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While it’s fun to guess and debate what the next big thing will be, regardless of whether it’s technology, political or social situations, or any other aspect, it’s much more fun to take a look at the things people said would be the next big thing that never did.

Reddit has recently been discussing just that—all of the things that people thought would be huge, but that most of us have now forgotten (or didn’t even know) about.

The online community’s user u/LineOfDeath (very appropriate given the question) asked people “What was supposed to be ‘The Next Big Thing’, but totally flopped?” and over 50,000 comments later, the AskReddit post blew up with over 76,000 upvotes in under a day.

Bored Panda invites you to take a look at the things people answered in the list below. And while you’re there, vote and comment on the best ones. Well, OK, not the best ones, but you get what I mean.

More Info: Reddit

#1

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online Not entirely relevant, but I liked the trend where everybody wanted the smallest cell phone possible. For 20 years cell phones got smaller and smaller. Often being the main selling point of the phone.

Then all of sudden you could watch videos on your phone, and almost overnight the trend reversed to “larger is better”

Buttsquish , Unknown Report

#2

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online Google Glass

novato1995 , Tim Reckmann Report

#3

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online 2020

FairMiddle7 , Gwydion M. Williams Report

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panda123
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

His job involves being around a whole lot of people it appears

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Virgil Sanders
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

remember at the very beginning of the year, when everyone was acting like it was going to be a good year? boy, how times have changed...

Kristal
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

But but, I accomplished a lot of things last year. I really did.

Daniel Brodzik
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There is a scary number of people who still don't want this to end.

Joost van Leeuwen
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Congrats! I've turned 40 last September as well. The rest of the world is quite fed up with 2020, so I think we're more than welcome to have it back?

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NeonDisco
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Can u imagine the tossers who would wear these while driving?

Your Average Pooh
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The 4th man in line is the definition of "I forgot My mask at home" .

JennyLaRue
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

2020 didn't even start great as a year, it just kept firmly on that downward spiral

Andrew Gibb
Community Member
3 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Covid-19 is worldwide. It is here to stay for those who can't get vaccinated or afford healthcare. 1st World countries aren't going to give them out for free...testing is another delightful source of revenue.

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#4

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online The Segway. It was supposed to change the way everyone lived. The invention of the century or something like that. A really big deal.

xxzzxxvv , David McKelvey Report

#5

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online Airship travel. These were the next, awesome way to travel long distances; in fact the spire on top of the Empire State Building was meant as an anchoring point for airships.

The Hindenburg kind of put a damper on it, though

Creative_Waltz_9462 , Unknown Report

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#6

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online Google+ was supposed to be the answer to Facebook

Puzzleheaded-Art-469 , Unknown Report

#7

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online 3D TV

colin_staples , Wikimedia Commons Report

#8

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online The European Super League.

Relevant-Door1453 , Paul Report

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#9

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online Hoverboards? I remember in a span of 3 months everyone had them and showed them off and then they just disappeared.

tashasei , JrTech Report

#10

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online The Panama Papers

dont_dox_me-bro , Frederik Obermaier Report

#11

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online The area 51 raid.

NuclearBreadLauncher , Wikimedia Commons Report

#12

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online Mini disc

Bluedogan , Wikimedia Commons Report

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#13

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online This one might be a bit obscure just because I've only ever met one other person familiar with it, but Google's Project Ara modular smartphone was looking like it could've been the end all be all of smartphones.

Based off the Phonebloks idea of having a Lego-like hot-swappable module phone, the idea was that you could switch out any components of the phone on the fly. Camera, fingerprint scanner, even different quality screens. Conceptually, it really looked like it could take over the phone market, as it would lead to people not having to buy whole new phones anymore, but rather replacement or upgraded parts to a phone they already liked, thereby reducing costs and increasing utility.

You don't want a phone with 5 cameras that inflate the cost unnecessarily? Just buy a one camera module. You want a 1440P Super Amoled screen to replace your 720P regular screen? Buy one and swap it in.

However, like many Google projects, it died off for myriad reasons and the longstanding era of $1000 dollar smartphone slabs lived on.

ShartinMyKrelis , Maurizio Pesce Report

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#14

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online Windows phones.

-eDgAR- , Felix Wong CC BY-SA 4.0 Report

#15

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online What ever happened to those curved televisions? I remember seeing one on an advert a few years back bit havent seen or heard about them since.

having_a_nosey , Wikimedia Commons Report

#16

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online The "Dark Universe" cinematic universe, starting with 2017's THE MUMMY.

JSanzi , imax Report

#17

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online Asbestos

Technically it was a hit! Right until it flopped when people figured out the whole 'inhaling rockfibers is not healthy' thing...

