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

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✍️ 95 stories

“Das entfernte Problem” by T MM

Submitted to Contest #82

Dad passed down the problem like a reluctant inheritance. Along with my dark green eyes, frail build, and insomnia, I was left with what he named the ‘entfernte Problem’—which awkwardly translated from German meant the distant problem; because even then, nineteen years ago, he knew he would never live to see it solved, that it was innately and irrevocably distant from his attainment. His father, my grandfather, had died during the Vietnam war, so my grandmother packed up her children—at the time my dad, age two; Aunt Lydia, age four; and Unc...

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“And That's When She Started Cussing” by Trina Runner

Submitted to Contest #82

It's not like she's old. At 55 she has proven to be perfectly capable of lots of things. She's got a Master's degree, for Christ’s sake. She has been a leader in her field, raised amazing children, volunteered in her community. She never used to cuss. She used to laugh at herself when her kids had to help her download an app or figure out how to use her car navigator. It was, after all, supposed to be helping her. Her students began to say she had an "Amish Vortex" because devices did weird things around ...

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“And The Fool Shall Be Servant” by David Mowry

Submitted to Contest #82

“This is Fleet Captain Ralston. All ships report in.”I’m not a fan of technology. Let me rephrase that. I’m okay with technology in general, what with it currently being the only thing between me and the vacuum of space. However, I think that even a cursory glance through human history shows that, rather than solving our problems, it just lets us be humans faster and more efficiently than ever before. Sometimes that’s good, I suppose. Other times, not so much.Take for instance, my current situation. I’m the...

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“Junior Taptap” by Alex Fry

Submitted to Contest #82

A patient in the paranoia ward reevaluated her entire situation. She concluded that her three sons, Randy, Marcus, and Errol, would come in, at any point shortly, and force her to swill liquid mercury out of a live frog’s jaw. After being drugged, with her permission, by men with blue clothes and black socks, she spent the afternoon taking a quiet rest. Her words exactly before passing to her dream state: “I don’t wish to remember. I wish to sing alongside Pavarotti.” The workers of the ward, mostly the unpaid interns...

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“It's Hard Without a Debit Card” by Atabey Albert

Submitted to Contest #82

It was never easy keeping track of everything at once: your appointments, maybe your kids if you have any, your money, your family, friends, birthdays, even the days of the week can slip us by at times. It's especially hard for someone like me who has terrible memory loss and can't even remember my age when being asked at the liquor store. I'm just kidding(no I'm not) but for real, there's no denying I need constant assistance to accomplish everything I need to get done. There's just one problem: I'm a HUGE technophobe. I don't trust the new...

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“The A/B Test” by Brendan Doyle

Submitted to Contest #82

Sometimes Freddy liked being fat. One time at a bar, a girl had started patting his stomach repeatedly, as if she was petting a furry animal. He had been prepared to ask her for her number, but a guy showed up in a suit and tie who turned out to be her boyfriend. Freddy had finished his basket of chicken wings in silence and gone home alone, the memory of the woman’s fingertips still fresh. In 2020, as the COVID quarantine stretched into months, Freddy lost the last bit of motivation he had to stay in some semblance of shape;...

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“Lacey and Gran (VERY SHORT STORY)” by Sammy Xoxoxo

Submitted to Contest #82

Lillie stood on the large rock, her hand shaking. If you were there, you wouldn't be able to tell if it was from fear or from the cold. Maybe both. She stood upon the large rock, looking down at the fields below her. This was supposed to be her happy place. The large rock in the middle of the cornfields at her grandparents farm, where she could see everything, where she could feel like she was in control. But as she stood on the rock, she felt anything but happy. She was petrified. She was frozen in time. She was 16, but she felt like she wa...

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“Contacts” by Sara Blanch

Submitted to Contest #82

I know I should have been excited about this opportunity...but all I feel is this nauesous mix of anguish and trepidation with the slightest flicker of guilt. Although I have been told numerous times by my parents, siblings, colleagues...and even the head of the Elvish court that I deserve this and that I am a hero to our nation, I cannot help but feel undeserving. So what that I was injured in combat? So what that the unnatural and barbaric weapons of the mortal world had injured another Elf? Hundreds of elves are injured everyday on t...

