Posted on 04/22/2018 6:13:57 AM PDT by sodpoodle
Ten Things That Will Disappear In Our Lifetime
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 and again.
All we will have left that which can't be changed.......are our "Memories".
Logic is dead. Excellence is punished. Mediocrity is rewarded. And dependency is to be revered.. This is present-day North America. When crooks rob banks they go to prison. When they rob the taxpayer they get re-elected
absolutely.
and my VOIP.MS "landline" costs me maybe $50.00 per year for nearly unlimited talk time in North America. And "landlines" are still indispensable tools for most businesses. Not to mention, all the folks writing articles about landlines going away all live in ultra-dense urban areas well served by cell towers, which is not the case for the vast portion of our country. The map below is for t-mobile, but it's pretty much the same for all carriers:
I let my caller ID “screen” my calls. And before caller ID, it was my answering machine. Remember those days?””
I have only a land line. I have a 40+ year old “Princess phone” on a 25 foot cord. It does not have caller ID. It does not take pictures. I cannot block a call. I just hang up.
I cannot scan. Computer is over 28 years old & computer operator is 50 years older than the computer. I use my Fax machine enough to never wish to be without it. Am not going to ‘upgrade all my electronics at ANY price.
Sex was better before AIDS.
The Post Office is in the constitution. Not sure if it is ever going away.
When you make a trip across N Nevada-—Utah-—Montana—Wyoming, etc, let me know how much cell tower coverage you had......Hint-—IT ISN’T THERE!!!
11 - America being a 1st world country.
“I use my Fax machine enough to never wish to be without it. Am not going to ‘upgrade all my electronics at ANY price.”
hmmmm.. You upgraded to princess phone, computer and fax machine!
All that is fine and I have friends and acquaintances that do that but it takes capital and I don’t have much of that. I do have an emergency LPG powered generator sufficient to power my reefer and a couple of lights for three days and I can stock up LPG with storm warning for longer. I don’t live in puerto Rico so I can be pretty sure that power will be back on in a couple of days. I think it was 5 days after Opal.
“When you make a trip across N Nevada-—Utah-—Montana—Wyoming, etc, let me know how much cell tower coverage you had......Hint-—IT ISN’T THERE!!!”
More coverage than my landline!
hmmmm....
Haunt the used book stores & the THRIFT stores—Goodwill—Salvation Army. Might surprise you.
More and more out of print old books are being put online every day. I’ve found so many that can be downloaded for free. I’d have never found them otherwise and certainly never have been able to afford them.
Most software is pretty useless after a while. I moved my photoshop adobe work to the online system. It is nice to know that I always have the most recent tools.
I have microsoft office on the web. I get it at a reduced rate from work. Again, its less than I was paying for it before.
I still own my car, but more and more people wont.
With the advent of auction and sales sites, I have been able to buy high end photography equipment new, and sell it in three years (after being depreciated for two) for almost 85% of what I paid for it.
Its like renting. Only better.
Why buy stuff you that should be replaced every few years when you can rent the latest for less.
As long as you are smart about it. Most people are just greedy. They want more now. Then in three years, you’ve paid for it. And its gone.
A word about books. I love books. I always have two or three going at once.
But the advent of ebooks has been a game changer. I get my magazines via the web. I get novels and text books via the web. If I didn’t have the larger type on the iPad, I would be lost.
I am 78 & always in the middle of conversations with other seniors about ‘how important their call phones are’. I keep asking them:
What did you use prior to the late 90’s???
How did you drive anywhere?
How did you work?
How did you live without that expensive toy in your pocket???
None of them can remember ANY other phone number any more. Scary.
There are 98 and XP games I bought but never got to play because newer Windows versions don’t support them. Yeah, Billy Gates, care to comment?
Our walk about wireless plug in the wall phone has a battery that will give us reception for several days when there’s no power.
I pick up the phone when it rings. If there is no “hello”
within two seconds I hang it up. That is no more annoying than having to haul out the cell phone to look at the number. I don’t run from one end of the house or interupt something to go answer the phone either between about 0900 and 2000 hrs.
Yes ... we’ll lose some things ... but not to worry ... Hillary will be with us forever !
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