When you look back at how people lived 50 years ago, in 1975, many things appear quite ridiculous through a modern lens. Back then, people used to smoke everywhere, it was common for people to throw litter out of their car windows while driving, and they rarely wore seatbelts. In retrospect, it seems like a pretty savage time.
That begs the question: what things will people do in 2025 that will appear ridiculous when those in 2075 look back on us? There are likely to be many aspects of our everyday lives that we accept without judgment, which will make people shake their heads in the future.
A new thread on r/TrueAskReddit posed an interesting question: “What’s something we do today that people in the future will probably think is totally ridiculous?”
Redditors started chiming in with opinions on what we’ve collectively decided is socially acceptable. They offered both a humorous and critical commentary on everything from our health practices to entertainment. It’s a captivating thought experiment to consider what our everyday habits might look like in the not-so-distant future.
1. Store it in plastic
We not only store our food in plastic, but we also place that same food in the microwave. User u/Wolly_wompous said, “Packaging all our food in plastic, drinking from (and reusing) plastic water bottles, putting plastic plates and cups in dishwashers or microwaves. Microplastics galore, running through our bloodstream.”
Mentioning how past generations dealt with the issue of lead poisoning, u/HugeTheWall responded, “Plastic is the lead of our generation.”
A 2025 study on plastic in The Guardian found that microplastics were invading our blood vessels. This plastic infestation of our bodies leads to reproductive issues and developmental problems in infants.
2. Chemotherapy as a health treatment
Acknowledging the challenges of treating health issues with aggressive medicine, u/ImGoingToSayOneThing felt, “I think chemotherapy is going to go in the same bucket as doctors amputating people without anesthesia, not washing hands, not sterilizing, and all the other weird medical things we stupidly did.”
In the sad but true category, u/AnaWannaPita added, “Yeah, chemo is basically hoping the cancer dies before the person does.”
Chemotherapy, when combined with other therapies, leads to improved survival rates. However, the effectiveness varies greatly based on type, treatment regimen, and individual patient factors. According to the 2025 figures published by the American Cancer Society, over a five-year period, about 69% of people survive from all cancers. That’s up from 49% which was the success rate for the 1970s.
3. Surgery for beauty
The need to be more aesthetically attractive by any means necessary was expressed by u/thethunder92 as, “Plastic surgery is very bizarre. I think they’ll have to have something better than putting plastic in your body.”
u/Difficult-Secret-540 added, “It’s crazy to think that the best option we have right now is basically just stuffing plastic or fillers into people.”
4. Generational complaints about the newer generation
Kids never do it right, as expressed by u/Difficult-Sevret-540, “Our parents thought we were lazy and glued to screens, and now people say the same thing about Gen Z. In a few decades, today’s kids will be ranting about how their kids never put down their neural implants. It’s just the circle of life.”
Summing up the repeated pattern was u/jackfaire writing, “My peers and I used to mock how our parents would freak out about our generation. Now my generation does the same thing about our kids. When our kids have kids, I’m sure they’ll complain too.”
5. Non-self-driving cars
We have to get a driver’s license today, but the future will probably all be driverless cars, as mentioned by u/pdeichler. “I think people in the future will think we were crazy to drive on our own due to the risk of accidents/death. Also, they’ll wonder what we did on long road trips since they won’t have to drive and can do whatever they want while riding in the car.”
Stating concern over governmental control and lack of freedom was u/Sorrysafarisanfran saying, “Everything will be preprogrammed and approval will be given based on social credit units.”
6. Social media obsession
People not only watch, but also try to get famous, as stated by u/Attila-t-h-452-72, “Inflict Pain and do stupid stuff that is dangerous for likes…” They continued, “Albeit they are pretty funny and sometimes just stupid like the guy who went up in a self-made parachute (I think) during the last hurricane with a camera. I don’t think the future will think it was very smart or funny.”
U/OfTheAtom mentioned the world’s obsession with social media, “Obviously it’s truly a place of understanding and getting to know each other, but future generations may have a healthier relationship with the technology to extract the good things and leave the noise.”
The United States is a bit obsessed when it comes to social media. According to a 2025 article in Demandsage, the average time people spend on daily social media is 141 minutes. That’s down two minutes a day from the 143 minutes spent by people in 2024.
7. Using fossil fuels
“Burning natural gas for electricity; while having plenty of other tech to do the same thing. Natural gas is a marvelous feedstock for chemistry (you know things like fertilizers that feed the world), it’s far too much valuable, and limited, to be casually burn for heat and electricity,” added u/233C, thinking about the other more beneficial uses that are wasted.
8. Using chemical pesticides
The amount of poison we use to manage our food resources is frightening, as mentioned u/tboy160, “Imagine soaking your lawn in chemicals, then having your kids and dogs play in the chemicals?!?”
A 2024 study in ScienceDirect found that communities close to agricultural areas had increased levels of pesticides in the dust around their homes. It’s another example of how our behaviors infiltrate and affect all aspects of our lives.
9. Capitalism
The system of self-promotion through working hard to achieve more was questioned by u/Mioraecian, who said, “People talk about the end of capitalism being workers’ unions and wealth equality, etc. I’ll know capitalism has truly ended when our approach to consumerism and packaging has changed.”
10. Thoughts about the future and this thread
The most common consensus among these ideas is that the future will be better. “If, however, we experience some sort of catastrophe that knocks society back to the dark ages, I would imagine future generations will look back and think all the first-world bs we argued about is ridiculous while they have to fight daily for shelter, food, and water,” u/Smoth-Like-Buttah expressed an interesting viewpoint.
It isn’t easy to know exactly what the future holds, but it’s also clear these folks have strong opinions about the present. Let’s hope that when we get there, the things that need the most change evolve, what works endures, and what can’t be improved teaches us how to move forward more wisely.
