340
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] yakko@feddit.uk 46 points 14 hours ago

Someone pointed out how there's no phones in Star Trek and it's probably deliberate. I get it.

[-] apex32@lemmy.world 21 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago)

There is an episode where a new game is brought on board. It's really enjoyable, and once people start playing, they don't want to stop. Soon, the whole crew is addicted. It turns out the creators of the game are using it for mind control.

Seems like the perfect metaphor for modern cellphone/app usage.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_(Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation)

[-] yakko@feddit.uk 2 points 8 hours ago

I seen it yeah

[-] terranoid@lemmy.cafe 45 points 13 hours ago

Data: Captain Picard, we are being hailed!

Picard: don't put video on

Data: but they want to video chat sir

Picard: text them "what's up"

[-] ToastedRavioli@midwest.social 13 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

I dont think that in the 60s-90s anyone would have necessarily anticipated the existence of smartphones as they are now. Rather than it being a “deliberate” choice not to have them in the show. Its just not a futuristic idea of communication that existed at the time. Theres not smartphones in The Jetsons either. Earlier ideas of what the future would be like were a lot more utopian than the dystopian hellscape induced by smartphones and social media. Their various ideas of the future were a modification of the way people actually lived then, which was simultaneously less connected but also more interpersonally social. They dreamed of a more connected future, but not one where that level of connection would rip apart established social fabrics

[-] yakko@feddit.uk 5 points 11 hours ago

There's a lot of newer Trek shows that seem to have stayed away from smartphones too, though.

[-] ivanvector@piefed.ca 7 points 11 hours ago

There's not a whole lot of entertainment value in having a bunch of people sitting in silence texting other people off screen with the occasional loud video being played to nobody. Even if they are in space.

[-] schipelblorp@sh.itjust.works 4 points 7 hours ago

Ditto for AI. Oh, sure, they played with AI, but always in an embodied holodeck character or an android, never as a disembodied computer program. Imagine a show where every major decision point on the bridge was "do what the computer says."

[-] yakko@feddit.uk 10 points 11 hours ago

Yeah, well it sucks in real life too

[-] ToastedRavioli@midwest.social 2 points 11 hours ago

Well yeah, but they are based on the universe that was invented earlier. It would be pretty jarring for them to have made a change like that

[-] yakko@feddit.uk -1 points 11 hours ago

Look, this is a boring conversation right? I feel mildly gaslit, can we talk about anything else?

[-] Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz 11 points 14 hours ago

They have communicators and iPads.

[-] yakko@feddit.uk 4 points 12 hours ago

Yeah I was talking about your garden variety "tiny pocket screen" type of deal

this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2026
340 points (96.4% liked)

Greentext

8737 readers
753 users here now

This is a place to share greentexts and witness the confounding life of Anon. If you're new to the Greentext community, think of it as a sort of zoo with Anon as the main attraction.

Be warned:

If you find yourself getting angry (or god forbid, agreeing) with something Anon has said, you might be doing it wrong.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS