What would it feel like to travel decades into the future, where people and technology will surely be much more different and advanced?

A short documentary created by Al Jazeera was able to give us a glimpse of what that might actually feel like, all through the eyes of Otis Johnson.

In August 2014, Johnson, who was 69-years-old at the time, was released after 44 years in prison. Though happy to have finally obtained his freedom, he soon realized that the world he rejoined was drastically different from the one he had left behind decades ago.

Johnson was 25-years-old when he went to jail in 1975 for assault on a police officer. “My re-entry was a little bit hard at first because things had changed,” he says in the video.

Standing in the middle of New York’s Times Square, he shared what mesmerized him the most.

“I saw that the majority of people was talking to themselves,” he said. “Then I looked closer and they seemed to have things in their ears.” To him, they looked like CIA agents.

Even the grocery stores fascinated him, and he revealed that he tries all the “crazy stuff,” including “funny” TV dinners and “the gator stuff” (Gatorade).

But despite his past, — and his current state of ‘culture shock’ — Johnson is staying positive.

“You’ve got to let things go, because holding onto anger will only stagnate your growth and development,” he says. “I try not to go backward. I try to go forward. That’s how I survive in society.”

See the full six-minute documentary here: