There is a new trend of pedestrian transportation that is unlike anything I have seen before, and it's getting more and more popular as each day passes. For those of you who may not have seen it before, I'm talking about the electric scooter that is like a segway without the handle. Not only do they look fun and cool, but they're actually pretty efficient too.
A few friends of mine own these "boards," and after asking to try it out, I can say without a doubt that it is both the future and death of society. I had an outrageous amount of fun learning how to make it work and swiftly gliding across the room, but eventually I became used to the movement. I wasn't bored with the device, I just hit the point where it felt like part of my person; it felt very much like an extension of my legs. I started going around looking at my phone while "walking" with my friends, and I realized that this will be everyone at some point.
Everyone will have these extremely efficient moderately fast boards that hold a great charge and aren't horribly expensive, and they will all be on their phones at the same time. Having a board is simply just smart business if you want to do work on your phone while getting to your destination at a reasonable pace without public transportation or traffic. This also means there will be more than enough people on their phones not paying attention to run you over as you walk (or glide if you're also on a board) on the sidewalk. I can imagine schools having specific storage areas for personal electric pedestrian transportation (PEPT, grabbing that copyright now) and charging ports for them too.
Out of all the technology that I've seen over the past few years, this feels the most impactful. This is an affordable device that only becomes a restriction if you have to carry it for any reason. The whole concept of walking will become useless, because why walk when you can quickly glide to your destination while clearly looking at your phone since it's not bobbing as you walk. Regardless of the societal and future implications, I can't even imagine how they'll progress from how they are now.