the End of Things As We Know Them
Posted: Friday, July 06, 2007
by Anja Merret
Anja Merret
What are the things that surround you that you know are going to be history in the next couple of years? I have always thought that I would not want to invest in a Video Rental shop as their days would be numbered. However, that was a good 20 years ago and they are still hanging in. Of course now they are renting out DVDs but still, the principle is the same.
What about fun fairs and games arcades? Really? Still around? Check out Disneyland as to what is now required to pull in the crowds. And even these super theme parks are not always doing the trick. Paris Disneyland has not been as successful as anticipated.
Fixed line telephones? Anybody see the demise of those? What about post delivered to your doorstep? How long is that going to last, what with e-mails doing a fair job at replacing post. People are astonished that the Royal Post has to close down loss making post offices. Pens and pencils? Does anybody still write? Has the computer keyboard taken over? And talking about keyboards, what happened to being able to talk to a computer using voice recognition software? Why is that taking so long to happen?
Printed newspapers? Anybody see the end of those yet? Not? Give it a few more years then. Milk in glass bottles, who still gets that? Remember the days when instant coffee wasn’t acceptable, well how many people still grind their own coffee beans? Not that many, I think.
What about CD’s? Anybody still collecting those? As for vinyl, I’m not even going there. Who is still using a camera with film? Come on own up. Not? Thought so. Radio has had an unexpected revival. In fact radio is actually stronger than TV now. Who would have thought that ten or so years ago. Maybe TV will stage a come-back, one never knows.
Long distance railway travel? Too expensive and takes too long compared to the cut price air travel available and it’s so much quicker to fly. What about cruises, they’ve managed a revival. They have, because they are now floating hotels and entertainment centres rather than the primitive floating backpacker equivalent they were before.
What about the motor car. Is that mode of travel over as yet? It should be, but boy are they hanging in. Realistically, cars are fuel guzzlers, when there is limited fuel supply. And I am not even talking about the pollution cars are causing. So why are they not dead as yet? They will be, sooner than the BMW and Ford’s of this world would want to admit to.
These are just a few of the things out there that I think will not be around in the next generation or so. Which ones do you think have reached their sell by date and should be trashed? Would love to hear.
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Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)Anja, you sure made me think! Actually, I still have many of my vinyls (can not dispose of them...), 8-tracks, my first transistor radio, my first record player.... I even have my grandparents first rca record player from the 1920s (and it still works!) but things are moving so fast what will last..? Thanks for a good article!
How about musicians that can actually play an instrument? With computers and electronics capable of duplicating almost any sound, we could go to a concert to watch one person produce the sound of all instruments from a laptop computer! Maybe I'll just buy the CD if those are still around. Thought provoking article.
A really enjoyable article Anja, though I don't think television will make the same comeback that radio has because television is so much more expensive to run even with the cheap (and it shows) reality shows. Drive-ins have made a nostalgic return here in Australia. I guess it takes awhile for something to move from "out of vogue" to "quaint" but when they do they come back into "limited" demand again. Here's a few more likely candidates: tanning salons, roller blades, travelling to an office, desktop computers (it's all about wireless portability), cash, street directories, books in general, shopping centres, cancer, oil, polar bears, shoe laces, reading glasses and cigarettes to name a few.
Thanks Ben, you have some great ones to add. I agree with the desktop computers. Not so sure about cigarettes... Vices are always the last to go! I agree about the drive-ins being more 'boutique' now. The same with speciality shops. If the mom and pop stores had adapted to becoming specialists they might have survived. Now there is a new breed of shopkeepers.
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