I found this in a group that I belong to and I wonder to you agree or disagree with any of the 9 items listed?
I have to agree on most of them, but will miss receiving an actual Christmas/Birthday/Invitation/Thank You card via snail mail...I only read books, sorry not an e-book reader at all...have a land line, but rarely use it, and as for the TV, I cannot watch my shows online or on a small device...I like my flat screen...sorry!
Something to think about....(((author unknown)))
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 bu siness.
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 happ en 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 o f 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 lots of other things that take up the time
that used to be s pent 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
Intern et 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.
Saundra aka SassyScribe
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