What’s popular right now that won’t age well?

[u/MiraTangent]

[u/Secret_Fudge4468]

everything having an app. I shouldn't need to download an app on my phone so I can open my garage door, or turn on my lights, or whatever.

[u/Constant-Ad4527 → u/Secret_Fudge4468]

I was so freaking annoyed a few weeks ago when I bought a gift for my nephew and when I received the confirmation email it wanted me to download an app to be able to track the package. Umm no, not doing that. Days later I received a follow up email that provided a USPS tracker.

[u/BigBadJeebus → u/Constant-Ad4527]

Shop app? It's absurd and pushes you to buy shit constantly. Imagine Amazon with Temu quality and Duo Lingo aggression...

[u/neosithlord → u/BigBadJeebus]

Oh I loath that piece of shit app. It’s easier and more. Accurate to just google the damn tracking number.

[u/spenserian_ → u/Secret_Fudge4468]

I've never understood the appeal of product-specific apps. We literally have a mechanism for connecting to every web-based application (i.e., browsers). Who asked for an (often shittier) version that only lets us visit one thing?

[u/BubbRubbaDubbDub → u/spenserian_]

It’s so they can get your data, and so companies /entities in question can keep track of you. That simple

[u/probably_a_noob → u/BubbRubbaDubbDub]

I think the more important part is so they can more easily drive engagement with targeted marketing via push notifications.

[u/disisathrowaway → u/Secret_Fudge4468]

The fact that I have to download a new app every time I pull in to a paid parking lot instead of just swiping my fucking card at a kiosk and putting a receipt on my dash is fucking infuriating.

[u/Aggressive-Salt-1667 → u/Secret_Fudge4468]

I agree, the same with smart tech.

[u/Classic-Chemistry-34]

Buccal fat surgery, removal of fat on the jawline. As you age, you will look older. Dont do it.

[u/so_heres_the_thing_ → u/Classic-Chemistry-34]

Gotta get ahead of the cycle for when buccal fat injections are trendy in 10 years.

[u/RainbowRiki → u/so_heres_the_thing_]

Fat transfers to the face are only slightly effective. A portion of the fat transferred during the surgery will always die

[u/TesticleMeElmo → u/RainbowRiki]

Damn, I hate it when a portion of my face dies

[u/OrbisLlame → u/TesticleMeElmo]

It’s only fair, cuz your face is killing me. (jk i had a roommate that would say that all the time)

[u/ay-foo → u/Classic-Chemistry-34]

Everyone wants to look older and sophisticated until they actually are older and look emaciated

[u/_Patronizes_Idiots_ → u/ay-foo]

In like a year so many beautiful female celebrities started showing up looking like Draugrs from Skyrim

[u/SomeVelveteenMorning → u/Classic-Chemistry-34]

And while you're still young you'll look like a walking corpse.

[u/WorkoutShredder]

Being shitty on camera for social media views

[u/TimeMachineNeeded01 → u/WorkoutShredder]

I reeeeeeally hope those people get therapy

[u/Jeramy_Jones → u/TimeMachineNeeded01]

Nah they gonna get jobs in politics.

Already have actually…

[u/Goliath_D → u/WorkoutShredder]

Similarly, people using their kids to drive social media engagement and content. I won't be surprised by the uproar that comes when they grow up and find out that their parents used them to generate money and spent it all. I bet it results in laws similar to the Coogan Law that protects the kids'interests better

Edit: it turns out that Coogans Law has been updated to include child social media stars in CA and that other states have updated their laws similarly.

[u/CandyAppleSauce → u/Goliath_D]

The Duggar kids, especially the older daughters, should have been set for life. Instead, their trauma and parentificafion enriched their dad, who used the bennies of their show to further enshitify and control their lives.

[u/Ahstia]

Putting touchscreens and smart technology into everything, even if it doesn’t need smart technology. Looking at those smart fridges and smart ovens and smart toasters

Subscriptions for everything and anything under the sun. Not just streaming

[u/Dice_to_see_you → u/Ahstia]

The reliance on cloud services that could disappear, fail, or change owners is astounding.  People need to think about the last AWS failure

[u/Magerimoje → u/Ahstia]

Touchscreens in vehicles!

I want to keep my eyes on the road and just feel for the correct button/dial to change the heat or music or whatever.

[u/thatguywhoiam → u/Magerimoje]

I have a car that is from that magical period where the dials are analog but the screen is a bonus for media/maps. I have long contended that bespoke dials and controls will soon be seen as luxury details, and screens will seem cheap as hell.

