1986 Teens Predicted 2020: What Gen X Got Right
When British teens in 1986 imagined life in 2020, they predicted telepathic communication, space tunnels, and computer-run governments. Decades later, their hopes and fears reveal how much has changed and how much hasn't.
In 1986, a BBC show asked 13-year-olds to predict what life would look like in 2020, and their answers were surprisingly spot-on about some things and wonderfully wrong about others.
The Tomorrow's World team had done this before in 1966, asking Baby Boomers to imagine the year 2000. Two decades later, they wanted to know if Gen X kids had different visions of the future.
The 1966 predictions focused heavily on space travel, robots, and the looming threat of nuclear war. By 1986, humanity had already landed on the moon and invented the microprocessor, so what would this new generation imagine?
One teen proposed brain waves converting to radio waves for telepathy-like communication. Another suggested space tunnels connecting planets, replacing the Channel Tunnel then being planned between England and France.
But it wasn't all sci-fi optimism. These kids worried deeply about nuclear war, though one thoughtfully noted that no human would likely press a button to destroy the world unless computers did it for them.
They correctly predicted we wouldn't be living on Mars yet. They worried about overpopulation leading to endless tower blocks and restrictions on family size. One even suggested computers might run the country.
Why This Inspires
What stands out isn't whether these kids got the details right. It's that their core concerns in 1986 mirror ours today: nuclear threats, technology's role in warfare, how we'll manage population growth, and whether artificial intelligence will control our lives.
They couldn't have imagined the internet, smartphones, or social media. Google Maps would have seemed like pure magic. Yet their instinct that computers would reshape society was absolutely correct, just not in ways they could picture.
The teenagers who worried about "gases that can kill people within seconds" and wanted that technology "wiped out completely" understood something timeless: innovation without wisdom is dangerous. That's a lesson that feels even more urgent in 2025 as we navigate AI, climate technology, and bioengineering.
These Gen X kids are now in their early 50s, living in the future they once imagined. They're raising kids who will see 2060, facing challenges their parents couldn't have dreamed up.
The future remains impossible to predict, but our hopes and fears stay remarkably consistent across generations.
More Images
Based on reporting by Upworthy
This story was written by BrightWire based on verified news reports.
Spread the positivity!
Share this good news with someone who needs it
