Disappearing

My friend Mark sent me an email last week about nine things that will disappear in your lifetime. I have seen similar ones before, but this one had items that may just go bye-bye.

Newspapers have been on the decline for years, but now they are getting less and less advertising dollars. Subscriptions are down and the push is to get everyone to pay a monthly fee for internet access to the daily drivel.

While it may not be on it’s last leg, the Post Office has become less important in the electronic age. Commercial carriers are faster and in some cases cheaper. All I get in the mail is bills. If they do go away, I’m guessing I still have to pay the bills.

Strange as it sounds, checks are not used much anymore. Everything is plastic or an online transaction. That’s going to be a problem for this grumpy old man. I don’t do online anything.

I have a hard time believing that printed books will cease, but who can tell. Most of my family reads books on line. They cost about half of a printed version and they don’t collect dust. The online versions just don’t smell as good as a good book.

Land line telephones are quickly going away. Most of my neighbors don’t have one. We have one because of the need for fax. But, that’s available on most VOIP systems. Everything is going to the internet where anyone can listen, watch or hack into what ever you are doing.

Music is changing, and it won’t be long until the CD will just go the way of the eight-track. I liked the eight tracks because the quality was so good.

Television as it has existed will change or go away. It is so much easier and cheaper to use other electronic entertainment. And, there’s no reason to watch newscast. They’re just really bad entertainment shows.

A lot of what you own will disappear. Things like computer software and for that matter, computers. Oh, you’ll still have connection to the "cloud" but will you own it?

The one that absolutely will disappear, if it hasn’t already, is privacy. You can’t walk down the street or into almost any building without being on camera. Google maps shows the world where you live and what your house looks like. Every time you buy something, you leave tracks that can be used by marketers to try to get you to buy something else. There’s no place to hide. You are on a list or perhaps a hundred or more. And, social networks are used to spy on just plain folks.

Typewriters, eight track tapes, fountain pens, S&H Green Stamps, returnable soda bottles, pencil and paper, Kodak cameras, transistor radios, and home cooked meals every night are just of a few of the things that have disappeared since I discovered America.

I guess we can say, "at least we still have our memories of the good old days." But that’s disappearing too.

PMO
©2013