11% of Brits Think One Star Trek Invention Is Coming Soon — and It Could Transform Social Media

Apparently 11% of Brits think we are about a decade away from having Star Trek-style holograms hanging out in the living room. Honestly? That does not feel as wild as it used to.

Where this prediction is coming from

The Mirror says a new Vodafone-backed survey found that roughly one in ten people in the UK expect to see proper at-home holograms within ten years. Not just shiny AR filters either — we are talking full-size avatars of your friends and family popping up in your space. About 11% say they expect exactly that.

So what are people expecting next?

AI expert Dan Sodergren, working with Vodafone on the survey, laid out a near-future timeline that reads like a pitch deck for your smart home:

• In about two years: AI becomes an 'invisible home assistant' — always on, mostly ambient, and not something you consciously summon.
• Within the decade: AI concierges track your household supplies and reorder stuff before you even ask.
• Home entertainment: holographic and AR experiences delivered either through glasses or projectors built into your TV setup.
• Social time: life-size holographic avatars of friends and family for long-distance hangouts.
• Robots: moving beyond basic automation to learn your routines and quietly handle the daily grind.
• Content: more immersive, more personalised, and increasingly AI-curated.

'Robots will soon evolve beyond simple automation to act as adaptive home help - anticipating needs, learning our routines and taking on the tasks that quietly keep a home running. Entertainment will also shift, becoming more immersive and personalised, from holographic experiences to AI-curated viewing.'

Quick Trek refresher: how holograms actually work in-universe

In Star Trek, holograms are photonic projections that use light, energy, and force fields to create three-dimensional people and places you can physically interact with. That combo is how Voyager pulls off the Emergency Medical Hologram (the EMH), which is basically a doctor made of photons and attitude.

The big playground for all this is the holodeck, which Starfleet ships use for training, therapy, and the occasional noir murder mystery. Over on Deep Space Nine, Quark rents out holosuites to paying customers for... all sorts of activities. Use your imagination.

A little Trek history trivia

Most folks associate holodecks with The Next Generation because TNG used them constantly. But the concept actually showed up earlier: Star Trek: The Animated Series introduced a 'recreation room' in the episode 'The Practical Joker' (Season 2, Episode 3). Gene Roddenberry had even wanted a version of it in TOS Season 3, but the budget said 'absolutely not.'

And about Strange New Worlds

The newer shows like Strange New Worlds have had fun with holodeck-adjacent storytelling. One episode sticks La'An in a reality-bending scenario that plays like a simulation-driven mystery. To be clear, SNW is set before Starfleet officially has holodecks, so it is more of a clever narrative riff than a literal holodeck scene — but the vibe is very much in the same sandbox.

Are we actually ten years away?

Between the money pouring into AI, AR glasses getting less goofy by the year, and projectors shrinking while getting smarter, the idea of life-size, at-home holograms goes from sci-fi to 'yeah, I can see that.' Eleven percent might sound small, but it only takes a few killer consumer products to make everyone else a convert.

All Star Trek series are streaming on Paramount+ in the U.S. If we get holodecks by 2035, I call dibs on Moriarty night.