[James Tanner]

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...
 
The Check (Cheque).   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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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."
 
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 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.

 

[tesseract]

Wow, I am such a Luddite!

I receive my bills by mail and pay them with check through the mail. I read the newspaper and love books. I don't own, nor have I wanted to own, a cell phone. I do have VOIP (Vonage), so I am tied to a land line of sorts.

I better get with the program!   

Honestly, I don't yet feel secure with online banking. I've been burnt once before, someone bought $115 worth of flowers in NYC, charged to my checking account. I am in Nebraska. And... my GF at the time wanted to know WHY I was buying someone in NYC flowers!   

I was able to stop the delivery of those flowers and get my money back. The bank put it all on me to do so, no help at all  They are not my bank anymore.

[PRELUDE]

Wow, I am such a Luddite!

I receive my bills by mail and pay them with check through the mail. I read the newspaper and love books. I don't own, nor have I wanted to own, a cell phone. I do have VOIP (Vonage), so I am tied to a land line of sorts.

I better get with the program!   

Honestly, I don't yet feel secure with online banking. I've been burnt once before, someone bought $115 worth of flowers in NYC, charged to my checking account. I am in Nebraska. And... my GF at the time wanted to know WHY I was buying someone in NYC flowers!   

I was able to stop the delivery of those flowers and get my money back. The bank put it all on me to do so, no help at all  They are not my bank anymore.

Everything has been changed.Today if you want to steal money,all you have to do is to start a bank business.

[Don_S]

Banks can't do away with checks.  I still have a couple hundred left. I write 2-3/year.  Let's see that is .........well um, a lifetimes worth. 

[PDR]

Wow....

Some I agree with, some not so much....

Where I live in Canada the post office is doing fine......they have record profits(56 million last yr)
and have turned that profit into more by buying delivery services....they own Purolater and a number of other businesses.

Checks...well maybe, but remember, there is a huge population that live rural....not everyone is on
high speed....try paying your bills on dial up....not so fun. The money spent to upgrade rural internet
users wont be found....so they will keep writing checks and using the post office......I live rural.

Newspapers.....again, not so sure about that. If you work outside of a office environment.....like most people, the newspaper is how you get your info. Dont see many construction workers bringing their laptop to the site.....construction and related is the biggest employer in the world, they read them at coffee times,as do a lot of other field workers

Books...again not sure,....I have a 30 yr old son that is puter crazy, he reads(puter) all the time, he grew up with the coming of age of computers, he loves them.....my 13 yr old daughter on the other hand loves books,
she doesnt read off computer because its more like a tool that she has to use in her school life, she doesnt
want to use it any more than she has to......she reads a lot of books and magazines, as do her friends.
She does surf, but not near as much as my son who still looks at puters as a novelty.

land line phones....I think you may have that one right.

Television......again dont overlook rural populations. they are a huge segment, that doesnt have access to cheap internet. We will never see high speed on our phone lines, and we dont have cable.  Satellite Television is the norm for rural users......we wont use a computer in my (next 25yr) lifetime in country
settings because no company will foot the bill for the miles of infrastructure needed. My father (we lived rural) had satellite 35 yrs ago....as I do today.

I dont know about music, so much has changed in the last 20 yrs......I just hope it doesnt.
But in my lifetime there will always be tunes......

[tesseract]

I left out commentary on television. Further evidence I am Luddite:

I haven't had cable TV in many years, on the rare occasions that I do watch, free OTA does the trick. I have noticed a bunch of new channels that sprung up after the switch from analog to digital, so OTA is growing as of now. In our lifetime... hard to say what is around the corner.

About the only modern media I subscribe to is broadband internet. I wouldn't want to live without it.

[Don_S]

I have friends who live in Montana.  I visited them last year and they let me use their satellite internet.  I could chisel stone tablets faster.

[PRELUDE]

Most of the problems that we face during our life time is created by ourself.Nobody wish the best for others and greed will eventually destroy everything.The next step is to join Amish
But there is a major problem with that too.They do not believe in electricity and I do not know how to power my system.

[lonewolfny42]

...and the video documentary, "Before the Music Dies."
 

Watch it ....here...1hr. 28 min.

