Ten Things that will disappear in our lifetimes.

Change is part of human life. Our world is constantly changing and evolving to fit our needs and to keep up with technology. In years past, we have seen the typewriter replaced by the computer and the clothes line replaced by dryers. Not everything has been completely replaced though; many things have been updated such as a wooden box camera to a digital camera. Those who adapt to the change will be the ones to thrive in the changing world. All others will be left behind. Here are 10 guesses on the things that will disappear in our lifetime:

Britain is already laying the groundwork to do away with checks 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. The result of this means less mail traffic and the post office will suffer.

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. E-mails and companies like 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.

The younger generation simply doesn’t read the newspaper. They certainly don’t subscribe to a daily delivered print edition. 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.

You say you will never give up the physical book that you hold in your hand and turn the literal pages, but you will. 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. Another convenience is not lugging around a stack of heavy books.

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. For the extra service, you’re paying double. All the cell phone companies will let you call customers using the same cell provider for free.

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. Opportunities on the Internet such as online radios and websites like Pandora allow people to listen for free and reach the masses directly without a company.

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. Cable rates are skyrocketing and commercials run about every 4 minutes. People will choose what they want to watch online and through companies like Netflix.

Today your computer has a hard drive and you store your pictures, music, movies, and documents. Your software is on a CD, and you can always re-install it if need be. 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. If you click an icon, it will open something in the Internet cloud. In this virtual world, you can access your music or your books, or your whatever from any laptop or handheld device.

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. You know who “they” are!

Ever since the introduction of e-mail, the fax machine has not been needed or used as much. The only things the fax machine is still used for are when a scanner is not available to e-mail a document somewhere, secure documents that need to reach a location quickly, or when a signature is required. In the future, everyone will relay documents through their smart phones. Eventually, people may even teleport and then people will no longer need to send documents, but just hand them over.

Ten Things that will disappear in our lifetimes.
AllProDad ^ | 08/25/2021 | AllProDad
Posted on 8/25/2021, 10:22:06 AM by sodpoodle

Where we are today with these items:

1. The Check- I hate writing checks and depositing checks. My wife is finally coming around. She still likes to send Birthday Checks to our family, a $/year. Our insurance lady has an appt with us this afternoon re fire and earthquake insurance. Also, any insurance bill will now be sent electronically to our bank and then paid. Our PG&E, water, garbage & communication bills go to a credit card and are paid electronically.

2. The Post Office- Our local post office could have been the role model for an out of date/worthless government entity. We stopped going there over 2 decades ago. My wife buys her stamps from Costco. We have a good mailman, however, 75%+ of his deliveries are ads or B$.

3. The Newspaper- none of our 22-55 something generation off spring subscribes nor buys a newspaper. We get our local fish wrap for my wife. I do the puzzle and that is it.

4. The Book- I went to the Kindle option along time ago. Due to our local library closing or being a hassle during Covid, my wife entered the electronic book age. She commandeered my paper white Kindle, and I got her a Amazon tablet/pad which has Kindle. She reads about one book a day on the electronic stuff. Her Kindle Unlimited provides most of her book reading for a modest monthly fee. She is in charge of a weekly Bible study group and all of them prefer a real book.
If she buys a book, she has to get rid of one our books in our 3 bookcase library.

I have Kindle on my Chromebook and an Amazon pad. I have 3 books on the top of my basket on the coffee table. I have a couple of smaller real books in a little go bag for the times I’m waiting for my wife or for an appt.

5. The Land Line Telephone. In spite of at least a dozen scam calls a day like renew your car warranty on vehicles over a decade old. We still have relatives and friends who prefer to call on a land line. One of my wife’s bros and SIL called this morning to see how we were doing. We have the same regular line and unlisted #’s since 1977. So we will keep our landline #’s.

6. Corporate Music ~ They lost us about 4 decades ago and never got our sons, their wives and our nieces and nephews.

7. Network Television- We cut our cable 4 years ago and stream a handful of shows. No professional nor college sports. Zero fake news.

8. Personal Files - I still keep both paper and electronic.

9. Privacy that is a joke in today’s world.

10. Fax Machine ~ Our close to 30 year old fax phone still works. It even works without the power in most cases. Besides its regular phone for both lines, it can still fax, send/receive, make copies and is a good phone.

Our siblings/cousins are even more behind using the electronic curve than my wife and I. Many friends are from the stone age to using new everything electronic when it comes out. We are 80+ and why should they change.

Our direct descendants see the smart phones and portable computers as useful tools and can visit without their phones.

One DIL is addicted and refused a few hundred $’s to put her turned off phone into a basket and the basket goes to another room.

Our grand kids/grand nieces are able to turn off their phones and talk like real people.

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