People share 10 things that would leave them flabbergasted if they time-traveled from 1923 to 2023

The world is changing rapidly.

The world is going through numerous changes every second. Each time we blink, something new is being developed in some corner of the world or mankind takes another step towards progress and evolution. Most of us might have seen the concept of time travel in films and fiction and wondered if it was actually possible. What if we could travel to the past and witness history unfold in real-time? What if we could travel to the future and see the technological advancement made by humans? Who knows, maybe in the future we can establish contact with creatures from another planet or simply invent a time machine. But for now, all we can do is use our imagination to wonder what would have been the reaction of a person from the past if they had traveled from a different century to the 21st century. u/snehachijuichi asked the Reddit community an interesting question that read: "A person from 1923 gets transported to the year 2023. What things will shock him/her the most?" Over four thousand netizens showed up to present their best answers in the comments section, revealing what they think would shock a person from the early 20th century. Here are some of the best answers that we have collected for you.

1. The pace of our lives

I asked my grandmother this not too long ago, she's 103 about to be 104. She said the sheer speed of everything, the speed of travel, information, you're basically never waiting on news, on something to arrive in the mail for more than a few days. She said waiting used to be a bigger part of life and that it made certain things feel more special/more worthy of your undivided attention. u/germaphon

2. The advancement in CGI

Walt Disney started out in 1923. Animation has advanced and with CGI the line between reality and fiction is blurred completely. Take that person to a movie. u/Abner_Cadaver Seeing a theatre full of diversity of people would probably blow their minds too. u/No-Dinner-3758

3. The grocery stores

I think things like the internet would break their mind but things they can comprehend that would blow their mind would be a stroll through a grocery store. The size of fruits and veggies, seeing them available out of season and seeing exotic fruits available at all would be shocking. Also, a variety of different cuts of meat everywhere would be shocking. Don’t get me started on the candy section. A treat for my great-grandma, born in 1918, was a spoonful of sugar. u/stayclassypeople

4. The rage of social media

We created a global network of communication for instantaneous information exchange and decided that its primary purpose was to amplify our stupidity. u/iamapizza I remember early on that they explained the 3 char (com = commerce, net = network) were for US-based sites, while 2 char were for foreign sites (ie = Ireland, ru = Russia), etc… but it was too complicated apparently for the masses. u/Remigius13

5. Ease of transportation

See (and hear) that thing up in the sky, at 10,000 meters? That’s a jetliner, it’s carrying 300 odd people from London to New York, it’ll be there in about 8 hours. No one will die of suffocation, they each have a big bag of clothes and they’ll have food, drink, music and color-moving pictures (with sound!) on their own individual screens to watch. And it’ll cost less than a month’s average wage to do it. u/Stegtastic100

6. The use of electricity

We use electricity in so many ways and very efficiently. In 1923 we only knew electricity could generate heat, produce magnetic fields, shoot out electrons and that's it. To convert voltages we used to convert electricity into a magnetic field and back. To convert frequency we used to convert electricity to mechanical motion and then back. To convert electricity to light, we used to convert electricity into heat and use heat to generate light. Now we can do all those things directly. We have this thing called a semiconductor that can manipulate electricity by itself. u/dxin

7. The sequel to World War I

Honestly, I'd say it would be something as simple as showing them that World War 2 happened. WW1 was called the Great War, and The War to End All Wars. But then to find out that there was a sequel and it was worse not even half a century later. That would probably be one of the hardest things to comprehend. It's also something that they'd find out about first, as one of the first things they'd want to know about is what happened to their friends and family, many of whom likely died in WW2. u/NinjaBreadManOO

8. Women rising to power

Women being in the workplace. During World War I, women entered the factories as a temporary measure but they were expected to return to their homes when the war was over. This attitude was still around after World War II (and resulted in the 1950s housewife aesthetic) but that changed through the 60s and now women are expected to work. The fact there are entire industries and academic disciplines that are now female-dominated would shock people in 1923. u/OhHiGCHQ

9. The validation of LGBTQ+

The existence of LGBT people wouldn't be the shocking thing, the fact they are no longer outcasts would be. LGBT people have existed throughout time (yes, even non-binary and asexual people) but the fact that gay people today can get married and live as couples and transgender people could live as themselves and not be prostitutes would be a complete mind blow. u/OhHiGCHQ

10. The cleanliness

How clean everything is. Remember those were the days of wood and coal and the cities were under a dark cloud. Horse poop lined the streets. People died from diseases that we don't have any longer. bizahncup