Write about a technophobe who’s been given a device to solve a problem they’ve struggled with for years, but isn't sure how they feel about it.

Posted in Character on Oct 26, 2022

Submissions are closed

Sorry, we are not accepting submissions for this prompt as it is not part of an active contest. Make sure you don't miss our next contest by creating your free Reedsy Prompts account.

Or create a new Reedsy account:

Why not check out our active contest?

✍️ 95 stories

“Unraveled” by L. McRoy

Submitted to Contest #82

I didn’t mean to destroy the piano. I blamed most of it on the weather. It was a hot summer for New York. Heat made people angry. Of course, celebrations still raged. The war had just ended. Deaf in one ear from a riding accident, I had avoided the draft. But I wasn’t celebrating. I had one more exam before I graduated from Juilliard. One last exam. Not written. Not oral. Audible. The piece was Ravel. My last act, and for good reason. Ravel was hard. Hardest piece on earth. And though I did not lack talent,...

5 comments 5

Read story

“The reluctant student” by NK Hatendi

Submitted to Contest #82

Our local second-hand charity shop was packed to the brim after the first Covid-19 lockdown when everyone seemed to have been watching TV programmes on decluttering and decided to clean out their homes. People had emptied their knickknacks and dumped them in heaps of black dustbin bags and assorted cardboard boxes at the shop entrance. Inside, the place looked like a junkyard cum hoarders' cabin. Anything and everything was strewn on the floor. I waded through the rows and, surprisingly, found nothing of genuine interest. The ladies behind t...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Hello Future” by Josephine Andersen

Submitted to Contest #82

Hello FutureIt all started with a cat’s whisker. They gathered around in the sitting room waiting for it to begin.It was cold and near to freezing outside, the 14th November 1922.“Sit quietly now,” the father said. The mother and three children sat quietly because they were about to hear something for the first time. They all had earphones on and all eyes were on a small wooden box. On the top of the box sat a coil with twists. There was a galena chrystal and something called a diode and most important of all, there was a cat’s wh...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Forgiveness” by Kala Aquamarine

Submitted to Contest #82

It was all my fault. People always say to stop looking at the past and focus on the present, but if you were me you would spend every waking hour thinking what you could have done. About eight years ago my older sister, Scarlet, built something revolutionary. Scarlet had been studying for years and years about time and how time is relative. She had also heard on the news that scientists had discovered time particles, making it theoretically possible to travel in time. Scarlet had so many plans for if she ever figured out to build a time mach...

3 comments 3

Read story

“Running Totals” by Tanja Cilia

Submitted to Contest #82

“I want you to have this!” she said. I undid the bow and opened the shoebox. I eased out the gift inside. It was something full of bells and whistles; a thingamabob between a Fidget Box that is given to those inclined to stim, and Ziggy, the Supercomputer of Quantum Leap. “Will it bite?” She laughed. “What does this do? And this? And this?” “That is for you to find out…” She smiled, and took her leave, not even staying for coffee or ice-cream. I was one big mess. I had a list of ailments and conditions as lo...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Now You See Me, Now You Don't” by April Rawlins

Submitted to Contest #82

The table was beautiful. They had all of my favorite colors. The balloons were pastel green and pink. The cake was the same with beads of pearl frosting along the edges and my name spelled elegantly in tufts of fluffy cream, “Happy Birthday Norma”. I was 80 years old today, and if I could have said I had a great life, I’d say it was mostly true. However, parts of it were not great. The candles flickered. They spared me from having to blow out so many. Instead of eighty single candles they opted for a giant single eight and a giant single z...

0 comments 0

Read story

“After The Blood Has Stilled” by Kas Reidva

Submitted to Contest #82

It used to be easy, keeping track of the things that mattered. For many years Jason Mnemosyne boasted good-naturedly to his family and friends about never forgetting an appointment or a birthday. He remembers snorting mockingly when others admitted to needing a pesky calendar or, heavens forbid, a cell phone to help them remember. Oh how he laughed in the privacy of his own mind, never thinking that such a day would come his way. And yet it had. He first started to notice it a...

7 comments 7

Read story

“Sam, the Artificial Intelligence Therapist” by Angela Van De Pol

Submitted to Contest #82

Noel had been depressed almost all his life. He had accepted it as it was. He would never be happy; that’s just how he was programmed. He did apply for therapy, but with the current society, depression, loneliness, anxiety, insomnia, addiction, borderline, bipolar disorders, and hyperactive disorders were so common that the waiting list would take over a year. Especially if you’re not suicidal, you’re not a “crisis” case, so there was no way of getting help sooner. One more year of being depressed, that’s doable. However, will the therapy wo...

6 comments 6

Read story

“Infinite Scroll ” by Scott Skinner

Submitted to Contest #82

In a compact parking spot in the East lot, Hamilton sits in his car and waits for me to exit Central California’s Women Facility (CCWF), the female-only prison where I’ve just finished serving fifteen years on drug trafficking charges. It’s February 22, 2021. The newspaper tells me that America’s passed five-hundred thousand Coronavirus deaths; that is grim, and I’m also a seventy-year-old felon; a friendless widow with only a son to love. The facts are hopeless, and I might feel the same if it wasn’t my release date, if my son wasn’t waitin...

