10 things that will disappear in your lifetime

[David Whatley]

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 cheque by 2018. It costs the financial system billions of dollars a year to process cheques. Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of the cheque. 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. 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.

10.
All we will have left that can't be changed are "Memories"...

And then probably Alzheimers will take that away from you too

[Nikonfan]

It will be interesting to see how many of these predictions come true. Some have already begun for sure. I haven't had a land line phone in a decade.

[contributor_M]

Wholeheartedly disagree with #6.

Yeah the "industry" is dying, BUT there are so many independent artists/labels out there. And thanks to the internet and services like bandcamp.com, there is no need for a major record label.

People can distribute their music digitally, and there are blogs, facebook, twitter, etc. available for marketing and promoting sales.

Big record companies are in trouble. But that's about it.

[Nikonfan]

Originally Posted by contributor_M

Wholeheartedly disagree with #6.

Yeah the "industry" is dying, BUT there are so many independent artists/labels out there. And thanks to the internet and services like bandcamp.com, there is no need for a major record label.

People can distribute their music digitally, and there are blogs, facebook, twitter, etc. available for marketing and promoting sales.

Big record companies are in trouble. But that's about it.

Same here. Music has been around for thousands of years and it will stay around. Just not as we know it now.

[mdparthum]

I don't agree that #4, #6, or #7 will dissappear. Music has been a part of human existance since the being. How we listen to it may change, but we will always need music in our lives. I also believe the television will remain a staple in most living rooms. How programming is delivered will change. And books will always be around too. I like the feel of a book in my hand and it doesn't have to be plugged in or charged to work.

[Nikonfan]

I got rid of cable/satellite over a year ago. I got a TiVo DVR and subscribe to Netflix and Hulu Plus. I LOVE my cable shows but I get almost all of them through either Hulu or Netflix. I can still get all my local programming. I don't miss cable at all and I really don't miss spending $110 a month. I now spend a total of $39 a month for TiVo, Netflix, and Hulu combined. So I save $71 a month. In the last year that's $852 I have saved!

[Howard Barlow]

Originally Posted by mdparthum

I like the feel of a book in my hand and it doesn't have to be plugged in or charged to work.

Hmmm... An electric book...whodathunkit?

[contributor_M]

TV's won't die either.

I may not watch cable, but I'd prefer to watch my internet streams on my TV.

Cable companies are likely do disappear if they don't change their rates/policies/services.

[mdparthum]

My wife loves her Kindle, but I just can't read from those things. I just like those old fashioned paper books.

[Howard Barlow]

Originally Posted by contributor_M

Cable companies are likely do disappear if they don't change their rates/policies/services.

Maybe by newer technology, but not because of rates/policies/services. Like so many other things, people will complain, but continue to buy.

Well, maybe if they start 'throttling' like ATT is now doing to those with their so called 'unlimited' plan.

[donlfaulkner]

For those that do not have cable. How do you get internet? My big gripe is that in my area I have to have basic cable TV to get internet. DSL is not available in my neighborhood. Dial-up is too slow and Satellite and wireless is too expensive.

[mercphoto]

The Post Office certainly has its problems, such as a union that is unwilling to accept the reality that fewer employees are needed. They will run the PO into the grave. But there is a deeper issue at hand, and one that the UPS and FedEx do not have. The Post Office services every address every single day. This doesn't happen with the other guys and means there is an overhead that cannot go away. Combine this with less mail going to and from each of those addresses and it is a recipe for disaster. In other words, even without a union I don't think the Post Office could survive.

If FedEx or UPS had to service everyone nearly every day they would have to alter their businesses.

Books. I still like paper, but we buy mostly on the Kindle. We're just flat tired of bookshelves full of books. After a while you get over-run.

I'm 45 but I never got into the whole newspaper thing. I like the news, I'm just not fond of the large format paper. News magazines are a different story. I like the form factor better, plus I prefer long-form journalism. On the other hand, I get my Scientific American subscription digitally.

Music won't die, and despite what people think the labels do provide an important service. Promotion and marketing is more than just Facebook and if you want to be successful you need to know how to promote and market your band. Most bands don't have this skill. And social media is NOT a marketing plan for success.

We only have a landline because of the security system, but I think we can get that tied into the internet instead.

TV. Live TV is the big thing for me. Racing in particular. Formula One, Indy Car, Moto GP. Otherwise I'm a Netflix fan.

Paper checks. We rarely use them anymore.

[mercphoto]

Originally Posted by donlfaulkner

For those that do not have cable. How do you get internet? My big gripe is that in my area I have to have basic cable TV to get internet. DSL is not available in my neighborhood. Dial-up is too slow and Satellite and wireless is too expensive.

On the plus side, basic cable is a lot cheaper than buying one of the big packages with lots of channels.

[Patti Edens]

Originally Posted by donlfaulkner

For those that do not have cable. How do you get internet? My big gripe is that in my area I have to have basic cable TV to get internet. DSL is not available in my neighborhood. Dial-up is too slow and Satellite and wireless is too expensive.

We have internet through Comcast. When we dropped cable, they upped the high speed internet from $20 to $35, but that's a lot cheaper than cable + internet. We subscribe to Netflix and on rare occasion buy a movie thru Amazon. We just have a VHF and a UHF antenae for regular TV. Don't miss cable at all. Never had time to watch it anyway.

No land line here either and even though I'm old as dirt, I no longer get the newspaper either. Idiot paperboy/girl/creature kept throwing it in the wet grass or under the car. Don't miss that either.

[texkam]

11. Eyesight
12. Hearing
13. Continence
14. Car keys
15. Dignity