Yahoo Lifestyle 18 Things People Believe Will Soon Vanish From Society
I recently asked the BuzzFeed Community to predict the future.
Specifically, what's going to disappear from society completely in the next few decades?
Dozens of people shared their thoughts, and some of these could definitely be gone soon. I've rounded up 18 predictions and observations below:
1."The skill of splitting and stacking wood by hand."
"When I was younger we could make good money splitting local hard woods and sending it to the larger cities for Christmas. Everyone wants the family gathered around the fire on Christmas Eve. We didn’t have money for hydraulic splitters so you had to read the grain of the wood and have technique. If you didn’t learn to do it correctly you could really hurt yourself, not to mention become exhausted."
–Hollis, Southeast MO, 41 years
2."Talking to real humans for customer service."
"I work for a privately owned solid waste company (i.e. garbage and recycle collection). Our phone lines are very busy and we answer them right away. So many people are shocked and grateful that they are able to talk to a 'real person, in real time.' Even when customers send online inquiries, and we call them to clarify details, they are delighted. I am proud to work customer service IN PERSON, as it is disappearing quickly and is rare these days."
–Michele, Bainbridge Island
3."Weekday print newspapers. The Sunday editions will be around for awhile but Monday–Saturday will be online only."
4."Engagement rings — especially the idea it should be three times the man's monthly salary (which is just a campaign from De Beers who —shock, horror — sell diamonds)."
"I find the whole idea in times of equality ridiculous. It's a bit 'you're mine now' and it's absurd to spend so much money when you're starting out on a ring. Better used as a house deposit. Don't get me wrong, a ring is a nice present, but I don't like the whole idea of engagement rings."
5."Home baking seems to be fading into the sunset."
"My mom taught me how to make the incredible large, chewy rolls she made every Thanksgiving. I taught my son and daughter, and my daughter has her boys help with cooking sometimes, but I will be teaching them (my older grandson turned 10 today; his brother is 7). My younger grandson has said he wants to be a chef, and they both help me when I make them. They will both be making them by themselves within the next several years."
6."Handwritten thank you notes."
7."I think handing down children's clothes will become very rare."
"First of all, the fabric quality of everyday clothing has become worse. Pieces the kid grew out of are probably not worth keeping anymore. The more expensive dresses or suits will more likely be kept as keepsakes because most families don't have like 3-5 children anymore, and individuality is more in focus than some decades ago. Plus, kids' clothes are often veeeery gender specific and less 'unisex' than in the past. Little bro will not wear his older sister's rompers simply because they're pink."
–kaa
8."I think the printed newspaper is a dying medium that is going to fade out with our parents' generation. Like gone in 20 years. Same with postcards. I used to love sending and receiving them, but today it's just much more intuitive to send greetings and a nice selfie over text."
9."Reality shows. At some point even the most vacuous parts of society are going to be sick of them. Hopefully soon."
10."There used to be lots of fireflies (lightning bugs on the east coast) when I was a kid. I can’t remember the last time I saw one."
11."I think we're going to move into four-day work weeks sooner rather than later, and guaranteed basic income is going to become a thing (within 20 years)."
"On a longer timeline I think eventually all names will be unisex and sexual orientation won't be a thing. Liking men or whatever will be like liking blondes, people will just have a 'type.' Oh and we are going to get rid of lawns in favor of vegetable gardens or native plants, and eating insects for protein will become more common in Europe and North America."
12."Gathering pop bottles to get money at the corner stores."
13."Work ethic."
"This is built at a young age. I was babysitting at 13 years old…worked every summer during school. It seems like now, parents don’t feel it’s necessary to teach that. They want them to just study and do sports. Then when they graduate from school or college, they are sooo lost."
14."I miss going to the mall to shop."
"We still have one left (all the other ones closed), but it doesn’t have all the cool stores it did when I was a kid. There isn’t a WaldenBooks, KayBee Toys, Disney Store, Hallmark, or Babbage’s there anymore."
–Matt
15."Call boxes are long gone. I think they were around in my state as recently as a decade-ish ago, but it’s been AGES since I’ve seen one."
16."Hobby stores."
"I don’t mean craft stores like Michael’s, but hobby stores with plastic scale models to build and paint, r/c cars and planes, model rockets, all that jazz. In my area at least, they’ve all disappeared. 🫤 I pretty much have to go online to find kits or paints. My local Michael’s sells every craft paint known to man, but not Testors model paint."
17."People taking the time to learn about political issues by looking at multiple sources instead of voting based on how their favorite TikTok personality tells them to vote."
"With so much information available to people now, you’d think we’d be smarter, more compassionate, with a bigger sense of community. Instead, people are more insular, less educated about the world around them, and treat Facebook posts from random people as if they're the absolute and only source of truth."
18."Meeting someone at the gate at the airport."
Do you agree with these predictions and observations? What do you think should be added to this list? Let me know in the comments!
