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[–] 14 points 22 hours ago* (6 children)

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

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  • [–] 5 points 22 hours ago (5 children)

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

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  • [–] 7 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 4 points 18 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."

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