‘What’s something that’s normal today that will be barbaric in 50 years?’ – 19 things people reckon time will not be kind to

Society has come a long way. Arcane practices have been phased out, and we like to think we live in a relatively advanced age.

But… are we? Surely every society thought they were cutting edge at the time, no matter how backwards they may appear to us now? This train of thought prompted Redditor Helpful_Finger_4854 to throw this question out to the collective wisdom of r/AskReddit.

‘What’s something that’s normal to us now, that in 50 years people will look back on us as barbaric?’

Here are some of the more thought-provoking answers which reveal where we need to improve…

1.
‘The way companies are using the internet and what it’s doing to our brains. I mean the constant garbage we consume on the internet and its long term effects on our mental health.’
-abohra1122

2.
‘I think the use of single-use plastics for real. The amount of waste we create is crazy, like super barbaric. The future generations will probably be shocked that we didn’t find better solutions sooner.’
-Electrical-Chef-9211

3.
‘Letting people die from lack of medical care because they’re poor.’
-EasyBounce

4.
‘Dentistry in its current form. I hope, anyway. I keep hearing things about being able to regrow teeth or enamel and I hope they’re true.

‘I want fixing teeth in the future to be so quick and painless that we look back at how things are now the same way we look back at surgery pre-anesthetic. Like “I know it was the best option at the time but holy shit that’s horrifying. You had to just yank them out? And live like that? And they used a needle in your mouth to make your face numb?”’
-HalcyonSix

5.
‘40 hr work week’
-According_Smoke1385

6.
‘Hopefully chemotherapy: I mean, it’s the best we got in many cases to treat cancer, so I’m thankful it’s an option, but basically you’re putting poison in your body.’
-VampireHunterAlex

7.
‘Wrapping a shitload of plastic packaging in a plastic garbage bag like 3 times a week and tossing it all in a pile where giant fossil fuel burning machines smash them into an enormous plastic and dirt mountain.’
-romacopia

8.

‘Keeping aquatic mammals in captivity for entertainment.’
-Prestigious-Wall5616

9.
‘Hopefully child beauty pageants but especially child marriage.’
-OhTheHueManatee