Ten Things That Will Disappear In Our Lifetime

This is USA oriented, but Canada & the rest will not be far behind. Whether these changes are good or bad depends in part on how we adapt to them. But, ready or not, here they come.


1. The Post Office
Get ready to imagine a world without the post office. They are so deeply in financial trouble that there is probably no way to sustain it long term. Email, Fed Ex, and UPS have just about wiped out the minimum revenue needed to keep the post office alive. Most of your mail every day is junk mail and bills.


2. The Check
Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with check by 2018. It costs the financial system billions of dollars a year to process checks. Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of the check. This plays right into the death of the post office. If you never paid your bills by mail and never received them by mail, the post office would absolutely go out of business.

3. The Newspaper
The younger generation simply doesn't read the newspaper. They certainly don't subscribe to a daily delivered print edition. That may go the way of the milkman and the laundry man. As for reading the paper online, get ready to pay for it. The rise in mobile Internet devices and e-readers has caused all the newspaper and magazine publishers to form an alliance. They have met with Apple, Amazon, and the major cell phone companies to develop a model for paid subscription services.

4. The Book
You say you will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand and turn the literal pages I said the same thing about downloading music from iTunes. I wanted my hard copy CD. But I quickly changed my mind when I discovered that I could get albums for half the price without ever leaving home to get the latest music. The same thing will happen with books. You can browse a bookstore online and even read a preview chapter before you buy. And the price is less than half that of a real book. And think of the convenience! Once you start flicking your fingers on the screen instead of the book, you find that you are lost in the story, can't wait to see what happens next, and you forget that you're holding a gadget instead of a book.

5. The Land Line Telephone
Unless you have a large family and make a lot of local calls, you don't need it anymore. Most people keep it simply because they've always had it. But you are paying double charges for that extra service. All the cell phone companies will let you call customers using the same cell provider for no charge against your minutes.

6. Music
This is one of the saddest parts of the change story. The music industry is dying a slow death. Not just because of illegal downloading. It's the lack of innovative new music being given a chance to get to the people who would like to hear it. Greed and corruption is the problem. The record labels and the radio conglomerates are simply self-destructing. Over 40% of the music purchased today is "catalogue items," meaning traditional music that the public is familiar with. Older established artists. This is also true on the live concert circuit. To explore this fascinating and disturbing topic further, check out the book, "Appetite for Self-Destruction" by Steve Knopper, and the video documentary, "Before the Music Dies."


7. Television Revenues
To the networks are down dramatically. Not just because of the economy. People are watching TV and movies streamed from their computers. And they're playing games and doing lots of other things that take up the time that used to be spent watching TV. Prime time shows have degenerated down to lower than the lowest common denominator. Cable rates are skyrocketing and commercials run about every 4 minutes and 30 seconds. I say good riddance to most of it. It's time for the cable companies to be put out of our misery. Let the people choose what they want to watch online and through Netflix.

8. The "Things" That You Own
Many of the very possessions that we used to own are still in our lives, but we may not actually own them in the future. They may simply reside in "the cloud." Today your computer has a hard drive and you store your pictures, music, movies, and documents. Your software is on a CD or DVD, and you can always re-install it if need be. But all of that is changing. Apple, Microsoft, and Google are all finishing up their latest "cloud services." That means that when you turn on a computer, the Internet will be built into the operating system. So, Windows, Google, and the Mac OS will be tied straight into the Internet. If you click an icon, it will open something in the Internet cloud. If you save something, it will be saved to the cloud. And you may pay a monthly subscription fee to the cloud provider. In this virtual world, you can access your music or your books, or your whatever from any laptop or handheld device. That's the good news. But, will you actually own any of this "stuff" or will it all be able to disappear at any moment in a big "Poof?" Will most of the things in our lives be disposable and whimsical? It makes you want to run to the closet and pull out that photo album, grab a book from the shelf, or open up a CD case and pull out the insert.

9. Joined Handwriting (Cursive Writing)
Already gone in some schools who no longer teach "joined handwriting" because nearly everything is done now on computers or keyboards of some type (pun not intended)

10. Privacy
If there ever was a concept that we can look back on nostalgically, it would be privacy. That's gone. It's been gone for a long time anyway.. There are cameras on the street, in most of the buildings, and even built into your computer and cell phone. But you can be sure that 24/7, "They" know who you are and where you are, right down to the GPS coordinates, and the Google Street View. If you buy something, your habit is put into a zillion profiles, and your ads will change to reflect those habits.. "They" will try to get you to buy something else. Again and again.



