If you ever watch a retro sci-fi movie that envisioned what the future would look like, you would see several common ideas: flying cars, robots, and space travel.
However, not only did these ideas never come to life, but some real-life promises never happened for Boomers.
Here are ten things Boomers hoped they would see and experience by 2025… but never did.
1. Jetpacks for Everyone
Back then, when technology was advancing, everyone was talking about how we would be able to fly to work or to another town with jetpacks.
Flying individually seemed pretty realistic considering the advancement in space and air travel. By now, we were all supposed to be zipping around the skies like The Jetsons.
However, jetpack prototypes do exist, but they’re loud, dangerous, and definitely far away from being parked in your garage.
Turns out, flying to work or to see your friends is still more fantasy than future.
2. Robot Maids That Do All the Cleaning
Imagine having a maid who could work all day and night and not get tired. You could simply relax and do your hobbies while the maid does all the work.
Well, Rosie the Robot gave Boomers big hopes for never scrubbing a toilet or cooking again, but it turns out it was another far-fetched idea.
I mean, at least we got Roombas now, which are adorable, but are not exactly for folding laundry. Housework remains very much a human job even in 2025.
3. Vacations on the Moon
After the Moon landing, everyone got excited about what the future may hold. Space tourism was expected to be advanced, affordable, and probably even routine by 2025.
People already started imagining going to the Moon for a quick holiday in small space shuttles that were reserved for them. Resorts, fancy hotels, and Moon lounges were something everyone hoped would happen in the near future.
Instead, it’s reserved for billionaires today, but not exactly as was imagined.
Moon hotels and restaurants? Not in this economy.
4. Cures for All Major Diseases
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With the advancement of technology, many healthcare issues were expected to be gone, and many diseases were expected to be cured in the upcoming decades.
Most people believed science would’ve wiped out cancer, diabetes, and some common diseases that take away many lives yearly. Although we’ve made major strides, we are still very much fighting the same battles and even some new diseases.
Boomers were promised breakthroughs in medicine, that one pill that would solve it all; instead, they got rising healthcare costs.
5. Paperless Everything
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With the introduction of computers, many hoped that piles of paper all over the office were to become a thing of the past.
Offices were supposed to be sleek, minimal, and almost entirely digital. Yet somehow, printers still jam unnecessarily, and we still have to sign forms “in blue ink only.”
What was supposed to be a futuristic era of office equipment, we are still stuck in the ‘old ways’ of doing things. Not really what Boomers hoped for.
6. The End of 9-to-5 Jobs
After technology started blooming and we saw how much time it could save us, Boomers were told automation would free us from the grind.
This would facilitate daily mundane tasks and give us endless leisure time. We would get many more vacation days, work would end as soon as you finish your tasks, and you would be home before lunch.
Instead, we got email on our phones, come from work at 7 sometimes, and the expectation to be “always available.”
Technology did not make it easier; it somehow twisted our work to be even harder because we cannot simply leave it in the office, considering the constant work notifications on our phones. Work-life balance? Still buffering.
7. A Button That Makes Dinner Instantly
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Who would think that even in 2025, we would still be cooking the way our great-grandparents used to? Boomers were promised technology that would work for them, including the meal prep.
The dream: press one button, get a hot meal. But today, the best you can do is click a button on the delivery app and still wait for other people to make it.
Sure, you can microwave the food, but it is not as fresh or as healthy. Food replicators, unfortunately, still remain strictly sci-fi (and the air fryer is the best we have got).
8. Flying Cars in Every Driveway
Do you remember those retro sci-fi movies with flying cars in futuristic towns? ‘Back To The Future’ made everyone believe it was quite possible. Yes, that was the ideal vision of the future.
Sleek airborne cars were supposed to be as normal as any average car by now. We have electric cars now, and they are pretty cool, but flying cars remain something we still see in sci-fi movies.
The cost, the mechanisms, and the regulation are much more demanding than expected. The world Boomers envisioned is still too far-fetched even in 2025.
9. World Peace Thanks to Technology
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When the Internet became popular, there was hope that better communication would unite the world. We would all see the real news, stop the lies that made us divided, and there would be peace everywhere around the world.
Also, we would not believe everything we heard, and there would be a global goal for unity. The wars were a thing of the past, and we would never let them happen again with so much accessible information.
Well, who would have thought that the Internet and social media made it even worse in some situations?
Instead, social media gave us more arguments, more stress, more anxiety, and more conspiracy theories that send us back for 100s of years.
10. Retirement by 50 and a Golden Life Thereafter
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Boomers believed that they would work their way into the easy life. The promise was clear: work hard, earn money, retire early, relax forever.
But it did not turn out that way at all. Although they did start strong, buying houses early in their lives and vacationing quite often, some factors made it harder for them each year.
Rising costs alongside late-stage capitalism made many work well into their 70s. Shaky pensions do not promise Boomers that they will retire early or relax once they do.
And that is what makes it very problematic for them. Golden years do not look so shiny anymore, and that is the sad reality.
