Useless Gadget

“Let me see if I have this right, Ashton. That is your name if I understood you correctly. Your accent is a little odd.”

“Yes, you got it right, it’s Ashton.”

“Okay, Ashton, you have created a time travel machine and are using it to come here from the year 2025 to observe how we live life in 1920.”

“That’s correct, sir. We have books and old pictures, but nothing beats the real thing. Now, if you will please stand with your wife I’ll take your picture.”

“That tiny thing is a camera?”

“Oh, it’s much more than that. Everyone in the future has one. We can call people all around the world, look up information simply by talking to it, read the news, and much, much more.”

“Call, do you mean phone call? My boss has one of those contraptions on his desk, but it doesn’t look anything like that. It has wires attached to it and he needs to spin a dial to talk to what he calls an operator, and she somehow connects him with the person he wants to speak with. That sounds amazing, son! You say everyone in the future has one of these gadgets. How about a little demonstration, Ashton.”

“I wish that were possible but it’s not. This phone needs to be connected to a system of high frequency radio waves called the internet which won’t exist for another seventy years give or take.”

“So, what you’re telling me is you brought a contraption from the future that should be able to do all these wonderful things but can’t because it needs something that won’t be invented for another seventy years. Do I have that right, Sonny?”

“Well sir, I never thought of it that way. I suppose you have a point.”

“Damn straight I have a point. Logical thinking appears to have become a lost art in the future. Maybe it’s time for you to get back into your time machine and go back to 2025 so you can teach people how to be logical. Oh, and take that dumb gadget with you.”

“I’m sorry to bother you sir. I’m leaving now.”

“Earl, don’t you think you were a little harsh with the boy? He was only trying to show off his new toy.”

“Maybe I was a tad ruff on the kid, Martha, but it’s obvious parents in the future forgot to teach their children how to think logically. It appears they rely on gadgets instead. I’m afraid what’s going to happen to future generations. What a stupid gadget!