Unsplash | Iwona Castiello d'Antonio

31 Things People Don't Think Will Exist By 2030

Did you know that 10 years ago there was no Instagram? Facebook was still in its infancy and streaming platforms as we now know them didn't exist. The point I'm making is that a lot can change in 10 years.

It makes you wonder what kind of leaps and bounds we'll bear witness to as far as technological advances are concerned. Have a look below at these 15 things people don't think will exist by 2030.

TV/stereo remote controls

Unsplash | Piotr Cichosz

There's nothing more annoying than losing a remote control in the cushions of your couch. Now, thanks to advances in Bluetooth and speech recognition technology, the days of fumbling for the clicker may soon become a distant memory.

Landline telephones

Unsplash | Annie Spratt

Touchtone telephones have become extremely rare. In fact, the only person I know who still uses a landline is my 89-year-old nana. Many countries, such as Finland, have already shut down landlines and have switched to a VoIP system.

Pagers

"My hospital just announced they are getting rid of pagers completely and requiring a “paging app” on smartphones instead," writes Reddit user CaliHighDreams.

Once beepers all but disappear from hospitals, that will probably be the last we ever see of them.

Plastic debit/credit cards

Unsplash | Mark OFlynn

The transition to an online wallet is inevitable. More and more merchants are accepting Apple Pay, Android Pay, Samsung Pay, etc. — thus making the carrying of physical cards largely redundant. Reports suggest that this trend might also help cut down on fraud attempts.

Fax machines

Fax machines are clunky, loud, heavy, and incredibly outdated. They're a precursor to the internet and should have died out with the advent of e-mail. As we trend more and more toward a paperless society, a fax machine's use is diminishing by the day.

Alpha-numeric passwords

Unsplash | Yura Fresh

Passwords can be such a pain. Why should we be forced to remember countless combinations of numbers and letters when we could simply use our fingerprint, retinal scan, or even our own voice instead? Wouldn't that solve everyone's problem?

Wired technology

Wires are a pain. They become damaged over time, they get lost, and if you're anything like me — they may also cause you to trip and hurt yourself. Wireless charging technology has become so advanced in the past decade that soon enough it will replace analog entirely.

Cashiers

Unsplash | Clay Banks

Whenever I walk into the drug store, most of the employees are quite literally standing around with nothing to do. The vast majority of people are already quite comfortable using self-checkout and that's only the beginning of the automation integration process.

Keys

I keep my keys on a custodian's keyring with a giant green lanyard attached and I still somehow manage to lose them. Keyless entry is becoming more and more prominent, especially with the advent of smart house technology.

Physical media

Unsplash | blocks

Last year, most people had no idea what an NFT was. Today, it's slowly becoming the new paradigm. By my calculation, the only physical media that people will own in 2030 will be vinyl records and that's it.

Fiat currency

Fiat currency is money that isn't backed by a physical commodity, such as gold for example. This means that countries and governments can manipulate the markets by controlling the amount of money that's being printed.

Once we move to a completely digital form of currency — our entire concept of economics will change.

Phone towers

Phone towers quite literally connect the world, but their usefulness is quickly depleting. The technology already exists for our phones will be able to connect to one another without cell towers — the range is just too limited.

Delivery people

We've been hearing the rumors for years and it seems that we're on the precipice of drone technology replacing human delivery people altogether. Soon enough, when you look up into the sky, you'll see a drone flying in to deliver your Amazon packages.

USB drives

Unsplash | Brina Blum

I'm old enough to remember the days of floppy disks and USB drives are the floppy disks of the new millennium. Online storage is becoming much more prevalent, and with file sharing apps like Dropbox — thumb drives just aren't necessary anymore.

Traffic jams

We're already beginning to see the rollout of self-driving cars. In the next decade, as more and more driverless cars make their way onto the road, traffic will begin to improve as automation becomes the norm.

ICE (no, not that one).

Unsplash | Erik Mclean

"New cars with diesel/petrol engines (ICE - internal combustion engine). I at least hope there won't be any. Petrol stations will also slowly fade into charging stations for electric cars. Batteries will also significantly improve and we'll learn to better harvest solar power." u/TheSingularity

Human interaction at retail

Unsplash | Firmbee.com

A lot of people think that more than anything, online shopping will take over to the point that people won't even know how to interact with one another in the real world!

Facebook

Unsplash | Alexander Shatov

"Idk if Facebook would last till then. It always seemed so… old and outdated to me. I don’t see much attention to it anymore and I think it’s already dying." u/Unknown0110101

Travel agents

Unsplash | JESHOOTS.COM

Considering most people do their things online now and shop for their own deals, people won't feel the need to go to travel agents.

It's sad, but unfortunately, it makes sense.

Toilet paper

This is an interesting and scary one.

I don't know what we will be using if we don't have toilet paper. I don't even want to think about that potential. I like my toilet paper thank you very much.

Indoor shopping malls

Unsplash | Michael Weidemann

Connecting back to online shopping, this can be a very real possibility if people keep ordering their products.

Maybe warehouses are the way of the future. Who knows! Lots of job loss though.

Insecurity.

Unsplash | Nate Neelson

"Insecure people, Sugar, Outbursts of violence, and cigarettes. I think that more people will become spiritually sensitive and because of this change of awareness many senseless or low vibrational things will disappear." u/User33one123

Mobile games

Unsplash | SCREEN POST

"The mobile games will still be churned out at the masses but its popularity had decreased since 2017, when games like angry birds and stuff stoped being made the way they used to back in 2011, by 2030, the mobile gaming industry will be full of braindead 6yo kids who can’t tell quality from quantity, and mobile gaming will go down the drain." u/Athrixx

"Detached homes in canada for under 1 million."

Unsplash | todd kent

User rusty_5hackleford makes an interesting point! We all know the housing crisis is getting worse and worse, so this one seems pretty plausible.

Very dark thought.

Braces

"Braces (on a mass level at the very least).

With the innovation of invisalign, I can't imagine the justification for the barbaric method of using metal on teeth." u/jman857

Twitter

Similarly, Twitter is another social media website that people think will go under.

Despite its toxic environment, it's still hitting strong, so we will definitely see what happens in the long run!

Amazon

"Amazon, as it is today.

Spicy answer, but it’s already too big, and bezos has already stepped down from leadership. It’s plagued with quality control issues that are outside it’s ability to navigate, full of fake reviews because it’s easy to manipulate, and people are already catching on." u/observedlife

Taxi drivers

Unsplash | the blowup

" I still struggle to see how taxi drivers do not become obsolete in the next 10 years. If you run a taxi firm, it would be madness to pay someone money to drive a car for you when you have a vehicle that can drive itself! Demand may leave a market for human-driven taxis, but these will struggle to survive as automation will drive prices down." u/johLincoln

HIV

Unsplash | Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition

"Hopefully HIV/AIDS (at least for people who get vaccinated). The progress with mRNA vaccines is exciting! As a gay male, HIV is a constant fear of mine, and I cant wait until our community has one less thing to worry about and feel stigmatized for." u/Ecto_Cooler_Juicebox

America's Funniest Home Videos

This is a bold one considering that it's gone on for so long!

I am genuinely curious to see if it manages to last until 2030. Color me curious when it comes to this one!

TikTok

Unsplash | Alexander Shatov

Like all fads, people think this one will come and go as Vine did.

What things do you think won't exist in 2030? Leave a comment and let us know!