I read an article from a soon-to-be dad about the technology his soon-to-be-born baby will probably never know. As I was reading it, I kept thinking
a) I use/have used all of these and do not consider myself ancient!
b) Which of these will really be extinct by the time Lucas and Hannah are old enough to know about them?
c) Really? Wow.
Because my hope is that some day Lucas and Hannah and any other babes of ours will read our blog books and learn about our family, I thought I'd post this article. Future generations might think it was cool that I knew what these objects were AND USED THEM!
15 technologies today's infants will never use
By Avram
Piltch, Laptopmag.com
From the
moment that I found out my wife was pregnant with our first child, I’ve thought
of his development in terms of tech. As he grows to match the size of a
large-screen TV, I can’t help but think about all the gadgets he won’t even
remember using that were so important to his dad.
Wired Home Internet
I was
surprised when a 23-year-old co-worker told me she didn't remember a time
before broadband Internet. At some point, her parents must have had dial-up,
but she was so young that she doesn't even remember back that far. Wireless
broadband won't dominate the home market until he's 8 to 10, but my son won't
remember a world where consumers pay for wired Internet connections.
In my college dorm room my roommate's computer had to be in one spot in our room because there was only one ethernet connection. I didn't have a personal computer, but if I did, we would have had to unplug one computer to plug in the other!
Dedicated Cameras and Camcorders
Smartphone
cameras are already killing the consumer point-and-shoot and the family
camcorder. Unlike cameras, which most of us carry only when we think we might
need to take pictures, smartphones are always with us. DSLRs and micro
four-thirds cameras will remain with us, but within a few years, the average
consumer won't own a dedicated camera at all.
I do love the camera on my iPhone, but I can't imagine NOT using my DSLR all the time.
Landline Phones
As of 2010,
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 26 percent of U.S.
homes had wireless phones only. By the time my son turns 5 in 2017, only a
handful of old people and Luddites will continue to own house phones while
everyone will likely use cellphones exclusively. By the time my son is 10, most
businesses will have done away with their desk phones and saved a lot of money
and hassle in the process.
Businesses won't have landlines? I don't believe that one.
Slow Booting Computers
Waiting for
one's computer to boot is one of the great tech frustrations of the PC era, but
my son will never know that pain. With the move toward always-on computing,
future users will almost never turn their computers off, instead waking them
from sleep in a second or less. "When I was your age, we had to wait up to
two minutes for a computer to power on, and we liked it," I'll tell him.
Sometimes it does feel like a long time to wait...
Windows Operating System
When my son is
ready for his own computer, the windows will be gone from Windows. Microsoft's
PC operating system will still exist, as will Mac OS X. But, in the next few
years, we'll say good bye to the window metaphor where each application you run
is displayed in a draggable box that has a title bar and widgets.
Hard Drives
Today, solid
state drives finally allow us to end the ancient practice of storing our data
on spinning magnetic platters. Because they have no moving parts, SSDs are
infinitely faster than hard drives and more durable, too. By the time my son
gets his first new laptop, you won't be able to buy one without an SSD.
Movie Theaters
Pundits have
been predicting the death of the movie theater since the first televisions hit
the market, but this time, it's really going to happen for a number of reasons.
First, with large HD televisions going mainstream and 3D sets becoming more
affordable, the average home theater is almost as good as the average multiplex
theater. Second, studios and their cable partners have begun releasing some
movies for on-demand viewing on the same day they debut in theaters, a trend
which is likely to continue.
I think this one will be around for awhile. What about the popcorn?
The Mouse
Within five
years, the cost of adding touch capability to screens will be so
small that every display, from large-screen TVs to laptops, will have it. More
precise pointing devices such as the mouse and touchpad won't disappear
overnight, but they'll likely fade away or become secondary input methods
within the next several years.
With the use of laptops, iPads and other touch screen devices, this doesn't surprise me at all.
3-D Glasses
Ever since the
first 3D films hit theaters in the 1950s, viewers have been forced to wear some
kind of glasses in order to experience three-dimensional effects. However, in
the past year or so, we've started seeing a number of glasses-free solutions
hit the market.
Remote Controls
By the time my
son enters grade school, most of us will have moved on to either using our
smartphones or a combination of gestures and voice commands to change channels.
When I was a child, the family TV didn't
have a remote control. We had to actually get up and walk across the room
to change the channel [it was a knob]. And we only had five stations.
Lucas & Hannah both loved the remote control as babies! What will other children have as their favorite toy?
Desktop Computers
By the time my
son is in elementary school, PC vendors will have stopped producing most
desktop computers, though all-in-ones with large screens, high-end workstations
for people who do industrial-strength computations, and servers will remain.
Phone Numbers
I still
remember my parents' phone number, which hasn't changed in more than 30 years,
but how many of us dial numbers rather than just tapping a name in our contacts
menu? With the advent of chat services like Face Time, Skype, Google Talk, you
can just dial someone by username. When my son is in high school, he'll be
asking the pretty girl on the bus for her user ID, not her phone number.
If I lost my phone [but of course it's backed up], I would lose contact with just about everyone I know. I would be able to call my parents landline, Brent's parents landlines and Brent.
Primetime Television
In ancient
times, people had to gather around their TVs at a set time each week to watch
"Starsky and Hutch." Then VCRs arrived and you could find out whether
the Duke boys outsmarted Boss Hogg any time you wanted. DVRs now let us tape
shows without using tapes, but because most TV networks make their shows
available for free either via Web streaming or cable on-demand, we don't even
have to record shows.
What would TGI Fridays have been like in junior high if I had the ability to watch Full House, Family Matters, Step by Step on DVR? Hmm... no, I still would have been home.
Fax Machines
Three things
will finally slay the fax. First, more companies will start accepting online
forms with electronic signatures as valid, so someone's illegible signature on
a hard copy isn't needed. Second, for those who just can't let go of the
signature requirement, touch devices will allow people to scribble their John
Hancocks into digital forms. Besides, the death of landlines will also mean
death for fax machines.
No one will miss the fax machine. In every place I've worked, the fax machine has been my enemy.
Optical Devices
Optical discs
will last another decade or so because consumers aren't eager to repurchase
films they already own on disc and because there are still a number of old or
rare titles you can't find on cloud services like iTunes or Amazon. Yet with
the growth in downloadable and streaming video services, all physical media is
on the fast track to extinction.
I know our kids will remember DVDs - what else will the kids watch on road trips? Although it is an option, I will not pay for satellite television.
They are pretty much already extinct, but I remember going to video [VHS] rental stores. Yes, they had whole stores dedicated to the rental of VHS tapes! Before my parents owned a VCR, I also remember renting the VCR and the VHS tapes on very special occasions.
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Only time will tell what technologies will exist by the time our kiddos are adults.