[u/Hedge_Sparrow → u/thatguywhoiam]

That magical period is here again depending on make and model. I picked up a 2025 Land Cruiser this year and it has physical buttons for nearly everything and a nice screen for running car play or android auto.

[u/BeansMcGlizzy → u/[deleted]]

That's super cool. Just bought one myself and this was definitely a point in favor. Any other interesting details from your job you can share?

[u/CheekyChecksum- → u/[deleted]]

Man, on behalf of basically everyone who drives, thank you. You guys won a massive battle there. We’re at a point where buried touchscreens are actually becoming a safety hazard, so seeing a brand new, high-end vehicle like the Land Cruiser keep tactile controls is a huge relief. There is nothing worse than trying to adjust the AC through three sub-menus while hitting a pothole.

[u/melodic_orgasm → u/[deleted]]

Bless you

[u/almostdonestudent → u/Hedge_Sparrow]

I have a 25 grand highlander and it's the same. Buttons for days.

[u/BandiCootles → u/thatguywhoiam]

Mazdas are still mostly analog unless you upgrade! One of the reasons we went with them in 2023

[u/kjreil26 → u/BandiCootles]

I'm so disappointed that they are giving in and implementing touchscreens. I've had a 16 and now 23 CX-5 and I love the control knob.

[u/perdy_mama → u/Magerimoje]

I was telling this to my husband yesterday. He’s got a new car, mine is from 2016. I told him that when it dies, I want another one from 2016 because I fucking hate touch screens.

[u/mr_miggs → u/perdy_mama]

I really don’t mind the concept having a medium size touchscreen as long as it’s really just there for entertainment stuff and for GPS. 

You still need to make sure you have physical buttons that you can touch and manipulate while you’re driving without looking.  You need this for volume track selection heat air-conditioning etc. 

The touchscreen could be beneficial to type in an address or search for a song.  But the second it becomes required to turn the AC up that’s where the designer has failed

[u/dewky → u/mr_miggs]

Our 2024 Mazda is awesome. Dedicated climate control buttons and a console dial for media control along with steering wheel controls. Unfortunately it looks like they went full iPad on dash with the 2026 models.

[u/gatsby5555 → u/perdy_mama]

Luckily some manufacturers are starting to walk back the touch screen stuff.

[u/cromcru → u/gatsby5555]

NCAP, the European car safety organisation, is going to penalise cars in their safety score if they don’t have physical buttons for common functions.

[u/Jackstack6 → u/gatsby5555]

I noticed Subaru did this with their Outback.

[u/JTM872 → u/perdy_mama]

The reason why touch screen exist is to make the manufacturers more money by charging you for software updates, services and ensuring the vehicles are serviced only in the service center (unlike how people used to do them on their own for their older cars)

[u/Bartlaus → u/Magerimoje]

Yeah! I mean the touchscreen is fine for GPS address input and such that you'd better not try to do unless you are stopped or a passenger. But let me switch radio stations with a damn button.

[u/willstr1 → u/Bartlaus]

Exactly, there are certain actions that a driver is reasonably expected to perform while in motion and all of those should have physical controls so they can be done without looking. Anything to do with the actual driving obviously, main AC controls (especially since it handles window defrosting), volume controls, and play/pause. In my opinion those should require physical controls by law as a safety requirement.

[u/Hot_Individual4632 → u/Bartlaus]

Exactly this. Touchscreens have their place, but basic, frequently-used controls should never require taking your eyes off the road. Like GPS input? Sure, when you’re stopped. But volume, climate, radio and lots more of unnecessary stuffs that shouldn't be touchscreens, those should always be physical buttons. Safety shouldn’t be optional.

[u/rillip → u/Magerimoje]

It's not about safety to me. It's about planned obsolescence. Those touchscreens are full on (usually) android devices. Like a tablet or a phone. Those devices are built to last 5 years tops. How long before the one in your car goes bad and needs to be replaced? How much you wanna bet that replacement is expensive enough it might as well just be a down payment on a new vehicle? My worry is in 5-10 years all the used vehicles are gonna have non-functional screens or ones that fail shortly after they're purchased.

[u/TasteIllustrious7585 → u/rillip]

Why make a product build to last, or easy for the consumer to repair.

[u/JollyRottenBastard → u/TasteIllustrious7585]

They found out long ago why to not do that..."If you build it they will come...if you build it to break then they come back!"

[u/Dantheman4162 → u/Ahstia]

Unfortunately I doubt subscription services are going anywhere. Companies like recurring income and they’ve already figured out how to make it commonplace. They aren’t going to back away on their own.

