Depending on your age, you may, or may not, remember such objects as VCRs, tape recorders, film cameras, static TV’s, slide projectors and fax machines. Indeed, once upon a time all of the above were seen as everyday objects that were indistinguishable from everyday life. And yet with time, they have become obsolete. Barely anyone remembers them and if they do, barely anyone harbors any fond memories of them or even misses them. That’s because they have been replaced by better, more advanced objects.

Because technology is constantly developing – and because innovative companies and scientists are forever trying to make our lives easier – the objects that we use on a daily basis today may not necessarily be there tomorrow. Indeed, they may very well be replaced by something far more advanced. And that is wonderful, of course. You wouldn’t want to be driving in a horse and cart now that you can drive around in a modern car decked out with an air conditioner and radio, right?

Of course, no one could predict that the horse and cart would eventually be replaced by a car. Just like most of us can’t predict that most of our everyday objects will one day – probably very soon – be replaced by more advanced technologies.

DVD’s And Cable Companies Will Be Completely Replaced By Online Streaming Services

wellkeptwallet.com

When was the last time you bought a DVD? Chances are, you can’t even remember. While it is true that DVD’s are still for sale most of us only buy them as a present for our grandparents or older relatives. After all, why buy a DVD when you can watch a movie or a TV show on Netflix or another online streaming service?

Same goes for cable companies. With each passing day more and more people are opting to forego their cable subscriptions. According to Variety, between 3.1 and 3.5 million cable subscribers decided to give up their subscription in 2017, which is 1.6 million more people giving up their subscription than in 2016.

Remote Controls Will Be Replaced By Smartphones

bgr.com

Remember those good old days when you used to fight over the remote control with your siblings, friends or even your parents? You may have recognized that that is happening far less often now, no doubt thanks to the decline of traditional TV sets.

However, even if TV sets stick around for good, we probably still won’t be using remote controls as often as we do now. Eventually, they will be completely replaced by our smartphones which already perform some incredible functions which no one deemed possible ten years ago. In addition, the smart TV will more likely than not be controlled by our hand movements.

Cash Transactions Will Be Replaced By Credit Cards (Or Mobile Apps)

cnbc.com

Are we on our way to a cashless society? We might be, at least according to recent studies. Indeed, according to Payments Cards and Mobile, a 2017 survey found that 54% of Europeans said that they used physical cash less than just a year ago. And it’s the same in USA. According to Tech Crunch, while as much as one-third of purchases were made by cash in 2015, the use of cash is nevertheless declining.

Sweden and Norway are the two countries where cash transactions have declined the most, according to Financial Times. Many stores in Denmark, according to BBVA, have completely stopped accepting cash as payment. Credit cards have replaced cash for now, but in the future credit cards may also be replaced.

Piggy Banks Will Become Obsolete With The Disappearance Of Physical Cash

istockphoto.com

Depending on your age, you may have used a piggy bank more than ten years ago – when you were still a child that is – but there’s no denying that as adults, some of us still use “piggy banks”, except they are no longer shaped like a pig.

Some of us use jars or bags to store our leftover coins. Some of us misplace them around the house. Some of us keep them in our car. And some of us simply accumulate them in our wallets. Coins can be rather awkward to spend and with the decline of cash, we might not have to do so for much longer.

Hard Discs Will Be Replaced By Solid State Drives (SSD's)

lifewire.com

Remember floppy discs? Once upon a time, they were a standard feature in all personal computers. Then they disappeared for good. And it seems like hard drives will also be heading towards extinction.

According to officials at Hewlett-Packard and Toshiba, the decline of hard drives is bound to happen and the only question that remains is – when will that happen? Apparently, hard drives will become obsolete when SSD’s (solid state drives) can match the capacity cost of hard discs.

Smartphone Home Button Will Be Replaced By Advanced Touch Technology

pocketnow.com

Most will agree home buttons found on smartphones are useful but how necessary are they really? Apparently, not necessary enough to keep them. And while some may grumble at the prospect of smartphones with no home buttons, there is certainly a case to be made for the elimination of the home button.

The elimination of the home button will result in a wider screen which will give mobile users more space. The button itself will be replaced by – you guessed it – advanced touch technology.

Car Keys Will Be Replaced By Mobile Apps

unlockmeandservices.com

We’ve all been there (or know someone who has): we’re in a huge rush to get somewhere and we can’t find our car keys. We check every possible place and eventually find them in the most unlikely of spots.

It’s annoying, isn’t it? But our woes may be solved sooner than we all think. Apparently, in the near future, we’ll be able to use our smartphones to open our cars. Apps that lock and unlock car doors are already in the works but according to Chicago Car Keys, Volvo is determined to do away with car keys altogether, meaning that you’d be able to start your car with your mobile app alone. BMW is also looking at this possibility, according to Automobile Mag.

