Top 10 Things You Probably Won't Miss If They Disappear

Top 10 Things You Probably Won't Miss If They Disappear

Also in:

Top 10 Things to Do in Cuba

Be honest… would you really notice or care? Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the Top 10 Things You Probably Won't Miss If They Disappear. For this list, we’ll be looking at things in our world, which, if they were to suddenly disappear tomorrow, wouldn’t be greatly missed, or which we could adjust to living without in a matter of weeks or months

Sure, let’s start with one that’s guaranteed to elicit some angry reactions. You see, with the advent of e-cigarettes, many smokers have opted to ditch their odorous bad habit in favor of this new delivery system to get their nicotine fix. Vaping, though perhaps lacking the aesthetic appeal of smoking, has made one-time smokers feel less marginalized and unwelcome. If cigarettes suddenly disappeared tomorrow, vapers wouldn’t mind one bit. Smokers would undoubtedly be upset, but with a little time and the inevitable shift to vaping, we suspect that most people would quickly get over the loss.

#9: Physical Data Storage

Also in:

Quantum Light Explained | The Future Of Physical Matter | Unveiled

With the major tech players, including Apple, Google, and Microsoft, all offering and pushing their cloud storage systems, locally-stored data is already on the decline. You might balk at the idea of committing to the cloud, but the reality is, you’ve probably already begun to make the transition without realizing it. Many businesses employ Google Apps or “G Suite” to facilitate file sharing. Apple has all but forced its users into embracing its cloud services. There’s natural resistance to trusting a faceless internet service to store all your cherished photos, music, movies, and documents, but the reality is… it’s far more likely that your external hard drive, USB stick, or computer will suddenly die on you.

And by that we mean postal service - physical mail. For many people, the mailbox contains nothing but bad news. If traditional mail service were to suddenly cease to exist, we think that it might actually be an improvement, as it would force those few technologically-lagging businesses and industries to finally go paperless and stop insisting that you physically mail them documents X, Y, and Z. If the only thing that got delivered to your front door were Amazon orders and subscription boxes, we think it’d improve the “mailing” experience. If it simply were to disappear, we think that very few people would bat an eye, and it sure would save a lot of paper.

Once upon a time, having all the various goods you could want offered in one convenient location was a dream come true. But nowadays, both department stores and malls feel like a waste of space. Younger generations prefer to do their shopping online where they can get the best prices and avoid pushy salespersons. If you want something particular, well then, you probably want to go to a specialized store where the employees are experts, not just the person assigned to that department as part of a megastore. As for malls, they just feel cramped and crowded. Between online shopping and dedicated retailers, we don’t think either of these commercial centers would be missed.

We’ve all been there before: you enter a business and do your shopping, only to have the cashier point to a sign that says “cash only” when you whip out your card. In this age of online banking, people are handling money less and less. The only people who seem to have cash on hand are delivery boys and people in the service industry because of tips. For the rest of us, it’s a simple inconvenience. If physical money were to disappear, all businesses would be forced to take cards and life would be oh so convenient. No more awkwardly running to the closest ATM to pay for a meal you just ate.

No… we’re not talking about the ones on your coat. We all know for a FACT that when we lose one of those, it is sorely missed. We’re talking about buttons that you physically push in. You know, like on a house phone, a calculator or TV remote control? Buttons break, and more often than not, because electronics are made so cheaply these days, that means throwing out the whole thing. It’s the reality of using a physical mechanism - they deteriorate with repeated use. There’s also a spatial consideration - wherever you put a button, you can’t put something else. With space-saving touchscreen technology and app-controlled electronics, however, we can arguably do away buttons entirely.

Dear networks, we know that you’re trying to up the quality of your programming to compete, but the issue isn’t the content, it’s the distribution method. People want to watch whatever they feel like, and they want to do it on their own time. Yes, there are still plenty of people out there with traditional cable who are content to channel flip and put up with commercials, but if fate cut the cord for them, we suspect that they’d soon embrace their new freedom. While we’re at it, let’s talk broadcast radio. You might turn it on out of habit while driving, but with so many podcasts and music streaming services… it seems superfluous.

Computers are the present and the future, but our concept of a computer is ever changing, and soon enough, they’ll look so different that a time traveler from the early 90s wouldn’t even recognize a modern computer. If stores were to stop selling desktop computers tomorrow, there might be an initial reaction, but then people would quickly move on, accepting the fact that laptops and micro PCs can cover the needs of most users. We’ll make an exception here and say that gaming PCs would be sorely missed - but they’re sort of a different beast to begin with. Between smartphones, laptops, and tablets, the traditional “home computer” is an old habit, not a necessity.

Credit where credit is due - bringing a telephone into every modern home connected the world in ways our ancestors never could have fathomed. And now, we can easily imagine a world without them. The mass spread of cell phones have rendered them useless. Many family homes still have them, but that’s just because they’ve been there so long. What’s the point of having a phone that’s fixed to one location? That just sounds like an opportunity for missed calls. We’re witnessing the slow death of both landlines and public telephones , but if someone were to put both out of their misery with one swift yank of the cord, no one would really care. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions: Standardized Testing Analog Watches

Unless you’re still in school, chances are that you no longer feel that a home printer is really necessary. People print stuff increasingly infrequently. In fact, younger generations have generally drifted away from using paper products of all kinds. Notepads, agendas, maps - these are all better handled electronically these days. And yet, the world still manages to consume somewhere in the ballpark 407.6 metric tons of paper yearly, proving that old habits die hard. If paper were to be suddenly outlawed, the vast majority of us wouldn’t feel much effect. Ebooks might take some getting used to for purists, but as the tech improves, we think even paperback and hardcover purists would come around.