I was having breakfast the other day with my morning crew when the conversation veered from the usual, “What did you watch on Netflix last night?” and “How many times have you worn that shirt this week?” to an interesting topic. My buddy, Pete Joris started telling a story about a friend of his who had purchased a Betamax machine back in the day. Unfortunately, the Betamax went the way of the dinosaurs. That got us on the subject of what items could become obsolete in the next 5 to 10 years. We surmised that some things like paper maps, shopping malls, DVDs, calculators, telephone landlines, and parking meters will probably go the way of the horse buggy whip, or the horse buggy itself.
As a teen driver, going “parking,” I went from having an AM/FM radio to an 8-track stereo system, with the 8-track stereo then replaced by cassette and later CD stereo systems, to nowadays wifi connectivity using a Bluetooth system. Instead of being limited to only the 10 songs on the Bee Gees 8-track cartridge, with Spotify, I can now listen to EVERY song the Bee Gees ever sang. The technological advancements we have made in just the last 20 years are amazing. The world never stops moving forward. On a seemingly weekly basis, new technology, new services, practically new everything seems to replace an older version. And now they’re predicting that in 10 years no one will even OWN a car. We’ll just ride in driverless vehicles that we summon on our smartphones.
I guess in the future (or maybe now), teenagers won’t know how to read a map, hang out at the mall, replace a battery in a calculator, or use the phrase, “Mom, it’s for you,” when answering the home phone. I don’t even KNOW my mom’s cell number, but I remember what my old home phone number was growing up. Anyone who is older than 50 and grew up here on the island remembers that back then you only had to dial the number 8 and then the four digits to reach someone’s home. Instead of dialing 638-2039, you only had to dial 8-2039 to reach my house.
Sometimes technological advancements don’t make things easier though. I’m 57 years old and now my mom has the ability to call me and check up on me anytime, anywhere, via smartphone! She couldn’t do that when I was 17! Thank goodness I’m too old to go “parking.”
