The potential economic and societal benefits of emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things is ultimately linked to their adoption and acceptability by a majority of potential users. However, the processes that drive them are rare considerations for research into emerging technologies and are often framed as someone else’s future work. This means challenges and barriers to adoption and acceptability occur only after potentially problematic design patterns have become established, resulting in diminished impact or unintended consequences. In this talk I will illustrate how Design Fiction can be used to go beyond considerations of usability and utility to explore a range of complex societal issues.