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 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. 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 "catalog 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 all 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. And "They" will try to get you to buy something else. Again and again.

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



=

Man, that's in depth and....SOBERING!

Today, mass media is a large sucking hole, and "lowest common denominator" really nails it.

Sadly, that's reality, today. But, look at history. Somehow, we all have survived the "death" of blacksmiths, letterpress printing,
big bands, vibes, film cameras and lots more.


The trick is to manage technology, not let it manage you.


Rujss

Yes this sure is sobering ...

I still prefer to read paper in my comfy chair rather than sitting glued to a computer monitor.

The best quality music I have heard was on LP vinyl on a good hifi system. Digital music is more convenient but loses a certain quality and warmth that analog recordings had. And despite virtual analog synths getting better and better they just get closer to analog synthesis but NEVER better.

Paying bills using mail has much less problems than paying bills online. But there are many problems that occur with online payments that never happened with physical payments.

Convenient is not always better. I can accept that this is how things will go because it is easier ( not necessarily with the user but with corporations ) .. just don't tell me it is always better ..... "Hey you kids get off my lawn"

Hey don't get me wrong I do love the advantages of digital technology ... my career is computer programming in video games after all. And even though I think digital guitars have no lasting value ... I did pick up a very cheap Line 6 Variax 300 guitar that is extremely convenient onstage for switching between acoustic and electric models where using the real instruments is impossible on the tiny stages where the 6 piece band I play with has to squeeze onto. I really don't care it has no future value because it is invaluable in the present.

Interesting. Societies progress in all ways. I wonder if there was this reaction when the last pony express headed out of Dodge, lol?

I remember my Grandfather complaining to me years ago that the City of Pittsburgh was getting of most of its trolley cars and replacing them with an expanded bus service. There are pros/cons to growth, its unavoidable.

The Post Office's days may very well be numbered. They're stuck with a bad delivery model now, with the big private carriers handling most of the far more profitable parcel deliveries.

I won't miss writing checks at all...

Newspapers are undergoing a fundamental change right now but some form will survive, I think. More people get their information from the net now than ever before and even with some premium content sections, there should be plenty of news content to go around.

A bigger worry is the Court's recent ruling on internet neutrality. Our providers are likely to target anyone with a website and charge more for the bandwith we use. many will not pay this-for various reasons-which I think diminishes the original appeal of the net.

I too love books, but as time goes by, that won't be translated to the next generations in the same way. In the end, how long do you actually hold a shitty book, I guess? People will read great writing...in whatever way suits them best.

Got rid of our landline phone 2+ years ago...haven't missed it for 1 second...

Musically, let's see what happens in 20 years or so, when this period I think comes to a close. Demand for what's commercial on the radio today will be relegated to a handful of niche stations that won't likely be money makers. Plus, with advancing technology and digital music services, look for terrestial radio to take a massive hit from internet/satellite products and personal mp3 subscription services.

Personal property will change if people put it on the net, but its a choice thing with ramifications, no doubt.

There's a generational trade-off between speed and information on one side and privacy and personal details on the other. I do think we have choices as to how far we wade into the cyber pool, if you will.

Imagine what it will be like in 50 years?

Wow...



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Bill in Dayton

Imagine what it will be like in 50 years?


I dread to think Bill! lol