4 comments 4

Read story

“At what cost?” by Yvone Mthembu

Submitted to Contest #82

Tim wasn't sure whether to thank Walton or lecture him about the carbon footprint.Last night he promised to give him a solution which will ensure he work from home and only travel when it is really necessary and he promised that they'd be able to speak on a daily basis and he won't have to go to Molly's to be able to talk him.He felt an invisible weight leave his body.Tim loves nature ,he was sure if he was President he'd solely focus on decreasing our carbon footprint drastically.He lived way outside the City in a bungalow hidden by tall tr...

6 comments 6

Read story

“The Wrong Way” by Jerry DeFranco

Submitted to Contest #82

I remember the sunset in my office window on the final night of my career. I was thinking how thankful I was that a dirty blue-collar guy like myself had such a perfect view, that is, until the machine ended the day for me. It was attached to me. It tagged me like an animal. Back then if you wanted to drive your car, you had your phone’s GPS to tell you where to go, but if you wanted to drive a truck, the Electronic Logging Device told you where to go, where to eat, where to sleep, where to piss, and most importantly, how much money you were...

1 comment 1

Read story

“How to Race” by Rhonda Allen

Submitted to Contest #82

HOW TO RACE As he woke, he could feel his pulse racing, he could still hear the cheers from his dream as he crossed the finish line. It was only a dream, he had never crossed the finish line when he raced, well not when he raced using his legs. He reached up, grabbing the bar that hung down from the ceiling and pulled himself up, then reached to the side of his bed to position his wheelchair, he moved his legs off the bed, and swung his body around in one swift move "ready to roll" he hollered. Just then his mom appeared "I thought I ...

2 comments 2

Read story

“Paper Money or Plastic Card?” by Rajesh Patel

Submitted to Contest #82

I am a 70-year-old man. I am retired. I live alone. My name is Gilbert Alphonso. I was born at the end of World War I. I have always been more of a concrete person than the abstract, digital or technological. I hate computers. Tell me to build a mechanical equipment. I will do it for you. Anything about cars, plumbing, house renovations…I will get it done. Today, I had to wait in line for almost an hour at my local bank before I was served by a teller. When finally, my turn came, the young lady told me that the bank is going through a ...

0 comments 0

Read story

“Snake Oil” by Rich Conti

Submitted to Contest #82

SNAKE OIL By Rich Conti Zelda fell asleep after she wore me out again. I couldn’t fall asleep, although I wanted to. I had to stay awake and think of a way to get away from her and take that damned gadget with me. How was I supposed to know any of the things worked? They were just gizmos to sell to gullible rubes. The alien I bought them from told me they were children’s toys where he came from. I got the entire shipment cheap. He said he had to get rid of them fast and was happy with my offer. I always wondered why. “Tell your customers the...

3 comments 3

Read story

“An Unwanted Gift” by Melissa Källström

Submitted to Contest #82

Sofia didn’t know how she felt about starting her new school. She had heard things about the way the kids were there, that they were snobby and stuck-up, and that they were as high-tech as they came. She worried most that she would be judged for the way that she was; even at her old school, being old-fashioned like her was not a desirable trait. She knew that it was natural for people her age to be interested in all the modern things, although she had no idea why. She thought it safe to assume the reason she turned out this way was because s...

2 comments 2

Read story

Load more stories

🌟 Similar prompts

Your character has just realized the app they’ve been developing has become self-aware. How do they react?

Science Fiction – 74 stories

Write a historical fiction story about someone working at a company that helped revolutionize early computers.

Historical Fiction – 17 stories

Write a near-future thriller where a piece of everyday technology has turned against your character — and only your character.

Thriller and Suspense – 130 stories

Write about an android just trying to blend in with their human companions.

Science Fiction – 221 stories

Contest #82

Enter our weekly contest!

This week's theme: How App-ropriate

$50

Prize money

537

Contest entries

0

Stories

Ended on 23:59 - Feb 26, 2021 EST

Won by Cyndy Reads 🏆

Title: ALN23061912RK

View details

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

We'll send you 5 prompts each week. Respond with your short story and you could win $250!

Menu

CONNECT

BLOG

APPS

TOOLS

ABOUT

Write about a technophobe who’s been given a device to solve a problem they’ve struggled with for years, but isn't sure how they feel about it.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 95 stories

“Unraveled” by L. McRoy

“The reluctant student” by NK Hatendi

“Hello Future” by Josephine Andersen

“Forgiveness” by Kala Aquamarine

“Running Totals” by Tanja Cilia

“Now You See Me, Now You Don't” by April Rawlins

“After The Blood Has Stilled” by Kas Reidva

“Sam, the Artificial Intelligence Therapist” by Angela Van De Pol

“Infinite Scroll ” by Scott Skinner

“At what cost?” by Yvone Mthembu

“The Wrong Way” by Jerry DeFranco

“How to Race” by Rhonda Allen

“Paper Money or Plastic Card?” by Rajesh Patel

“Snake Oil” by Rich Conti

“An Unwanted Gift” by Melissa Källström

🌟 Similar prompts

Your character has just realized the app they’ve been developing has become self-aware. How do they react?

Write a historical fiction story about someone working at a company that helped revolutionize early computers.

Write a near-future thriller where a piece of everyday technology has turned against your character — and only your character.

Write about an android just trying to blend in with their human companions.

Contest #82

Enter our weekly contest!

$50

Prize money

537

Contest entries

0

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: