The Dream Paradox: Why You Can’t Read Text or See Your Real Face in the Mirror

One of the most prominent absences in contemporary dreaming is the mobile phone. While we spend hours daily interacting with these devices, analyses of tens of thousands of reported dreams show that cell phones appear in a minuscule fraction of them—significantly less often than older technologies like cars. Scientists attribute this striking omission to the "threat simulation" hypothesis, which posits that dreams function as a defense mechanism, allowing the brain to rehearse responses to potential dangers. Historically, threats involved predators, storms, or hostile encounters. Since the mobile phone has only existed for a brief evolutionary blink, the human mind has not yet categorized it as a survival-critical element. Therefore, the brain does not prioritize its representation in the defensive narratives of our dream states, resulting in its near-total disappearance compared to more ancient and survival-relevant content.