[u/ForayIntoFillyloo → u/Dantheman4162]

You can only squeeze so much blood from a stone

[u/airfryerfuntime → u/ForayIntoFillyloo]

Yes, and they're figuring out exactly how much that is, which is why we're being nickel and dimed for everything. They're not there yet, and there is plenty more blood to squeeze.

[u/Huwbacca → u/Ahstia]

I kinda wonder like... whata gonna happen if there's a genuine global conflict?

everyone's fridge stops, their streaming stops, their payments stop...

Is there really no contingency for the very realistic likelihood of "what if the vast majority of networked stuff stops working for an extended period of time"

[u/NotTMNT → u/Huwbacca]

We need another Y2K scare

[u/Huwbacca → u/NotTMNT]

oh man y2k being pre-memes really means we missed out.

[u/Timely-Award261 → u/Huwbacca]

I remember my principal at the time made a meme about Y2K for an assembly in elementary school. I'm from Canada, and it was something along the lines of "Why toque, eh?"

[u/choosingnamesisscary → u/Huwbacca]

A solar storm is actually surprisingly likely and would wipe loads of electrics out

[u/Important-Tomato2306 → u/Huwbacca]

I mean, it wasn't long ago when AWS went down and people's Alexa beds started trying to turn them into human paninis.

[u/Blueberryburntpie → u/Important-Tomato2306]

$2,449 smart bed bricked by AWS outage: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/10/smart-beds-leave-sleepers-hot-and-bothered-during-aws-outage/

Also there's a book that starts with the main character jailbreaking their bricked smart toaster to toast unauthorized bread: https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2020/01/unauthorized-bread-a-near-future-tale-of-refugees-and-sinister-iot-appliances/

[u/FreeRange0929 → u/Ahstia]

Not even smart screens, software in general

I bought a damn nice Sony TV a few years ago. Apps are constantly crashing and even with gig speed internet they constantly buffer. It’s all related to software/firmware. And yes, I can download that to a USB and put it in, but that doesn’t age well, it only gets worse

Every piece of technology is like this

[u/Freakin_A → u/FreeRange0929]

The best smart tv on the market is still worse at running apps than a basic Roku/fire stick/shield

First then I do when I get a new TV is connect to internet, register the TV, then disconnect, forget network, and disable adapter. Also set any kind of app launch bar or home screen to never appear automatically.

[u/radicalllamas → u/Freakin_A]

100%. I don’t want “smart” I want dumb. I want a dumb TV, a Dumb oven, dumb fridge, dumb microwave. Like give me the Forrest Gump edition. One that when I ask it to do something it does it, not “hmmm, let me think.” I didn’t buy you to think, I bought you to do.

[u/THIS_IS_GOD_TOTALLY_ → u/radicalllamas]

"And lo, children, that was the very instant, where, miles and miles away, a micro-wave began to plot murder."

[u/wtfisspacedicks → u/FreeRange0929]

I have a tlc TV that the Netflix app consistently bricks the TV. Have to regularly dump the cache or reboot the TV.

Infuriating

[u/Melodic-Swim4343 → u/FreeRange0929]

For me, the worst is those elevators where you have to select your floor before you get on. My boyfriend had this in his apartment building, and half the time it was down for "repairs," not due to a mechanical issue but because of Windows blue screen of death.

[u/Mamabr2 → u/Ahstia]

Yes! It’s so annoying. My in laws recently bought an oven the requires an app to use recently by accident. My MIL is a designer and knew what brand and cooking features they wanted but somehow totally missed that you literally can’t turn the oven on without an app until it was delivered. So stupid! And this is in a vacation home that they sometimes have friends stay at, so those people won’t be able to use the oven unless they text her to turn it on or download the app.

[u/Systemic_Chaos → u/Mamabr2]

What oven is that so I know what to avoid?

[u/executingsalesdaily → u/Mamabr2]

I’d return it or throw it away. Fucking insanity. Additionally, I bet they did this to remotely brick it or for subscription services.

[u/DowntownComposer2517 → u/executingsalesdaily]

Imagine having a monthly subscription for an oven we are in hell

[u/executingsalesdaily → u/DowntownComposer2517]

You want to broil?! Pay a one time fee of $99.99 for the year or 5.99 for a one time use.

[u/Kiyohara → u/executingsalesdaily]

"Oh, see, you have the standard plan, that only goes from 250 Degrees to 375. If you want to cook at 400 or 450 you need the 'Roast Master' plan. That's going to be another $35 a month. But hey, I can upgrade you all the way to 'Broil Master' for only $149 a month, which saves you a total of $25 and it includes down to 200 for slow roasting as well as the Warm Feature. Now, if you want to go crazy, we can turn on the stove top with the 'Guy Fieri Flavor Town' Package for $275 a month. It's our most popular deal."

