For example [vaguely]: writer creates a character who behaves like X, despite nobody actually behaving like X in real life. Then characters behaving like X become a wide-ranging trope. People in the real world begin to think it’s normal to behave like X, and subsequently start actually behaving like X themselves.
Any actual examples of this phenomenon happening?
Tricorders
I mean really you could just say Star Trek.
Tablets, wifi/Bluetooth, flip phones, sliding doors, on demand media (QuickTime), speaking to a device and it responds (like OG Google Assistant or Siri), transparent aluminum (Aluminum Oxynitride).
Steve Wozniak was inspired by Star Trek.
Honestly I don’t think any other show has reshaped Earth more than Star Trek.
Tricorders seemed more specific and closer than many of the other stuff featured in the ST universe. Sci-fi definitely gives scientists, inventors, and others plenty of inspiration though!
… How?
Sensors are continually getting better and smaller. Some of this tech may even already be in your phone now! Heart rate sensors, magnetometers, cameras, accelerometers, GPS, barometer, and all sorts of other sensors crammed into your device can feed raw data to apps like Physics Toolbox. There are also widely availableperipherals like air quality sensors, thermal imaging, blood pressure, ECG, etc.
We aren’t too far off from having legit tricorders given the path we are already on, some of it already exists!