An Ode to All The Things That Are Disappearing So Quickly

So much goes by the wayside so quickly these days.

I am reminded of that every time I pass an empty Blockbuster storefront.

Or the very sad man sitting in the entrance of my local grocery store trying to give away free paper copies of Houston’s last daily newspaper, the Chronicle. (Dudes, you have to make everything available online and offer an online-only subscription. I don’t want to deal with all that paper. Plus, the online version has comments and links.)

When was the last time you saw a phone with a cord?

The last time I sent an email to an AOL address, it was to a 90-year-old man, an amazing 90-year-old man, but, still, 90.

What else is disappearing?

Answering machines, of course. And beepers. And landlines.

DVDs and CDs. The last time I was in an actual music store, everyone in the place had gray hair.

Car radios: May still be in the car but who uses it?

All these hard copies: books, magazines, newspapers. My kids don’t even know what a phone book is – or an encyclopedia. They use online dictionaries. They think their mother is a weirdo because she goes to the library. They never remember how to address an envelope since they do it so rarely.

Well, the good thing about all this is, we’re not using so many trees.

Also disappearing: checks and checkbooks and paper bills and statements.

Actual photo albums. Paper holiday cards and paper invitations. Postcards.

Maps, since there’s GPS. But not a separate GPS device. Now, it’s on my phone.

For the same reason: no more cameras or separate music players or game players.

Remember Palm Pilots? Ha!

Everything’s on my phone.

Did I miss anything?