If you are old enough to be retired, you probably remember the 1962 cartoon, The Jetsons. Arguably, some of the best cartoons aired in the 60’s, such as The Flintstones, Rocky & Bullwinkle, and “not a bird, nor a plane, nor even frog, just little old me… Underdog!” And don’t forget nearsighted old Mr. Magoo. It was a great time to be a kid. Of these cartoons, it was The Jetsons that playfully looked into the future. We watched with amazement and laughter as The Jetsons used unfathomable technology in their daily lives from their home up in the sky in Orbit City. Little did we know, The Jetsons had it right all along.

How The Jetsons predicted the future

The Jetsons was an unimaginable, futuristic cartoon. But now, over 60 years later, a lot of what they used has come into our everyday existence. Let me give you a few examples.

• Remember Rosie, the sassy robot that cleaned house for them? Now we have the self-driving Roomba vacuum, and it doesn’t even make any wise cracks while it works.
• Like The Jetsons, we now have voice activated alarm clocks that gently wake us to our favorite song, instead of a loud, obnoxious beeping sound. Not to mention our brain assistant, Alexa. No wonder I can’t remember anything anymore… I don’t have to.
• One episode shows George Jetson reading the newspaper online. This was at a time when everyone received their ink smudged newspaper on their doorstep – flung there by the neighbor kid down the block as he rode past on his early morning paper route.
• We were all watching The Jetsons on a big clunky T.V. with an enormous box behind it. It was often housed in a large wooden T.V. stand that served as a piece of furniture. We observed The Jetsons as they watched T.V. on a flatscreen mounted to the wall.
• The Jetsons had moving sidewalks, while we now use treadmills to go nowhere.
• Not only did the Jetson family have smart watches, but they also had a smart house.
• George Jetson may have participated in the first ever video conference. As a kid watching the show, I never would have guessed that someday I would be actively taking part in Zoom meetings.
• And lastly, the self-driving car. George’s car sure beat Fred Flintstone’s car that was propelled forward by his own two feet.

Mr. U and I recently escaped to Scottsdale Arizona for a few days of sunshine and warmth. As we pulled up to a stop light, I looked across at the car in the lane next to us… with no one in the driver or front passenger seats. It expertly waited for the light and other cars before turning. The passenger sat calmly in the back seat staring at his phone – not unlike many drivers that scroll through their phones while sitting at a red light, or worse yet, while driving. We don’t have any of these self-driving cars (also known as autonomous cars) in our small town up north, but we are starting to see quite a few of them in Arizona.

Many of the technologies and conveniences that were in The Jetsons cartoon have come to happen in real life. When we were on our trip to Florida last year, we saw the below robot in a restaurant. I do not think her name was Rosie, but she was very busy delivering meals to customers.

Keeping up with technology

Like many baby boomers, I have a love/hate relationship with technology. I resist learning it, but once I do, I love the amazing convenience it usually provides. Mr. U and I both cringe when we hear the word “upgrade” because it means the technology will change, just when we finally had it figured out. And we have used more than a few swear words trying to get some techno gadget set up. But it is imperative that we remain at least somewhat current on technology if we want to stay in the mainstream of modern life. If you do not force yourself to do it, life will pass you by.

My dad has chosen not to embrace much technology. He gets a pass because he is 97 years old, however he misses out on some of life because of it. He did not keep his cell phone because he never got comfortable using it. But then he misses out on texts and pictures from his kids and grandkids that I know he would enjoy. He was frustrated when a business would only accept credit cards (which he does not keep) because they needed to hold a deposit with it. So, he had to call me on the business’s land line to get my credit card number to use. He was not happy about that.

I have used many of the modern conveniences predicted by The Jetsons. However, I have not ridden in an autonomous car yet. The closest I have come is riding in son #4’s Tesla. It is a little unnerving when he takes his hands off the wheel as we are zipping down the road at 55 miles/hour. Yet, I am sure this is safer than 75% of the drivers out there. And self-driving cars don’t have emotions, which would eliminate road rage. But I don’t think I am ready to hop in the back seat and get an autonomous Uber ride yet. My hope is that they are the norm when I get older and am unable to drive myself. How about you – would you take a ride through the city in an autonomous car?