All we will have left that can't be changed are "Memories".

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Thirty characters. Exactly...

You mean the Milkman with the horse-drawn
ice-truck won't come around anymore?

He used to let us kids ride back up the street. We lived on a dead-end.

Sure, now it's a cul-de-sac.

It is the music I would miss. I have about 650 cassettes and 130 CDs,most of it is 60s and 70s. TV I do watch some of the cable channels History,A&E etc. The newspapers in my area are very thin and some towns only have a weekly paper. Sometimes change is not always good.

This reminds me somewhat of articles I've read about how things would be in the future printed in the late 19th century. They made a lot of wrong guess's based on what was "high tech" at the time. Steam powered airships and home telegraphs anyone?

It is a sure thing the future will be different but to know in exactly what way you'll just have to wait and see.

Remember those predictions about working less? They forget the part about less money

But here is the best part- we are finally getting a flying car!!! In about 20 to 30 years maybe...

Sip, I was in our local Kmart a couple of days ago and I walked back to their music section. Guess what? That's right no more CD's. There were still plenty of DVD's though.

You are correct with your list. They are all on the way out or soon will be.

Re: Op. Always fun to engage in a bit of speculation. As to the Post Office, one of the major reasons it is in trouble is the simple fact that political interests hostile to the Postal Workers Union have saddled the USPS with pension requirements designed to destroy the Postal System. Of course fedex, ups, etc., are waiting to siphon off any of the business that they can get... as long as they are not saddled with the same pension requirements. Recon their unions might face the same hostile attention as the PW union?

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<><

I believe music will still be ongoing but it will be local concerts, live bands at gatherings and self published to youtube and similar sights.
One of the things my investment counselor got me into was RIT's of buildings that house clouds. Totally amazing how much of that is going on.

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Front sight and squeeze

It's worse than that. A number of studies have shown that the average American works more than the workers of the other developed countries. Employers here are fixed on trying to accomplish more with fewer employees, for less money, with diminished or eliminated benefits. And I don't mean just replacing workers with automation. Why do you think customer service has gone to hell in this country?

Actually customer service should be added to the OP list.

Sip, I gave the post a like because it was well sritten, but damn, it was discouraging!

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Oh well, what the hell.

We are certainly at a "buggy whip" point with many legacy items. The post office has been losing money since I was born. No great loss there. There needs to be hard copy books and music, or civilization will be greatly compromised when the next huge solar flare happens. Music will always be around but the music business might not be, mores the shame really. But if you think about it, the industry is a 20th century construct

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Even older, even crankier....

As we get older we are even loosing the memories, sometimes I can't remember what I had for breakfast and it's only lunch time.

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Don

My little brother (15) is so upset that they didn't teach him Cursive in school! It's kind of funny, but since I write in cursive and so do both my Dad's parents, he gets mad about letters from them and not being able to read them. He says he won't know the past cuz he can't read it!

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Still just a kid at heart

Thank you oh great sayer of truth.

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It's Alive !!

I was told many years ago that personal computers would give way to
servers who would save and store all personal information.

It seems as is we are almost already there.

I still use checks and mail bills when I can. That allows postal workers to keep their jobs and feed their families.

I know in time that all this will change.

The benefit of land lines is that they have their own power supply.
At least a temporary crutch in the time of a power outage.

Most of us were raised in a much different time with less technology.
It seems we did ok and I hopefully expect the next generation will do the same.

BLM

So what happens when some unexpected cyber-wind blows away the "CLOUD" all your "stuff" was stored in?

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NULLI SECUNDUS

Sip, you are correct, sir. I don't know if all this will happen in my life time but it will happen.

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Quando omni flunkus moritati.

I already store my stuff in the "cloud" that is between my ears. Meh, change is good. At least that's what "they" say. Joe

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Wisdom chases me; I'm faster

Post office - I still regularly use the post office for my business. I can't remember the last time I used the post office for something personal.

Checks - I write one check per month and I probably don't even have to do that. I do almost everything with my debit card now.

