The Bill Gates '30 Years' meme captures the ironic disconnect between early technological optimism and the actual state of the modern internet. It features a quote from a younger Bill Gates expressing excitement about the 'great and exciting' things people would accomplish with personal computers three decades into the future. Users typically pair this earnest quote with a secondary image showing the absurd, trivial, or degenerate ways we actually use our advanced hardware today—such as doom-scrolling, creating deepfakes, or arguing with strangers. It has become a staple for 'Expectation vs. Reality' jokes within the tech community, highlighting how humanity’s greatest tools are often used for our most ridiculous impulses.