Thumb Drives Will Be Replaced By Cloud Computing

lifewire.com

There’s no denying that thumb drives are incredibly useful for they allow us to carry tons of information in our purses or our pockets. However, thanks to cloud computing they will inevitably become obsolete.

Still, we might have to stick to thumb drives for the next while, or at least until cloud addresses some of the issues that thumb drives address and cloud doesn’t (yet, anyways). For example, to access your data on cloud you need an internet connection which is not needed to access your data on a USB stick.

Paperwork Will Be Replaced By Online Services Such As Google Docs

happyeasterfrom.com

Almost everyone will agree that paperwork is a lot of hassle, whether you are an employee dealing with paperwork or a customer who needs to collect a form, fill it out, and then return it.

Thankfully, online services – such as Google Docs – allow you to fill out and even sign forms, contracts and other documents. Then you can either submit them online or e-mail them to the appropriate institution.

This lack of physical paperwork might also eliminate products such as staplers and filing products (such as folders). And just think how much paper we’ll save!

Calculators Will Be Replaced By Smartphones

pixabay.com

Nowadays smartphones have countless of amazing features and apps and since most people own a smartphone certain objects are bound to become obsolete. For example, why bother buying a calculator when you can simply use the inbuilt calculator in your phone instead?

Of course, that is only true for regular calculator users who use them to calculate simple math problems. If you are studying math or math related subject in college you may still have to purchase a calculator which will give you access to more functions.

Login Details Will Be Replaced By Biometric Authentication

Lefteris Karafilis

“Your username or password is incorrect.” If it sounds familiar, you’re not on your own – countless of people forget their passwords or usernames daily which can sometimes lead to a serious headache.

But don’t worry – in a decade or two we should see the elimination of passwords completely, which will not only make it easier to login into our various online accounts but will also reduce risk. After all, how many of us write down our passwords on a piece of paper and then lose it, or document our passwords in a password management application that could easily be hacked?

Technology that will most likely replace the password system is biometric authentication which is basically a way of identifying a user by his or her unique characteristics.

Printers Will Be Replaced By Tablets

cnet.com

Let’s be honest – printers are a huge waste. Just think of all the paper that you unnecessarily consume. Thankfully, however, printers may be soon a thing of the past all thanks to tablets that are becoming cheaper with every passing year.

Indeed, back in 2014 Kevin Curran, a technical expert for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) said, according to THE INQUIRER - "The printer will be a thing of the past [and] there'll be no need for hard copies. The more time you spend online, the more at home you feel reading on tablets instead [where] everything can now be done virtually."

CD’s Will Be Replaced By Music In Digital Format

knowtechie.com

According to Statista, between 2000 and 2007 CD sales have almost halved as a result of the emergence of MP3 players. Of course, smartphones and music streaming services only made things worse  – sales of music in physical format declined drastically as sales of music in digital format increased.

While some have argued that CD’s will still be purchased as nostalgic items or even gifts just as vinyl is still gifted today, that seems rather unlikely – CD’s don’t have a unique sound like vinyl does nor do they provide aesthetic value.

Desktop PC's Will Be Replaced By Laptops And Tablets

pcmag.com

This one is a no-brainer. As laptops and tablets become more and more popular – and affordable – people are opting to ditch their desktop PC’s. After all, the latter takes up a lot of space and are rather inconvenient – you can’t carry them wherever you go, for example.

According to THE INQUIRER, the International Data Corporation revealed in its Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker for 2017 that only 97.8 million desktop PC’s were sold in 2017. In contrast, 161.6 million laptops, as well as mobile workstations, were sold in that same year. Tablet sales are also on the rise which leads to IDC speculating that by 2022 only 86 millions desktop PC’s will be sold.

Checkbooks Will Be Replaced By Credit Cards

blossomwm.com

Just like paper money, checkbooks have also been on the decline for quite some time now. It makes sense – electronic transactions are not only more convenient but also faster and even cheaper. According to Bloomberg, checks have been in serious decline in America since around the mid-1990's or so.

Still, when you compare check use in America to check use in other countries, it is quite obvious that Americans are not quite ready to let go of checkbooks. Indeed, according to Bloomberg in 2015 American citizens made, on average, 38 check transactions in comparison to 8 check transactions in U.K and practically zero check transactions in Germany.

Still, according to studies checks are used mostly by older citizens and it is presumed that those who are currently younger than 10 years old will never even learn how to write a check.

Gas Stations Will Be Replaced By Mobile Fueling Apps

btvi.in

Imagine a world with no gas stations. Seems impossible, right? And yet that will probably be the case much sooner than we all think. New innovative services such as mobile fueling apps allow consumers to avoid wasting time and touching gas pump handles, which are supposedly the most unhygienic and germ-covered public surfaces out there.

In addition, electric cars are becoming more and more popular and while it is unlikely that we will all be driving electric cars in twenty years time, they are bound to contribute to the decline of gas stations.

