Back to the Future: Made today.

[Argus Skyhawk]

Did any of you other teens in the 80s watch The Day After when it was originally broadcast?

Oh yes. It seemed as though everyone and their dog watched that. It was one of those huge television events that you don't see nowadays because the TV audience in the US has splintered. The next morning, not only were all the kids in my junior high talking about it, one girl had brought a "Ban Nuclear Weapons" petition so everyone could sign it before she sent it to Washington DC.

 

[RandyS]

Did any of you other teens in the 80s watch The Day After when it was originally broadcast?

Yes. All I remember about it was it scared the shit out of the 13 year old I was at that time.

I haven't tried to watch it since, although it most likely wouldn't affect me that way now.

 

[SiddFinch1]

Did any of you other teens in the 80s watch The Day After when it was originally broadcast?

Yep, and then discussed it in Civics class the next day.

Everyone pretty much watched it. I remember it being talked about in school. Wasn't it fall of 83?

 

[Agent Richard07]

2015 in the movie was the 80s version of the future with Pepsi Perfect, Max Headroom and a more exaggerated 80s pastel color scheme. Makes sense. Most idealized depictions of the future are actually depictions of what people would be doing in the present if they only had the means. That and it was played for comedy anyway.

I remember thinking that 2015 was pretty cool. Can't believe it's just over a year away.

Would someone from 1983 be impressed with today's technology? I think so. The media technology we have today is pretty cool. I'm impressed and I'm living it. Smartphones with touch screens that can literally do a thousand things, iPads, GPSs in cars, movies and TV on demand, life-like video games... That's some pretty far out stuff and I don't take it for granted.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I watched The Day After when it was first on the air. I remember thinking that most of the story took place the day before.

 

[Owain Taggart]

2015 in the movie was the 80s version of the future with Pepsi Perfect, Max Headroom and a more exaggerated 80s pastel color scheme. Makes sense. Most idealized depictions of the future are actually depictions of what people would be doing in the present if they only had the means.

That's a pretty apt description, I'd say. In terms of predicting the future, we can never accurately predict it, because it's always based on present ideals of what the future might look like, but it never takes into account technology's rate of development. An interesting observation is that by the time something is possible, there's a likelyhood that it's actually already been surpassed by something better. So it does make sense for the dreamed about future to be more exaggerated as it shows the emphasis on our thoughts about it.

 

[theenglish]

2015 in the movie was the 80s version of the future with Pepsi Perfect, Max Headroom and a more exaggerated 80s pastel color scheme. Makes sense. Most idealized depictions of the future are actually depictions of what people would be doing in the present if they only had the means. That and it was played for comedy anyway.

I remember thinking that 2015 was pretty cool. Can't believe it's just over a year away.

Would someone from 1983 be impressed with today's technology? I think so. The media technology we have today is pretty cool. I'm impressed and I'm living it. Smartphones with touch screens that can literally do a thousand things, iPads, GPSs in cars, movies and TV on demand, life-like video games... That's some pretty far out stuff and I don't take it for granted.

I love today's technology! When I first saw the iPad presentation by Jobs I said this is exactly the computer I have wanted all my life. I am still incredibly happy with my first gen iPad (three years later). I love packing it in my carry on when I go on trips--all my entertainment, writings, and work documents there on one handy machine whose battery will last my entire trip.