It was year 2045.
I was a freshman in college when the government of the United States decided they needed to better handle and maintain society.
A once utopic population had become filled with sinners who seldom obeyed the Ten Commandments.
The US Census Bureau reported that marriage rates had dropped a whopping 78 percent. With the increase of websites and apps like Tinder and Bumble, boys and girls were solely participating in sexual encounters rather than genuine relationship.
The government was sensing that the porn industry was gaining too much popularity after their recent addition of holographics. So.... year 2045 became:
- The year that the government banned ALL porn websites.
- The year that dating apps and sites like Match.com dissolved.
- Having Bumble or Tinder became a federal offense.
- The year that the government promised to expose any married person who attempted to cheat.
My first encounter with this new law involved my roommate and her family. The government set up fake websites, hoping to catfish individuals. The catch? Facial-recognition. A technology setting many believed was only used to unlock their iPhones. Not a tool used towards the governments advantage to incriminate people.
When my roommate's dad signed up for A Night With Andrea, the government used the camera on his iPhone to pair his face with his identity. Although her dad used a fake name while registering, it did not matter. He was a married man caught red handed. The government each morning would publicly broadcast and humiliate these so called “criminals” on the news.
The fate was the same for those who attempted on other devices such as computers. My roommate's father was taken away to jail. At the time they did not know where or for how long. Families were broken up as mothers and fathers were taken away from their children. The only piece of information my roommate's family was given consisted of a note stating: By taking him away, the world will become a better place. However, that was far from the truth.
My second encounter was a smaller one.
The following week was spring break and I decided to head home to get away from all the madness on campus. My 15 year old brother Teagan was a wreck. I thought he just may have had a rough day at school, but was later corrected at dinner. My mom explained to me Teagan has been especially antsy since the new law. I then put the two and two together. No porn lead to extreme frustration for my little brother and he was not the only one.
The law had been in place for nearly three weeks and its widespread effects were beginning to be seen.
I walked down the stairs for breakfast and saw my mom and dad's faces glued to the television screen. They surely announced that I would NOT be going back to school for the time being. Confusion swarmed my mind and I looked at the television screen for answers. The screen read: PROTESTS. GOVERNMENT DENYING THOUSANDS OF RAPE ACCUSATIONS.
It then switched to an interview of a lady in hysterics. She was explaining how she had been raped in the past week in addition to all of the ladies petitioning in front of her. The government at the time did not realize that this law would lead to an explosion of sexual violence and assault cases. These outbreaks were not only happening all over college campuses but around the country as more and more women began to confess.
The government's response? Calling them all LIARS. They did not want to take the blame and only hoped to silence the negative press against the new law. And that is exactly what happened for weeks because the government is never in the wrong… right?
I could not stay out of school forever and eventually it was time to go back... I was petrified. I knew that the stories the women were saying on the news were true. I thought to myself, how is this promoting relationships? The last thing I wanted to do was go on a date with someone else. I was scared to go to fraternity parties and bars. Trust across the country rapidly diminished. Males and females kept a fair distance away from each other. Every restaurant, classroom, store, and even sides of the sidewalk became segregated based on sex. What the government had wanted, a perfect world filled with perfect utopic relationships, had turned into a nightmare. The government did their best to silence those in opposition with the law but eventually failed. Although it was not for months later, the law was finally appealed.
So...I am now 55, happily married with two kids.
For awhile many feared revisiting porn and dating websites.
Last week the US Census Bureau stated that marriage rates are at an all time high and are only continuing to rise. More importantly, the 2080 World Happiness Report ranked the United States as number one.
...My daughter went on her first date yesterday. What happened in year 2045 is never talked about today.
It is merely a memory drifting in cyberspace; a piece of history that exists but is anonymously gone. I wrote this piece not to scare my children or those who may read it, but so we never forget our past and the powerful effects the internet had and can have on our society
Check out my other friend's websites!!