Landlines Will Be Replaced By Smartphones

chicagotribune.com

According to TextRequest, 45.9% of American households still had – and used – a landline in 2016. That may seem like quite a large number but it is worth noting that landlines have been on a serious decline.

For example, between 2015 and 2016, 2.6% of landline users decided to ditch their landline. Indeed, the percentage of households still using a landline has been declining by an average of 3.7% a year ever since 2010. Once again, this makes perfect sense – why use a landline when you can use your mobile phone?

Physical Dictionaries and Encyclopaedias Will Be Replaced By Online Services

Imagine this: you’re in a foreign country where no one speaks English and you want to purchase a cup of coffee. What do you do? Do you reach for your pocket dictionary or do you tap the phrase into an app on your phone? Chances are, you chose the latter option. Why carry extra weight on you when you can simply achieve the same objective via your phone? It’s the same with encyclopedias – thanks to Google they are now in decline which has led to publishers focusing on their online services instead.

Headphones With Cords Will Be Replaced By Cordless Headphones

thescienceexplorer.com

Headphones are a great invention and will not be disappearing anytime soon, if at all. However, according to many, they will undergo serious changes. The changes will concern the headphone cord that allows you to attach your headphones to a device.

Indeed, thanks to technological inventions such as Bluetooth headphones (think Apple’s AirPods) in the future we will all have cordless headphones and will barely remember the days when we had to untangle our headphone cords. If you ask us, that day can’t come soon enough.

Phone Chargers Will Be Replaced With Self-Charging Batteries Or Phone Cases

infospecialist.maemaemae.xyz

Most of us are well aware of that sinking feeling in the pits of our stomachs when we see our smartphone’s battery dying. Luckily, this feeling may be soon a thing of the past.

Last year, scientists at McGill University and the Hydro –Quebec Research Institute came up with an idea for a self-charging lithium-ion battery.

But they are not alone. Companies such as Nikola Labs are looking at other possible ways of charging your phone without a phone charger. One such way is a smartphone case that has the ability to lengthen the battery’s life.

Paper Receipts Will Be Replaced With Digital Receipts

tabscanner.com

Let’s be realistic – paper receipts are kind of useless. Just think of the last time you were doing your shopping – more likely than not you threw your receipt out as soon as you got it or else crumpled it up into a little ball and shoved it into your pocket.

Paper receipts are incredibly wasteful hence why more and more companies are opting to forego them completely and choose digital receipts instead which can be emailed to a customer’s e-mail address. Digital receipts are cheap, quick and environmentally-friendly.

Car Mirrors Will Be Replaced By A Camera-And-Display Setup

carfetti.com

A car without side mirrors is dangerous, right? Not necessarily. According to some, car mirrors will become obsolete in the near future for they will be replaced by a camera-and-display setup (basically a CCTV camera that will show you what is happening around your car.)

These systems will be incredibly useful for they will not only show you your car’s blind spots but will also allow you to see the outside world better than ever before.

Indeed, according to AutoTrader, all new cars are required to have a rearview camera by 2018. Tesla, on the other hand, decided to up their game - they plan on fully replacing the rearview mirror with a mini camera.

Delivery Drivers Will Be Replaced By Drones

worksafeky.com

We’re used to receiving our packages via the post or other delivery services that employ delivery drivers. But soon enough that might change as more and more companies are experimenting with drone delivery.

Drone delivery would undoubtedly be faster, more efficient and of course, cheaper. In other words, it’s every company’s dream, especially seeing how customers expect their packages to be delivered faster and faster with each passing day. In recent years the outlook on drones has shifted significantly. While before they were seen as dangerous and in some cases even destructive, nowadays they are viewed as inevitable.

Credit Cards Will Be Replaced By Mobile Payment And Banking Apps

upgradedpoints.com

Most people are aware that cash will more likely than not become obsolete in the near future. But it is a bit shocking to learn that credit cards will, at some point in the future, become obsolete too.

According to Futurism, last year Piotr Turek, a Polish futurist, said that “in less than five years, smartphones, watches, and other devices will replace credit/debit cards, wallets, lenders, stockbrokers, and insurance agents.”

So what will replace credit cards? Mobile payment and banking apps, which are used already. The integration of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin will make mobile payment even safer.

Parking Meters Will Be Replaced By Smartphone Apps

popville.com

There’s nothing more annoying than attempting to pay for parking only to realize that the nearest parking meter is out of order or worse, broken permanently. As most of us walk towards another nearest parking meter – which is, more often than not, quite a walk away – we fume.

But don’t worry – soon enough parking meters may be nothing more than a thing of the past. Indeed, in some cases, we can already pay for parking via a mobile app, a phone message or by phone.

References: Forbes, Insights, Pocket-Lint, DigitalTrends