Newspaper - Haven't had a physical newspaper in years. I read them online. I do subscribe to online versions when needed so I can stay current with local news.

Books - I have a Kindle. I do still occasionally read a paper book or check out a paper book from the local library. That's getting to be a rare occurrence through as my library now lends Kindle versions of selected titles.

Land line telephone - Dumped that about a year ago and haven't missed it. About the only calls we were getting on the land line were telemarketers anyway. Those who we actually know were already calling our cell phones.

Music - I haven't bought a physical CD in a long time. There is still good, indie music to be found but a person has to look for it. I listen to NPR which introduces new-to-me artists on All Songs Considered. Then I go find their stuff on Amazon or iTunes and download it. The music industry is not sustainable using the current model. It will have to change or die. There is so much money in it that they are loathe to change for fear of killing the cash cow (We'll tell you the name of the game boy, we call it riding the gravy train...). I don't listen to commercial radio stations anymore. Pretty much it's NPR, my iPhone or my mp3 player in the car. I can't stand hearing the same 20 songs on "heavy rotation" being jammed down my throat all day. Blah.

TV and movies - I dumped cable TV along with my land line phone. Haven't missed it in the least. Anything I want to watch is on Netflix or Amazon Instant Video. Commercial Free. The major networks better get hip to this viewing model in a hurry or they will go the way of the major record labels. I now watch what I want, when I want and I am not tied to a schedule.

Stuff we own - Stuff just disappearing from the cloud is already happening. Not long ago Amazon took down something (I can't remember what) at the request of the studio. Oy, people were mad. Whatever it was got put back soon thereafter. I could still see it happening again. We will be (already are?) leasing content rather than purchasing it.

Cursive writing - I'm 46 years old and don't write in cursive. I've never been that good at it. We homeschool our kids through at least 5th grade and make it part of their curriculum. It is not taught in our local schools. One daughter took to it fairly naturally, the other didn't. It's an art form that will stick around like calligraphy. Mostly it's already gone from everyday life.

Privacy - Yeah, it seems like we no longer can have an expectation of privacy. Too bad. Now trying to live off the grid and be left alone invites scrutiny as if a person was a criminal.

I don't care, as long the "Good Humor" man keeps a supply of sidewalk sundaes.

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Why, I aughta.....

I got rid of our land line several years ago. All we got on it were wrong number calls and telemarketers anyway...anyone we know calls us on our cell phones.

I haven't written a check in so long, I don't even recall. I either use my debit card or pay cash at stores, and bills are paid via credit card or automatically drafted.

I have a Kindle, and love it...I can carry so many books on it, and it's so much easier for me than a "real" book. Ironically, my middle son is a throwback...he detests electronic books, and loves hardcovers.

Just about all we get in our mailbox is junk mail. We do get a few things that aren't, but it wouldn't bother me if they ended home delivery and we had to go pick up the mail at the PO. We could go once a week and be fine.

The only CDs I listen to are in the car, and they are mostly old ones. I also listen to the radio in the car, but get annoyed with how little music and how many commercials there are.

I'm considering getting rid of satellite TV as well. The only drawback is my wife loves sports, and we haven't found a way for her to watch the major games (we live in the country, so an antenna is useless.)

If there should be a "mega-EMP' because of a massive solar flare or any other cause. The world is so dependent on computers that what happened to the grandkids pictures & your tax returns stored in "the cloud" will be a very minor problem.

The past is gone forever, and the future is always uncertain. Live in the present and try to be as cheerful as you are naturally supposed to be. The less a person relies on these things, the less they will be missed. Perhaps things will be better and less confusing with them gone into the past where everything on the earth is headed.
Peace,
Gordon

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better have that checked

Steel guns are getting harder to find also.
I hope they don't fade away.

ALL the checks I have written over the last year have been at a gun show to guys who can't take credit cards, and the only trips to the Post Office are to get a PMO to send to someone selling a gun or gun accessory.

I'd love to buy guns in the Classifieds using some other payment method, I pay for other online purchases with a credit card or PayPal.

Can't imagine a world without Music.
They can have the rest.

Chuck

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They hold no Quarter

And The Horse drawn Huckster and the coal truck and the little Italian man with his knife sharpening cart and the Tooti Fruti cart and ......Oh NO Not the Pretzel man too!!!

I will always have a modest library of real books.

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I'm with the banned ...