[Elizabeth]

Number one item which HAS become merely an historical relic:
The Sliderule.
Back when I was in College it was a required item. I had a really high quality one. Now.. A sliderule is totally a museum piece.
Curiously, the Abacus is still popular in Asia.
Then rotary dial phones. And Pay phones are becoming rare too.

I believe you are wrong about books though. It is a hobby form, and will remain so. One store is doing VERY well during the resession and that is Half Price Books. They are still doing a big business.
Though the public library is becoming more of a "Book Museum" sort of place. Only the use of public access computers keeps most of them filled with patrons. A few people still borrow books, but the old way of students cramming the library to do research work is definitely gone. And the borrowing of research materials is now around zero. All the stuff is only popular consumption. Novels, Mysteries, Cookbooks..

One great thing about the internet is the availability of anything you ever wanted. Used to be if it was not sold at a local store, you were S.O.L. on it. Now, you can buy stuff from all over the world.
Whatever you might fancy, you can have it.  Obscure, no problem. Rare, no problem, just you may have to pay plenty!!

Music. Used to be all you could buy was what happened to be at the  local stores. Now, anything is available.
I have been buying from Amazon, and have to say being able to find the very best selections, and at a low price is fantastic. I still buy CDs. And can say my collection is top notch due to being able to find the stuff i really want on Amazon. (I am lucky I also have four really great local used stores to buy from.. but as i said, there, i have only the limited selection they might have on hand)
And I do not think music is endangered. i think it is changing, to a computer based distribution system, which will leave out the fossilized majors.

As for other things that will disappear.. Well insects are gone. Used to be insects everywhere in the Summer. Now, damn there just are none. No butterfly, no wasps, no bees, no dragonflies... Strange shit is happening to insects. At least where I live.

Then food. I think food is the next big crisis. Soon it is going to be the most expensive thing. Maybe not for a few more years.. But just wait. Soon enough we are going to be paying the major part of our income for food. My prediction as you will. by 2020... you are gonna be sorry as hell over food.
Food Riots. Supermarkets are going to have hundreds of people converging on them. fill up baskets and leaving  all at the same time. They will also trash the stores while doing so. Teargas, riots, cops shooting folks over food.
Just a few gigantic companies control 99% of the worlds food supply. Eventually they are gonna figure that out. And the greed is gonna take over. Look at Monsano.. they have the seed crop cornered totally. Anyone else has been squeezed out of business due to GMOs, and the pollen problem (pollen from GMOs pollute nonGMO,and then the non GMO get sued by Monsano for using thier stuff without paying!! true!!). Since the laws back Monsano 100% we ARE screwed as human beings.
(My last prediction came true. I remember telling a friend as we rode the bus to work back in 1983 Just wait, folks will be shooting each other for no reason, just walking down the street and shot dead. That has come true. big time. (at least in the inner cities.)

For the rest who cares. Things change. I am old and will be dead in around twenty years.

[BrysTony]

Number one item which HAS become merely an historical relic:
The Sliderule.
Back when I was in College it was a required item. I had a really high quality one. Now.. A sliderule is totally a museum piece.
Curiously, the Abacus is still popular in Asia.
Then rotary dial phones. And Pay phones are becoming rare too.

Elizabeth,
Say it isn't so!



  

[werd]

Its big business scamming our country, thats what we are seeing. Even worse with the nazi gov we have in power now.

Fed ex and UPS want Canada Post out of business. They are the cheapest method of shipping and they are in the way of an almost monopoly of high shipping costs we will see. Right now there appears to be a massive struggle amongst big business in this country to take advantage of the low American dollar. Believe me there is no way in high heaven we will pay for cheaper american products, Big business knows what we will pay and its staying that way. They are just going to take our savings in cheaper trade dollar and pocket with high postage and other things.

We pay the highest cell phones rates in the world. The big scam here is, we the country paid for the entire infrastructure. Now that it is implace and big business has got their stranglehold on it we can start seeing deregulation and public companies sold off to the lowest bidder with the highest gov. cronism.

Its all disgusting and i can't stand how its being sold off in the name of technology. Its a scam and it belongs in the trash - the whole notion of technology freeing us into the hands of big business - like its a good thing.

[emac]

It's all due to changes in communication and the huge expansion of the internet and portable electronic devices over the last 10-20 years.  But entertainment, payments, communication, and reading will all continue to be important in the future.  Just in different forms.  It may seem to be future shock, but there's no going back or slowing the rate of change down. 

As for the music industry dying, it will certainly continue to contract and to change, but I doubt it's going to die.  Music is a fundamental part of being human, so it will always be here in one form or another.  The example I can use to demonstrate this is my favorite genre, drum n bass.  It's been around for about 20 years now, and I've been into it for about 15.  And the stuff I hear now was completely unimaginable when I first started listening to it. Drum n bass seems to morph itself every couple of years or so, as do other types of electronic music (e.g. dubstep didn't even exist all that many years ago).  So, it is still vibrant.  And the musicians who produce drum n bass know that they are never going to be rich and famous.  But they are still out there producing tracks for peoples' enjoyment. 

[Devil Doc]

Bunch of pessimists. Next thing you know one of you will tell me I can't get any more flint for my rifle.

Doc.

[Stu Pitt]

I agree a lot of these things are becoming more rare, but several won't go away anytime soon.  Here's my take...

Checks - How would you pay a landlord if you rent?  Mine doesn't have a debit/credit card reader.  That's the only thing I pay by check though.  Maybe bank transfer, but I think a lot of landlords and tenants will be pretty wary of that.

Books - What'll save them is schools.  Not every kid/parent has the means to buy a laptop for school.  Schools don't have the money to buy one for every student.  If you have 3 young children in school, do you buy 3 laptops?   Think the inner city parents and/or schools have the means?   Some NYC schools can't even afford to buy books for their students.  Seriously.

And for newspapers, magazines, and some books...  Too many guys need something to read in the bathroom. 

These things will probably go the way of the vinyl LP; almost gone, but still hanging around refusing to go away. 

[Stu Pitt]

A few friends and I had this conversation a while back.  Here's what was theorized, but all were shot down for one reason or another...

Keys - How do you let someone borrow your car?   Let them come in to feed the pets while you're away?

Cash - How will guys like Spitzer pay for 'entertainment?'

Landline phones -  Not everywhere has a cell signal.  My old apartment in NYC suburbs didn't have cell service.  Everyone on the street was ticked off about it.  Had to do with the geographical characteristics.  Also, what about businesses?  Will every office worker get a cell phone from the employer?  Do you give every customer service rep a cell phone?  Maybe an online phone service will take care of that, but it's still a landline in a way. 

I theorized books, but it was shot down due to my earlier post.

[FullRangeMan]

I think the fixed telephone will continue for a long time, my home phone run by optical cable modem.
I could expect the cell phone to die, as it causes tumors/cancer on the head, as all kinds of microwaves equip.

[orthobiz]

Digital music.
VINYL ROOOLS!

Paul

[JLM]

Sustainability is the buzz. 

The U.S. currently has a $5 trillion infrastructure maintenance bill that we can't afford to pay.  This affects water, wastewater, roads/bridges, electrical power generation/distribution.  Natural supplies of fresh water is already a problem in much of the world. 

The age of cheap fossil fuels, especially oil is about over.  Oil will continue to be in shorter supply as China/India demands increase and world oil production caps and reserves disappear.  Overall all forms of travel (cars, shipping, and flight) will become less frequent.  All forms of flight will be affected the worse as the most energy/environmental impacting.  Internet will allow more work/school from home.

As Elizabeth said, food shortages, again already a problem across the planet.  We are using up topsoil and won't be able to support shipping of huge amounts of fertilizers.  One aspect is the transition from meat to plant based diets in the Western world.

Unlimited healthcare (especially in the U.S. where winning WWII will really cost us for the next 40 years).  We can no longer afford extreme measures/technologies for everyone.  Rationing, like proposed in Oregon, is already fact in the 3rd world and will come to us.

Distributed electrical power from huge power plants will be replaced with locally generated power and various methods of energy efficiency.  As we give up on nuclear, can't afford shipping/impact of coal, and again the cost to maintain the grid will force us use shallow geothermal, solar, fuel cell, conservation, and such technologies. 

[1oldguy]

Well Elizabeth is more correct than she may realize about food.The issue gets deeper.The governments is very well aware they have to do something,and they will,rest assured.
It won't be nice,or pretty,it will change things as we know it.But don't take my word for it.Look up  builderblog and Illuminati and freemason.