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“Finding Mark” by Daryl Price

Submitted to Contest #82

“It’s just to help me sleep better, so it can’t be that bad.” Cynthia said out loud as she was carefully pruning her tomato plants. She had been growing her own food for over a decade now, and her hands flowed like a well-choreographed dance as she trimmed. Still, her thoughts weren’t on her current task. She had a black box in her bedroom that she was dreading opening. For the last three years, Cynthia had been plagued by the same nightmare. She would fall asleep fine, but then wake in a sweat and a panic. Mark, Cynthia’s husband, went mi...

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“Remember” by Zavier Watt

Submitted to Contest #82

Peter sat at the table, an orange glow flickered on his wrinkled face. He stared at two candles that began to melt a bit onto his cake. 62. “Make a wish.” Peter looked to his left, received a smile from a young woman. He looked to his right and received another smile from a young man. Back to the cake. “I wish I knew where I was.” The two young adults looked across the table at each other. A slight nod. “We’re at your birthday party,” The women sniffled, “you’re the big six-two.” William looked at her, squinting his eyes, “And y...

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“It's a good thing, Right?” by Lamb Lost

Submitted to Contest #82

"It's a good thing, Dad," the girl said, buckling her shoulder-crossed seat-belt. She wore a white button up shirt with red details on the collar. "I know, Alice," replied the man to his tall teenage daughter beside him. He wore a reddish brown jacket with a red bow-tie fixed to his collar. He looked through the rear view mirror and caught a glimpse of his younger daughter in the back seat. "Seat-belt, Lizzy." The younger girl complied. She had her hair pulled into a side ponytail with a bright red bow that matched her white and red ...

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“Empty” by Eric Bell

Submitted to Contest #82

Harold gazed across the long infinity pool before him as the sun slipped slowly beneath the horizon. The vivid colors did nothing for him, as he mulled grumpily over the state of the world. How had things gotten so complicated? He reminded himself to lean back, popping his rheumatic spine and trying to relieve the almost century worth of stress and tension that had bent it. The constant pain flared and ebbed with each crack of his joints. It felt better here, felt worse there. He had lear...

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“The Big Fear” by Hanne Christensen

Submitted to Contest #82

Guests were arriving at 1pm which was exactly one hour away. Ted was lying on the floor because his bed was too soft for the kind of thinking he was doing. His laptop was beside him. The carpet was taking a beating from his hands which clenched and unclenched dramatically and with a steady increase in urgency whenever he checked the time on his computer screen. An hour of peace remained and still the paragraph he’d typed yesterday remained unfinished and hopelessly inadequate. You’re a failure. You can’t even write a full paragraph, how coul...

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“'Times, they are changing....'” by Sharon Williams

Submitted to Contest #82

Brenda was sixty-three years old, and did not like change. She had her routine, and preferred to stick to it. For instance, she always had a roast dinner on Sundays, and then on Mondays used the remains of the previous day’s lunch to make a salad. It was irrelevant to her how cold the weather was, Monday’s were salad days. She approached everything in the same way, household chores were performed in strict rotation, and telephone calls to her extended family were always made on Wednesday evenings. Even her conversations followed a set patter...

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“The Exact Recount of Half a Story” by Steven Nguyen

Submitted to Contest #82

On the morning of a day not so particular, Z woke up with not just a glee, nor just any variety of contentment that made him doubt himself whether or not he deserved it, but an unadulterated happiness. Something that some indeterminate time ago, Z never thought was possible.In truth, Z had always been apathetic towards technology, quite strangely so, because he worked so closely with all the useful features and convenience such technological advances provided and when one chanced to ask Z, all he would say was that he made a stupid promise t...

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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

“Das entfernte Problem” by T MM

“And That's When She Started Cussing” by Trina Runner

“And The Fool Shall Be Servant” by David Mowry

“Junior Taptap” by Alex Fry

“It's Hard Without a Debit Card” by Atabey Albert

“The A/B Test” by Brendan Doyle

“Lacey and Gran (VERY SHORT STORY)” by Sammy Xoxoxo

“Contacts” by Sara Blanch

“Finding Mark” by Daryl Price

“Remember” by Zavier Watt

“It's a good thing, Right?” by Lamb Lost

“Empty” by Eric Bell

“The Big Fear” by Hanne Christensen

“'Times, they are changing....'” by Sharon Williams

“The Exact Recount of Half a Story” by Steven Nguyen

🌟 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: