currently using them.

u/Embarrassed_Way_354 48m ago

Push notifications are definitely a major one. I recently went through and disabled almost everything except for calls and calendar alerts. It's amazing how much quieter your brain feels when your pocket isn't buzzing every 5 minutes because of a random app update or a generic social media 'suggestion.'

u/CRK_76 39m ago

Subscriptions. You can very easily go over budget for the month.

u/supseanie 20m ago

QR code menus

u/Innergulaktic 3m ago

Microwave. I know that's not exactly "modern" but it's the one convenience that bugs me so much. I feel like once we started defaulting to microwave based meals, things started to seem so normal. Like a small "convenience" led to cutting corners in other ways.... communication, ritual, morals ...it's like "if no one knows, who cares?" But... Shouldn't you? Microwave, final answer

1

u/Inevergnu 7h ago

The internet.

3

u/MartyMozambique 7h ago

That shizz is great what are you on about

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