30 Ways the Digital World Actually Affects the Physical World

Careful. This list might jump out of the screen and slap you upside the head!
30 Ways the Digital World Actually Affects the Physical World
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We don’t want to be fearmongers here, but the next time you open your phone or laptop, you might want to start bobbing and weaving your head like Neo in The Matrix. Take it from us, we just rounded up a ton of instances of the digital realm jumping out of the screen and affecting the real world in pretty serious ways. 

You might have thought that this day wouldn’t come for another few decades, but it’s here and it’s real. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Driving A Car Blindfolded

CRACKED TERRIBLE NETTRENDS DRIVING A CAR BLINDFOLDED A teenager in Utah got in trouble for trying the Bird Box Challenge, which involves putting a blindfold on and trying to perform an ordinary task - in her case, driving a car. She crashed into another (but nobody got hurt).

Gentleminions

TERRIBLE NETTRENDS MASS DISTURBANCES AT MOVIE THEATERS The #gentleminions trend on the internet caused a lot of trouble for cinemas. Teenagers were being really rowdy, which led to customers getting refunds and some screenings even being canceled. It had a big financial impact. CRACKED

Automated Jobs

Real-Life Dystopian Tropes AUTOMATED JOBS In the past, when jobs have been made obsolete by automation, companies have created new ones to meet their needs. But lately, artificial intelligence is being employed instead of human Dryan workers. CRACKED

Biodata Collection

Real-Life Dystopian Tropes BIODATA COLLECTION Tech experts are warning that society is sleepwalking into a dystopian surveillance nightmare. The growth of the biometric and facial recognition sector has started to have a major impact on human behavior and the communities it monitors. CRACKED

Social Credit Scores

Real-Life Dystopian Tropes SOCIAL CREDIT SCORES The social credit system is a moral ranking system that the Chinese Communist Party has been constructing for years to monitor the behavior of its enormous population. Punishments for bad behavior include travel bans and slow internet speeds. CRACKED

Cybersecurity for Identity Thieves

CRACKED Cybersecurity for identity thieves. This consumer reporting agency left 147 million Americans' SSN's, birth dates, addresses, and driver's license numbers exposed. Over 209,000 peoples' credit cards were accessed, and Equifax is currently paying $425 million to victims. EQUIFAX

Hackable Pacemakers

CRACKED Hackable pacemakers that tug on your heartstrings. This revolutionary radio-controlled pacemaker was built without security against other frequencies. The possibility of hacking caused a recall of 500,000 after patients feared anyone with a wireless transmitter kit could play with their hearts.

Smart Cities

Real-Life Dystopian Tropes FACIAL RECOGNITION IN SMART CITIES The iPhone XS's facial recognition software is seen as a stepping stone to more complex AI that will be implemented across the infrastructure of smart cities. There is concern that there is potential for abuse by police forces and targeted advertising by retailers. CRACKED

Bossware

Real-Life Dystopian Tropes BOSSWARE Since COVID-19, there has been a rise of companies offering software that tracks workers' every move, keystroke, and location. This bossware is often installed without the worker's knowledge, and can be used to collect data for lawsuits or other nefarious purposes. CRACKED

Pokémon GO

Pokémon GO players damaged a historic Revolution-era fort. Fort Phoenix was the site of the first Revolutionary War naval battle, and in 2016 attracted crowds of people because of some rare Pokémon. GO players were caught publicly urinating and digging holes looking for treasure near the fort, and generated tons of garbage. They even tore down a section of stone wall with a crowbar. CRACKED.COM

Viral Sunflower Fields

An Ontario based seed farm had to close down their sunflower fields after images of their picturesque fields went viral. The Sunflower Fields are CLOSED For viewing/pictures The 7000 strong crowd caused a major traffic jam, trampled crops and left a ton of garbage behind. The farm has been closed to the public since then. CRACKED.COM

Social Media and Mental Health

10:29 ... F-Mobile in g+ f LinkedIn Google+ Twitter Facebook t P Myspace Tumblr Instagram GIVE SOCIAL MEDIA Pinterest V meeting a Meature Flickr A BREAK. An v g Vimeo Google Extensive social media users are more at risk of depression and anxiety, especially young adults. Instagram particularly was ranked WORST CRACKED COM FOR YOUNG PEOPLE'S MENTAL HEALTH by the Royal Society for Public Health, with reports of low body image being common.

Cops Using Facebook

Cops have been heavily relying on Facebook since as far back as 2012. 21 In a 2012 survey, among cops who used social media, 80% of them said they use it to investigate crime. NOW YOU KNOW CRACKED.COM

Online Relationships

Almost half of relationships (in America) begin online. CRACKED.COM 40 percent of people say that their relationship began online in one form or another, whether that be dating apps like Tinder, or social media like Facebook.

Rue Crémieux’s Instagram Problem

The residents of Rue Crémieux in Paris have urged the local council to close their street on evenings and weekends due to all the visitors looking for perfect Instagram shots that ended up disrupting their daily lives. CRACKED COM A local even set up Instagram and Twitter accounts to document visitors doing cringey poses and dance videos.

DIY Baby Formula Recipes

Pediatricians on TikTok are urging people to stop sharing 'dangerous' DIY baby formula recipes. TikTok CRACKED.COM Some videos promoting at-home formulas called for hemp seeds, pitted dates, vanilla and goat milk as an alternative. All of these ор- tions can be potentially harmful to infants, accord- ing to doctors.

Setting Mirrors on Fire

CRACKED TERRIBLE NETTRENDS SETTING YOUR BATHROOM (AND YOURSELF) ON FIRE A 13-year-old got very bad burns while trying to copy a TikTok video where someone draws a shape on a mirror with a flammable liquid and then sets it on fire. She had to have multiple skin graft surgeries, and now has long-term mobility problems.

Grindr

Grindr was caught sharing users' HIV statuses with third-party developers. + - AIV Grindr's response was Grindr is a public forum, and it encouraged people to carefully consider what information to include in your profile. They figured they needn't ask you whether it's OK to share your info, even if said info includes sensitive stuff like There's a feared virus in my body. CRACKED.COM

A.I. Judges

CRACKED ChatGPT AW ADAPTING TO NEW TECH CHATGPT JUDGING CASES A judge in Colombia caused a stir by using ChatGPT to decide if an autistic child's insurance should cover all of their medical expenses. This sparked a debate about using Al in court, with some (some!) of the judge's colleagues voicing their disapproval.

Emojis

AW ADAPTING TO NEW TECH RECOGNIZING EMOJI AS DEFAMATORY SPEECH In Australia, the court decided in Burrows V Houda that using a zipper- face emoji in a particular situation amounted to saying something defamatory. This was the first case of its kind in Australia and, uh, it says a lot about the law getting weird. CRACKED

Zoom

AW ADAPTING TO NEW TECH MAKING YOUR WILL OVER ZOOM The UK government has made it legal to make a will using video chat. This new law came into effect in September 2020 and was announced to be retroactively valid starting zoom January 31, 2020. CRACKED

A.I. Litigation

AW ADAPTING TO NEW TECH AUTOMATE EVERYTHING USING Al. In 2019, a court in Beijing set up an online litigation center that uses Al technology. It can record people's testimony using voice recognition, look at case materials, and check information from databases quickly. CRACKED

CancerLocator

CancerLocator can detect cancer AND determine where in the body the cancer is located with just a blood test Developed by UCLA researchers, the computer program can detect early stage cancers with 80 percent accuracy! GRACKED.COM

EchoPixel

30 Ways the Digital World Actually Affects the Physical World

Hololens

30 Ways the Digital World Actually Affects the Physical World

Kuri

Meet Kuri This little robot will wake you in time for work, greet you when you come home, patrol while you're away, and even send a notice to your phone if the dog is on the couch. Не responds to touch, sight, and sound. He's yours for $699 and is coming this year. CRACKED.COM

Facial Recognition

Face recognition can now be used as an authentication method to pay for your goods and it has already been adopted in many applications and businesses in china. CRACKED.COM

Colossal Biosciences

The CIA is investing in technology to resurrect the Wooly Mammoth. CRACKED.COM Colossal Biosciences, which aims to return the beasts to the tundra once again, has investors like Peter Thiel, Tony Robbins, Paris Hilton, Winklevoss Capital, and yes, the Cen- tral Intelligence Agency.

Goal-Line Technology

GAME-RUINING INNOVATIONS GOAL-LINE TECHNOLOGY BRT SPORT PART FIFA only started using goal-line technology in 2014, after some resistance, even though it eliminates human error in determining if a goal was scored. Turns out, for some people, referee fallibility was part of what made the game so emotional and unpredictable. CRACKED

Phantom Vibration

THERE IS AN OFFICIAL NAME FOR WHEN YOU THINK YOU FEEL YOUR PHONE VIBRATING IN YOUR POCKET. SAMSUNG CRACKED.COM Phantom Vibration Syndrome is the name for when someone thinks their phone is vibrating, but it isn't. The name might be new, but these kinds of phantom twitches happen regularly, it's only now that we have a device that is always with us to blame them on.

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