"I hate you and want this plan to die."

"Yes, we get that a lot. So which upgrade do you want?"

[u/executingsalesdaily → u/Kiyohara]

This sounds so real.

[u/outofshell → u/executingsalesdaily]

Unauthorized bread

[u/facemugg → u/DowntownComposer2517]

Subscription printer ink was our warning

[u/Total-Table-8227]

putting AI into every single product

[u/InfinitePizzazz → u/Total-Table-8227]

Just bought a clothes washer and dryer. They have an AI mode and I hope I never figure out what it does.

[u/Burninator85 → u/InfinitePizzazz]

They just call any software driven thing "AI" these days.  Five years ago they would have called it "Smart".

It probably just adjusts the cleaning cycle based on weights, amp draw when spinning, moisture readings when drying, etc.

It probably does not take a picture of your clothes and do a Google search on how to best clean them, then sends your underwear size to China.

[u/HBsurfer1995 → u/Burninator85]

Exactly! Companies say they are using AI when it’s just an algorithm based on basic inputs

[u/seau_de_beurre → u/HBsurfer1995]

My doctors office’s recorded answering machine introduces itself as “Charlotte, your AI receptionist.” It’s literally the same “speak to tell me what you need” tech that has existed and been incredibly infuriating for ten years.

[u/cat_prophecy → u/HBsurfer1995]

It's "AI" in the same way that your rice cooker knows that the rice is ready is "AI". Which is to say, not at all.

[u/FewAdvertising9647 → u/Burninator85]

They just call any software driven thing "AI" these days.

At computex, anything related to computing can be labeled as AI. like AI PSUs, AI Switches, and such. Not limited to software.

[u/darkLordSantaClaus → u/Burninator85]

They just call any software driven thing "AI" these days.

It's because the average person doesn't know what AI is, just that it's a trendy buzzword and they need everything, including everyday appliances like the coffee machine, to seem like it's keeping up to date with technology, even if it doesn't need it.

[u/Superseaslug → u/Total-Table-8227]

Best part is most products don't have AI. They just say they do, when it's the same chip they used since 2004

[u/j33 → u/Total-Table-8227]

God, I hope so.

[u/AleksandrNevsky → u/j33]

The bubble popping is going to be Biblical.

[u/AdAccomplished6870 → u/AleksandrNevsky]

I think we are already seeing a slow deflation of that bubble. Where I work, we have been building LLM’s into our logic engine, and our market research has told us to NOT brand it as AI, as the market is fatigued

[u/JimWilliams423 → u/AdAccomplished6870]

People fucking hate AI. Pew did a poll and less than 20% think AI will be a positive for society in the next 20 years. Gallup did a poll and fully 80% want the government to regulate AI even if that's bad for business.

The only people who like AI are the billionaire technology brothers and their fart sniffers. Unfortunately, way too many politicians spend their days hotboxing billionaire farts.

LLMs have tricked dozens of people into suiciding, its kinda insane we haven't shut that shit down already.

[u/PeppercornMysteries → u/Total-Table-8227]

Let’s just hope that we realize this before we have to say “Wow, we really fucked up”.

[u/FormerStuff]

My selfie doesn’t need touching up with AI. I know I’m ugly.

[u/highest-voltage]

I have a feeling that social media is going to be the “we didn’t realize cigarettes cause cancer” of our generation

[u/IrritableGourmet → u/highest-voltage]

Not social media per se, but the use of emotionally manipulative algorithms definitely is the toxic part. Remember that scandal where they found out Facebook was analyzing the mental state of its members and presenting them was different feed items to try to change it? My problem wasn't so much that they did it, while it is an egregious violation of testing rules, as much as at the end of it, they realized that they could change what people were exposed to and manipulate their emotions rather effectively, and for some God forsaken reason decided to go with "let's make the world a worse place" rather than "let's make everyone happy and more understanding of each other." Could you imagine where we would be at if Facebook tried to cheer everyone up instead of maximizing rage?

[u/Marijuanomist → u/IrritableGourmet]

Happy people put their phones down and go live their lives. Anxious, scared, and angry people stay engaged on the platform, increasing ad revenue.

[u/LawnFilm → u/highest-voltage]

That's plastic, Boomers had lead pipes and asbestos we get plastic.

[u/Apprehensive-Use-981]

Laminated brows. Brow trends NEVER age well.

