One day, I woke up to find myself surrounded by tall buildings. Large televisions had been installed on the streets, left and right. There were so many cars and electric vehicles and trains. At first, I thought I was walking outside during daylight, but then I realized that it was nighttime and the light was coming from large digital billboards.
As I walked through the streets, I noticed something that caught my attention and seemed to have caught the attention of almost everyone else as well. It was a rectangular device with an estimated size of 6×3 inches. The object was thin that can fit in your jeans pocket. Some people held larger devices, while others had smaller ones.
They all seemed to have numb expressions as they stared down at the bright light emitting from the objects in their palms. Whether they were seated or standing, they didn’t change the position of their heads, as if their necks were permanently bowed.
Curious, I approached a man sitting with one of these objects in his hand. I watched him carefully without being noticed. He appeared to be reading a book on the device. I stared for a few seconds, but my eyes couldn’t handle the bright light coming from the object.
I moved on to the next person and tried to glance at their device. They were watching the news. I thought to myself, “Is this some kind of handheld TV?” To satisfy my curiosity, I went to check out the other people sitting on a bench in front of a large mall, all with these devices in their hands. Some were playing games, others were writing, and some were taking pictures. I even saw a man talking to a girl, presumably his girlfriend, who was inside the rectangular device.
I was puzzled but couldn’t help but marvel at the power of this small rectangular object. It had the ability to communicate live, bring news, create scripts, take photos and videos, and entertain people all at the same time. It was incredibly brilliant of whoever invented a device that had a camera, a book, a TV, a gaming console, a telephone, a flashlight, a calculator, a notebook, a scanner, a clock, a wallet, and a map. They called it a Smartphone. Wow, it was truly amazing. I couldn’t help but wonder what else they would add to this device in the future, a fridge, air conditioning, or maybe even a toaster?
I continued walking on the streets, but the city was so congested. People were wearing masks, like doctors performing surgery. They also had transparent plastic shields on their faces. There were signs on every door’s premises that read, “No Face Mask, No Face Shield, No Entry.”
What had happened to the future? I couldn’t help but wish that I could go back to 1980. I wasn’t sure what year it was, but I saw on one of the handheld devices that the year was 2021.
