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370 BCE
Phaedrus was written by Plato
This is the earliest known critique of writing by Plato stating that writing would produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn it -
1401
Coffee
throughout the 1500s, different schools of thought began to shun coffee for various reasons — the drink was thought to induce a form of drunkenness, and coffeehouses were considered meeting centers for reactionaries. Some even suggested it was causing common diseases. https://www.insider.com/inventions-that-were-ridiculed-2016-8#coffee-2 -
Telephone
When Alexander Graham Bell sent his invention to Western Union to see if they wanted to use it, they were very unimpressed. “The idea is idiotic on the face of it,” bustle.com/articles/67753-12-modern-inventions-that-were-met-with-severe-criticism-and-definitely-proved-the-skeptics-wrong -
Light Bulbs
"A British Parliament Committee noted in 1878 that Edison's light bulb was "good enough for our Transatlantic friends... but unworthy of the attention of practical or scientific men." Similarly, a chief engineer for the British Post Office said that the "subdivision of the electric light is an absolute ignis fatuus." In other words, a fairy tale. A sham. " https://www.insider.com/inventions-that-were-ridiculed-2016-8#light-bulbs-1 -
Education
"As literacy became essential and schools were widely introduced, the curmudgeons turned against education for being unnatural and a risk to mental health. An 1883 article in the weekly medical journal the Sanitarian argued that schools “exhaust the children’s brains and nervous systems with complex and multiple studies, and ruin their bodies by protracted imprisonment.” Meanwhile, excessive study was considered a leading cause of madness by the medical community." -
Radio
"When radio arrived, we discovered yet another scourge of the young: The wireless was accused of distracting children from reading and diminishing performance in school, both of which were now considered to be appropriate and wholesome." https://slate.com/technology/2010/02/a-history-of-media-technology-scares-from-the-printing-press-to-facebook.html -
Airplanes
In 1911, Ferdinand Foch, a French general and Allied Commander during World War I, said, "Airplanes are interesting scientific toys, but they are of no military value." https://www.insider.com/inventions-that-were-ridiculed-2016-8#airplanes-and-fighter-jets-3 -
Personal Computers
"For a time, people feared computers." "The Atlantic found that computerphobia popped up in magazines in the 1980s. But aside from the outlandish fears, people also treated owning and using a personal computer the same way you'd learn an instrument — as a chore." https://www.insider.com/inventions-that-were-ridiculed-2016-8#airplanes-and-fighter-jets-3 -
Online Shopping
Time magazine managed to be both very wrong and very rude when they predicted that shopping from home wouldn’t go anywhere in 1966. “Remote shopping, while entirely feasible, will flop — because women like to get out of the house, like to handle merchandise, like to be able to change their minds.” https://www.bustle.com/articles/67753-12-modern-inventions-that-were-met-with-severe-criticism-and-definitely-proved-the-skeptics-wrong