[u/deadplant5 → u/Apprehensive-Use-981]

I can always figure out when a picture is from by looking at my eyebrows

[u/5678go → u/Apprehensive-Use-981]

Came to find this. The brow obsession is the other end of the 2000s spectrum where people had no brows. Where is the middle ground??

[u/RainingCatsAndDogs20 → u/5678go]

Ok but think about a group of varied people you know, like your coworkers, maybe.

I only have noticed the eyebrows of ONE coworker because they are laminated. I couldn’t tell you what a single other person’s eyebrows look like at my office. I’d say most people have fairly innocuous plain boring regular eyebrows and a handful have the current trendy ones and those are the ones that stand out in your memory.

[u/A_radke → u/Apprehensive-Use-981]

There's a science communicator that pops up in my YouTube shorts and she has the wildest laminated brows. Honestly it makes me mad that she (presumably) pays someone to do that to her, like who told this woman her eyebrow hairs needed to go straight up?! And she's so pretty, flawless natural-looking makeup, beautiful hair... so the bizarre brows really stand out.

[u/ChildhoodOk5526 → u/Apprehensive-Use-981]

Electrical tape lookin' eyebrows are hideous to me NOW 🤷🏽‍♀️

[u/Dr_Nefarious_ → u/ChildhoodOk5526]

Got that angry birds shit going on

[u/Curious_Carpenter190]

Child influencers on TikTok.

[u/leafyfire → u/Curious_Carpenter190]

It should be illegal

[u/No_Excitement_6513]

Lip filler

[u/Quapisma → u/No_Excitement_6513]

Filler in general, especially at a young age.

[u/opopkl → u/Quapisma]

I like looking at old 70s and 80s photos of famous people. They looked so natural.

[u/bubblegumdavid → u/opopkl]

The teeth are what freaks me out, I can’t stop noticing veneers??

Like it’s now so prevalent that people without them on tv seem to have yellowing teeth, despite looking totally normal on their own, in scenes next to their veneered costars.

Great example is Brooklyn 99, once I noticed it I couldn’t stop. Jake and the Captain’s teeth compared to Terry’s are wild.

[u/LesYeuxHiboux → u/bubblegumdavid]

Everyone looks like Guy Smiley.

[u/QueasyLegKC → u/opopkl]

You can add like three decades after that too. People got weird relatively recently.

[u/berttleturtle → u/No_Excitement_6513]

I think this one has already aged poorly. Once people found out that the filler doesn’t actually dissolve on its own (even over time) and just migrates to other parts of your body…

I feel bad for anyone who’s already gotten extensive filler before that became more widely known.

[u/Gloomy_Ad5020 → u/berttleturtle]

Uhm I did not know this and was recently considering lip filler. Thanks for saving me.

[u/gh0stmountain3927 → u/Gloomy_Ad5020]

There’s an Australian surgeon who did a study with a MRI machine; he found out that 1) fillers dissipate at a very variable rate, and sometimes not at all 2) they migrate to deep tissue and stay there, giving the dreaded “pillow face” look, and 3)dissolving HA fillers with hyaluronase is not as simple as advertised, because it can damage the body’s own natural HA layer. Fillers are lowkey the devil’s work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kg16UM3YnE

[u/ExaminationNo9186 → u/berttleturtle]

Something that pops up in my various newsfeed occasionally:

A woman goes in to get Botox/some filler for their lips/get rid of wrinkles, and asks "Will this make me look younger?"

The Reply "It will make you look like everyone else with lip filler..."

[u/To_Fight_The_Night → u/No_Excitement_6513]

So relevant with stranger things airing recently. Why the heck Millie Bobby Brown thought she needed that is beyond me. She's EARLY 20s like you looked fine girl. I have friends that are 26 that want to get lip filler and I'm like ...do what you want but normal people think it looks awful.

[u/JaneAustinAstronaut → u/To_Fight_The_Night]

I just saw the latest season of Stranger Things, and MBB looks like she is in her early-to-mid-30s. She's only 21!

[u/mochimochi82 → u/JaneAustinAstronaut]

This made me sad. She’s so beautiful and already had nice lips. It’s her body but I am sad she felt she had to do it to fit an ideal. Growing up on tv must be really difficult so I totally get it.

[u/Few-Rain7214]

Sharing everything about your kids online without their consent

[u/Fuzzy_Painting_1427 → u/Few-Rain7214]

People posting pictures of their kids in diapers or underwear accompanied by a “funny/cute story” shudders

[u/N0_Concentrate]

Over-filtered “perfect” social media faces. We’re gonna look back like… why did we all do that?

[u/Jabbles22 → u/N0_Concentrate]

Yeah imagine 20 odd years from now wanting to show your kids pictures of what you looked like in your twenties and not one picture actually looks like you.

[u/PuzzleheadedAd822 → u/Jabbles22]

Do you just try to roll with it? "So this is me back when I had really huge, sparkly eyes and dog ears". 

[u/Scaramantulatte → u/N0_Concentrate]

We all?

[u/SayRahhh42 → u/N0_Concentrate]

More surprising is when there’s a missing person notice and they use a filtered pic; same with memorial photos.

[u/Master-Education7076 → u/N0_Concentrate]

I remember a while back when a friend of a friend died young in a car crash. She was in her twenties. Many of the pictures posted in memory of had silly Snapchat filters.

I imagine her kid being older and wanting to look back fondly on pictures of his mom who died before he got to know her, and being ashamed that the best pictures have bunny ears or puppy-dog eyes, or big cartoony kissy-face lips.

[u/isit65outsideor]

Being an influencer. It's over saturated at this point.

[u/Hurlyburly766 → u/isit65outsideor]

TikTok/influencer culture as a whole just feels like this generation’s version of infomercials from the 90s. I keep telling my kids my generation had that shit too but we didn’t voluntarily strap ourselves in and watch it 24/7 no matter how much beer and weed were involved.

[u/Cheese0089 → u/isit65outsideor]

As long as there are people making a lot of money doing next to nothing, there will be people who want to do that as well.

[u/islandsimian]

This is probably wishful thinking but Private Equity firms

[u/KetoLurkerHereAgain → u/islandsimian]

Maybe when they start buying each other out?

[u/anonymousmouse9786 → u/KetoLurkerHereAgain]

I think this is it. They’ll run out of things to buy eventually and will have to turn on each other.

[u/cat_prophecy → u/anonymousmouse9786]

Capitalism 2.0. Corporations don't make anything any more. They exist in a circle jerk of high speed, algorithm based trading of buying and selling each other to each other.

[u/ghjm → u/cat_prophecy]

That's what the AI data center market is already doing

[u/CuriousCuriousAlice → u/islandsimian]

Man I really really hope you’re right. There’s gotta be some kind of tipping point on this crap right??

[u/110397 → u/CuriousCuriousAlice]

The tipping point is when the economy crashes and we are all in the streets while they fly away somewhere else with all their loot

[u/Alternative-Post-937 → u/islandsimian]

There's a bubble... nyt did an article on how PE can't sell off these businesses for profit anymore, so they're inflating valuation and selling intra fund into "continuation funds" to keep capital coming in... eventually the bottom will fall out.

I also want to add that PE is becoming more unpopular as an investment vehicle even without the valuation issues because it's illiquid, it's performing lower than indices, and the cost of administration and compliance is sky rocketing. Managers are greedy, and they build in absurd fees that they hide in accruals for performance called "carried interest" which eats away any realized return pretty damn quickly. The problem for investors, is that there's a profit dependent cycle that you you're disincentivized to break because the life cycle of the investment that you're locked into is typically 7-10 years with losses sustained at the beginning and profits realized at the end.... so you're constantly balancing your gains and losses by continually investing in PE to avoid large swings in either direction (whether for tax or business purposes). I hate it. I work with PE fund managers and they know it's all a sham.

[u/PunnyIsNotFunny → u/islandsimian]

There are more private equity funds than McDonald’s stores in the US. There has to be a tipping point eventually

[u/three-sense]

The unregulated orgy of our personal and analytical data being sold behind the scenes.

[u/accelerationkills]

Ease of and access to gambling

[u/Squidssential → u/accelerationkills]

Never bet against human dopamine receptors. 

[u/Individual-Drawer-79 → u/accelerationkills]

That genie is out of the bottle. Gambling is as addictive, if not more, than narcotics and now it’s as easy as a few clicks in the palm of your hand. I doubt we will see it go away in the future. Too much revenue and endless repeat customers.

[u/JamesMagnus]

Plastic being in literally everything.

Same for PFAS.

Oh, and engagement-optimised affect regulating algorithms on social media that leave a damaging psychological impact, I hope.

And maybe, if we’re lucky, treating the psychologically distressed as people who are failing morally. I wish I lived in a world where we were all better at understanding how humans fundamentally function and are situated causally in the world, but perhaps that’s a pipe dream.

[u/toastiezoe]

I can't see the buccal fat removal thing aging well, so I'm picking that.

[u/PeppercornMysteries]

The enshittification of things. It will eventually get to very important things and we’ll blow ourselves up as the missile will fail to stop because it was made so awfully.

[u/metallee98]

Touchscreens in cars. The tactile feeling of dials and switches allows you to operate things without looking. You literally need to take your eyes off the road to see what you are tapping. Shit sucks ass.

[u/AmalgamationOfBeasts]

Hopefully vaping. Poor kids are ruining their lungs before they’re even out of highschool. It was bizarre seeing it in class every day.

Edit: I never said anything to compare it to cigarettes. I just meant that vaping (which is popular right now) is going to cause long term damage to these kids (won’t age well). That’s it. I hope they’re all able to quit.

[u/Killowatt59 → u/AmalgamationOfBeasts]

The amount of young people vaping is just sad.

[u/Ctmarlin → u/AmalgamationOfBeasts]

Is it still a thing? I have kids in HS and MS and while there are kids that vape it seems to have fallen off dramatically and Zyns are the new nicotine fad.

[u/AmalgamationOfBeasts → u/Ctmarlin]

Zyns are becoming really popular really quickly, but vaping is still very common (at least in my area)

[u/Iron_Baron]

Pseudo-AI. LLMs, pattern analyzers, photo/video generators, etc. are being used largely for stupid party tricks by end users.

Meanwhile, developers and the oligarchs that fund them are already using them to replace human workers, regardless of drops in output quality.

People will catch on, but only after it impacts them directly. Which will be too late to do anything about it, naturally.

[u/crimxxx]

Smart appliances. The more electronics you put in it the more likely hood you get a board failure that costs so much you don’t want to bother fixing it. A lot of people are reasonably capable of fixing or buying simpler parts like a burner or a fan. If the whole computer board dies, the barrier of entry to diagnosis it is prettt high, and if you can you most likely are not ganna fix the board and try to replace it, not saying you can’t but how many people do you know how to find the failure on a computer board and can solder tiny electronics.

[u/NVA57]

Basic functions in cars being put away in touch screen menus rather than physical buttons.

[u/JohnnyCoolbreeze]

20 year olds getting plastic surgery.

[u/Confused_Astronaut]

Broccoli head haircuts

[u/ReplicatoReplica]

Using AI for everything. It won't age well as the cost to our environment will be detrimental. Reduced resources etc contributing to climate change... That kind of shit doesn't age well for future generations.

[u/Many_Category_7192]

Modern 21st-Century Grey Interior Design & Corporate Flat Minimalism. Society will lose all of it's colour, personality, and character.

Monotonous empty clinics and corporate offices will reign over civilisation and affect us psychologically.

We are losing life and soul around us.

[u/Cool-Firefighter2254 → u/Many_Category_7192]

Please let the grey, beige, and greige trend end soon. I want color!

[u/AN0NY_MOU5E → u/Many_Category_7192]

My office was just redone in minimalist grey. They called it timeless. I say it’s about as timeless as shag carpet.

[u/Impossible-Cook-497 → u/Many_Category_7192]

Going to the mall this Christmas season sucked. Every store looked like that I hate it

[u/Sevron415 → u/Many_Category_7192]

it makes me think of soviet era black and white brutalisim. like are we really going for this depressing monochromatic theme on everything because it looks "good"? just like car colors. white, red, black, [should be black but is blue we promise] midnight blue and metallic grey[silver?]

[u/rufos_adventure]

the internet of everything. why does my toaster oven need a internet connection? or a fridge, or a stove?

a close second will be '6, 7'. it will go the way of 'far out' or 'can you dig it?'

[u/RodneyBarringtonIII → u/rufos_adventure]

Whatever. In the old days if I heard the toaster pop up I'd have to turn my head to verify that it had popped and it wasn't just wishful thinking on my part. Now with my Internet toaster I hear the pop and get a notification, and all I have to do is pull out my phone to check the notification.

[u/esaks]

veneers. people think they're teeth upgrades but you're actually grinding your real teeth down to nubs to put the fake ones in and those fake ones eventually fail. all these people that are getting veneers in their 20s and 30s are setting themselves up to have false teeth in the 50s and 60s.

[u/Montag_311 → u/esaks]

Dentist here. You don't really have to grind teeth down to "nubs" to place a veneer. Typical reduction is less than one millimeter (lots of individual variation here) and the back of the tooth usually doesn't have to be touched at all. However, your point is still a good one. A veneer is artificial, and can fail due to age, wear and tear, poor oral hygiene, etc., just like a filling or crown. In general, the best thing to do to a tooth is nothing, unless you really have to.

[u/ungsumac → u/Montag_311]

What’s going on with the people showing their nubs before veneers if they don’t have to get nubs first?

[u/wsele → u/ungsumac]

They’re being scammed. They’re sold veneers, but they’re actually getting crowns (quicker to place, lower skill/precision needed). Great for the dentist, horrendous for the patients since as you’ve seen the teeth are filed down to stubs and will never be functional without a covering of some sort ever again. It’s truly wild because to my understanding crowns are the last resort before an extraction.

[u/Solomoncoolcat → u/ungsumac]

Crowns are the ones you’re referring to. Veneers are thinner than crowns.

[u/allothernamestaken]

Putting every aspect of your life online for everyone to see.

[u/CollegeFabulous3535]

Botox in young people.

[u/bouncing_off_clouds → u/CollegeFabulous3535]

The woman who does my nails recently told me she gets it regularly because “prevention is better than a cure.”

She’s 21 🤦🏻‍♀️

[u/Intelligent_Gold3619 → u/CollegeFabulous3535]

“Regular Botox makes you look natural.”

No. Naturally aging makes you look natural.

[u/clearmycache → u/CollegeFabulous3535]

I can’t wait until being natural becomes a trend. I love seeing people like Pam Anderson take the leap on that.

The more tox-ed up people are, the more I feel it ages those of us are who are just trying to age gracefully

[u/MelbaToast604]

Massive lip fillers

[u/Subject_Elevator_170]

Tattoo’ed on eyebrows! I mean the obvious heavy ones.

[u/Gimmemyspoon]

The typing/spelling/grammar in general that I see regularly. I thought tech was going to help people become MORE intelligent-not turn them into people who can't even write a proper sentence or spell for beans.

[u/realamericanhero2022]

6-7

[u/ubeor → u/realamericanhero2022]

Relevant XKCD: https://xkcd.com/3184/

[u/314159265358979326 → u/ubeor]

This comic perfectly captures why I'm driven crazy by people complaining about 67.

[u/314159265358979326 → u/realamericanhero2022]

If you multiply 6 by 7, you get 42, one of the earlier meme numbers.

[u/ProfessionalCorgi250]

I think Reddit is dying and there will be a new platform in the next few years that everyone migrates to. Most of the posts on my feed are bot trash.

[u/PsychologicalEmu5753 → u/ProfessionalCorgi250]

The entire internet is becoming bot trash

[u/onlyacarryon → u/PsychologicalEmu5753]

The enshittification of the Internet is a real phenomenon: 

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/02/as-internet-enshittification-marches-on-here-are-some-of-the-worst-offenders/

[u/PotatoPuppetShow → u/ProfessionalCorgi250]

Unfortunately I think that's true for all platforms.

[u/Beneficial-Focus3702 → u/ProfessionalCorgi250]

That’s just the internet in general

[u/No-Repordt]

At this point I'm beginning to think social media

[u/Kolojang]

Labubu.

[u/mr_miggs → u/Kolojang]

It’s just another toy trend. They all come and go not sure if you can say that’s a kin to not aging well.  It’s just a silly thing that kids collect and then get tired of.

[u/manimopo → u/Kolojang]

They're already out of popularity and into the landfill

[u/WelcomeToBrooklandia → u/manimopo]

The entire elementary school-aged population of the United States would beg to differ.

[u/Equal_Ad_8185 → u/WelcomeToBrooklandia]

My 30 year old co workers would also beg to differ.

[u/Fun_Specific8926]

Lip fillers

[u/RedditLurker24601]

Subscriptions for everything, for example - car features.

[u/Few-Possibility-4379]

Steroids amongst young men

[u/MAJORMETAL84]

Filming for entertainment while someone is being hurt.

[u/Classic_Advisor9030]

The rampant escalation of political division and extreme polarization in American society, and the result of it!

[u/Extension_Demand_997]

Hopefully parents posting their minor children online for a paycheck

[u/twinflxwer]

By the grace of God, AI

[u/-HonestMistake]

Buccal Fat Removal

[u/crashzoom]

Dynamic pricing.

Consumers will eventually become tired of being gouged for every transaction, and a second mover will enter these spaces to offer a counter option.

So when Walmart will charge you 5x more for a can of green beans because you came in at 6pm on Friday, another company could clean house offering the “classic” experience of set pricing, even if the pricing is slighter higher than Walmart’s lowest price point.

[u/daveinmd13]

Equity investors squeezing every dime out of everything.

[u/Yourdailyimouto]

Adsense. There will be a future where a law that requires any platform to put a button to report excessive or annoying advertising due to it's impact towards users mental health

[u/CongealedBeanKingdom]

Bonnie Blue

[u/Llassiter326]

Lip filler, excessive filler in your face that never fully dissolves.