As new technologies and vices emerge, societal concerns such as food safety (like the conditions revealed in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle), environmental protections (from chemicals like PFAS), and even morality (such as during the U.S.’s prohibition era) can encourage the development of new regulations and laws. Often, at the time, these things seem like a completely normal part of life until people begin to realize just how detrimental they can be.
Recently, user tiredassbaker posed the question over on Reddit, “What will someday be illegal after we finally understand how bad for us it is?” Here are 27 of the most interesting things that are currently part of our everyday lives that folks believe will one day be outlawed:
1.
“Kids using social media.”
2.
“A lot of AI will eventually be made illegal or highly regulated, but probably not in our lifetimes. We will suffer the consequences of unregulated AI with deep fakes and fake videos for a long time before there is a political movement to put it down.”
3.
“Corporate campaign contributions.”
4.
“Unpaid internships disguised as ‘opportunities.'”
7.
“Ads for medicine on TV. People will be like, ‘Yeah, that kinda sounds like me.’ Then they want to go get on a medication they don’t actually need.”
8.
“Stock trading politicians.”
10.
“Kids’ beauty pageants.”
11.
“The supplement industry being unregulated.”
12.
“Non-anesthetized gynecological procedures. If they were cutting tissue out of a man’s penis, I guarantee they at least get a local.”
13.
“Predatory student loan interest.”
20.
“Having dental insurance and eye insurance separate from medical insurance. We already know that all three have major interactions with each other.”
21.
“Climbing Mt. Everest.”
22.
“Parents posting children under 14 on the internet with the intent of making them online celebrities. ‘Kidfluencing’ is child abuse.”
23.
“Burning coal to produce electricity.”
24.
“Disposable ‘fast fashion.'”
25.
“Probably all the wild data-harvesting apps do to us. It feels normal now, but one day, people are going to be like ‘Wait, why did we let companies track every move we made?’ I definitely think that’ll end up illegal once everyone realizes how bad it is.”
26.
“Lifetime career in politics or the judiciary.”
27.
And finally, “The production of plastics that don’t biodegrade. We have the audacity to snicker at our ancestors for eating off of lead plates when we all literally have our brains full of forever chemicals and shards of garbage.”
Now I gotta know — what do you think will be illegal in the future? Let us know in the comments. And if you’d like to remain anonymous, you can use the form below.