Th3Cooperative , Wikimedia Commons Report

#18

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online Dip N Dots...



Been the "Ice Cream Of The Future" for 40 years now it seems.

T-Rex3131 , newwavegurly Report

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#19

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online McDonald's pizza.

BuckNutley , merfam Report

#20

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online Xbox Kinect

mr_bigbadjas , Jung-nam Nam Report

#21

Lazer discs the size of records.

RootbeerEyedDog Report

#22

QR Codes.

After so many years, they're finally getting some traction during Covid. I wonder if it will last.

Quesabirria Report

#23

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online HD DVD

Still remember half the movies being blue and the others red.

BigMilk0 , Wikimedia Commons Report

#24

Amazon’s shopping buttons. They pushed really hard for those and I never saw the point.

GarrettSLB Report

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#25

The 2010 live action avatar: the last air bender movie

agentjakethedog Report

#26

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online At the time video calling with your phone completely flopped because 3G couldn't support it. There was so much advertising about this thing that was meant to be huge but the tech really didn't work yet. But it did blow up later on with 4G, better phones, wifi in more public spaces.

clockworkapple14 , Karl Baron Report

#27

Hydrogen cars were a promising new form of motorized vehicle. They were supposed to be incredibly good for the environment, emitting only water as the exhaust. They exist, but not like how some people imagined. I was a pretty big hydrogen car believer at the time. There are some hydrogen stations, but mostly centered around California. Thing is that the hydrogen is quite expensive and not very efficient compared to smaller engines, hybrids, and EV’s. The hydrogen is also somewhat inefficient to produce, store, and distribute as well.

You can actually get a hydrogen car though, they’re out there. The Toyota Mirai is a really good example. Out of all hydrogen cars, that one is definitely most popular. In fact, Toyota pays for $15,000 worth of hydrogen in your first few years of ownership since it’s so expensive. This means that for your first 3-ish years of owning one, you might not have to pay a penny in fuel. As you can see I’m still a hydrogen advocate. Don’t expect to be able to take it very far from your nearest hydrogen station though.

Yung_Onions Report

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#28

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online Elizabeth Holmes.

DudeFromSaudi , Wikimedia Commons Report

#29

The Wii U

Leontetops123 Report

#30

hat streaming service that lasted like two months. ‘Qubi’ or ‘Qupi’ I think?

Even bad timing aside (a mobile based streaming service at a time when no one could really leave their house) the marketing was just horrible. I saw ads for it for nearly a week before I realized it was a new video streaming service, and by that point was so annoyed by the ads untrusting everything I didn’t care at all, just out of spite. Also I mean it was just YouTube you have to pay for and got worse content.

EDIT: it was Quibi. It made so little impact I couldn’t recall at first.

Disreiley Report

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#31

Zune

-eDgAR- Report

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#32

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online Google Wave. It was supposed to replace email with a more collaborative approach. Essentially it was like a dynamically-created discussion board you'd share with select people and you could have a more readable discussion than one with a bunch of forwards and CCs and the like.

I thought it was a good idea, but it flopped big time and Google got rid of it after a few years.

jahvidsanders44 , Elias Bizannes Report

#33

Sega’s Dreamcast

davidtheartist Report

#34

The Sabre Triangle Tablet

miglicious Report

#35

Quadraphonic entertainment systems in the early 1970s, were supposed to replace stereophonic systems. Now they are chiefly remembered for inspiring the name of The Who's second rock opera.

TheSanityInspector Report

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#36

The virtual boy

Braindeadkarthus Report

#37

Johnny Manziel

MrSinister248 Report

#38

Here Are 30 Things That Were Supposed To Be The Next Big Thing, But Ended Up Forgotten, As Shared By People Online MoviePass

booksoverppl , Wikipedia Report

#39

Ouya and microconsoles in general

Hipponoi Report

#40

Smart diapers!

I’m pretty sure Pampers sells them but imagine it won’t be long before they’re discontinued.

It’s an idea that’s been posted on Mommy blogs, childcare forums, magazines, news articles. Every so often I’ll see a story online while doing some childcare research.

I don’t know a single parent, nanny, early childhood educator, caregiver that has or wants to use a smart diaper. The only way I could see it being useful is for night or for a special needs child.

The idea is still being pushed as a “luxury” item for millennials but it’s just nonsense. What’s even funnier is that the tech is almost backwards. Cloth diapering has become insanely popular!

cleaning-meaning Report

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#41

Mixer, Microsoft's Twitch.

Failed spectacularly.

bama_braves_fan Report

#42

Solar roadways

PhiladelphiaFlyr Report

#43

P.T. demo

shiro_cat Report

#44

Allstar Weekend

lets_heal Report