Unbelievable 1919 cartoon predicted our lives with 'Pocket Telephones.' It's eerily spot-on.

Technology has a way of embedding itself into everyday life, often in ways we least expect. Many assume that modern annoyances—like relentless notifications, untimely phone calls, and the inability to disconnect—are exclusive to the 21st century. However, British cartoonist W.K. Haselden foresaw these frustrations over a century ago. In 1919, he sketched a comic strip envisioning a world where people carried their own "pocket telephones," a concept that wouldn’t materialize until decades later. Reddit user u/slotretriever recently shared the cartoon, highlighting Haselden’s surprisingly accurate prediction. At the time, telephones were still a novelty, with landlines only beginning to gain popularity in homes, making his vision remarkably ahead of its time, as noted by Snopes.

What’s even more surprising is that he didn’t just predict the idea of a mobile phone but also how annoying it would be. His comic strip, titled "When We All Have Pocket Telephones," humorously imagines a future where people are constantly interrupted by ringing phones at the worst possible moments. In the first panel, a man sprinting for a train hears "Ting, Ting, Ting!" as his pocket telephone won’t stop ringing. Another gentleman, hands full with an umbrella and a suitcase, stands frozen, helplessly listening to his phone go off. A third panel shows a man caught in the rain, struggling to hold a conversation while getting drenched, shouting, “Yes—yes—hullo—who is it?” into his tiny device.

At a concert, a man’s phone loudly rings, earning furious “SH-H-H!” reactions from annoyed audience members. Another panel shows a man handed a baby, only for the ringtone to startle the infant. “That bell is frightening the poor mite!” the nurse remarks. The final strip shows a groom at his wedding, standing at the altar when his phone starts ringing. The comic ends with the caption, "We shall certainly be 'rung up' at the most awkward moments in our daily lives!"

The strip immediately resonated with readers, who were surprised by just how accurate Haselden’s “prediction” turned out to be. u/LyqwidBred observed, "I think it's interesting that the desire or concept of a mobile phone was there in 1919. Was just a matter of time for technology to catch up to the idea." u/Kanakalackin said, "Pretty wild that they accurately predicted how phones would become distracting at the worst possible moments. Only thing they got wrong was calling it 'rung up' instead of notification spam lol." u/FrostyExplanation_37 joked, "They could think that far ahead but still didn’t think you could just turn it off." u/fountpen_41 commented, "So they predicted one of our struggles 106 years ago? Damn, they were smarter than we are now. The hell happened to us?" 

u/NSFWFM69 pointed out that it wasn't so unpredictable: "For all those that think this was some time-traveling genius predicting the future... radios were just becoming commonplace and phones had just been established shortly before. Combining those two concepts is obvious... but also something Ma Bell (AT&T) didn’t need to push because there was no need to upset the applecart and bother their cash cow with their nearly exclusive long-distance business." u/GalaxyPowderedCat simply said, "I like the acceptance of this fact using the present tense, not a hypothesis. He had a hunch that this would happen eventually."