Buzz
Over the past century, mass media and global communication have profoundly influenced human culture, and this impact has exponentially increased in recent decades. Technologies and forms of entertainment make huge impressions on the cultural landscape, only to become outdated at an astonishing rate. As longstanding, revolutionary aspects of our culture fade, this trend seems inevitable.
There was a time when the following were groundbreaking, offering innovative ways to interact with the world. Some made a bigger impact or lasted longer than others, but all played a significant role in shaping society. However, none will endure through your lifetime, and your children may struggle to understand what you mean when you mention these...
10. Network News
As television emerged as a new medium, it was natural that veterans from other fields were among the first to dive in. Radio and film stars became the early icons of television, while journalists from print and radio played a pivotal role in shaping the television news format. Some of these figures even became the first 'celebrity' journalists, and by the 1960s and 70s, their influence over public opinion had reached immense levels.
During this time, network news broadcasts were vital to the lives of many, particularly in the United States, where CBS News held a dominant position for decades, largely due to the leadership and presence of Walter Cronkite. Cronkite, who anchored the network’s nightly news from 1962 to 1981, had such a powerful influence that in 1968, when he declared the Vietnam War a stalemate, President Lyndon B. Johnson famously remarked, 'If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost middle America.'
9. Anthology Series
The golden age of network news anchors also marked a defining period for television storytelling, as the medium transitioned from the techniques of radio and theater. Many early television programs were essentially filmed radio or stage plays, and one of the most innovative ways to experiment with new formats was through the anthology series. These shows often featured a different story and cast each week, with a rotating team of writers and influences from literary and theatrical traditions. One of the most successful of these, Studio 60, ran for over a decade from 1948 to 1958, helping to cement the genre and its conventions. However, another series, which premiered a year later, would go on to revolutionize not just television, but the entire landscape of entertainment and storytelling.
Rod Serling, a seasoned writer known for his work on anthologies like Kraft Television Theater and Hallmark Hall of Fame, introduced The Twilight Zone in 1958. The prelude to the series, 'The Time Element,' was showcased on The Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse, another anthology show. By the time The Twilight Zone wrapped in 1964, it had pioneered new norms in scriptwriting, cinematography, and acting, setting a standard that still influences television today. Many notable actors made their breakthrough appearances on the show, and one of its head writers remains such a towering cultural figure that he could easily inspire a list all of his own.
The anthology format proved to be an excellent tool for delving into the evolving language, boundaries, and techniques of early television. Its success in this realm was so profound that it made the genre nearly obsolete in the modern era. Even subsequent revivals of The Twilight Zone in 1985 and 2002 couldn’t breathe new life into the format.
8. Magazines
We understand that you turn to Mytour for engaging, enlightening content that breaks free from the confines of traditional news and academic outlets. This demand has always existed, but it wasn't always possible to fulfill until the Internet emerged. In fact, in an alternate universe, Mytour might have become a print magazine. Had we been around thirty years ago, that would have been the case.
The print magazine industry has been in a steady decline, mirroring the rise of Internet use, and now it appears to be teetering on the brink of extinction. Even some of the most well-known and stable brands have experienced significant drops in circulation over the past decade. And there seems to be no solution in sight. When Time magazine ran a controversial cover featuring a breastfeeding mother, or when Newsweek adopted a bizarrely suggestive cover, the fleeting publicity failed to make any lasting impact on circulation numbers.
Magazines used to provide content that was highly targeted and specific, but now, anyone with an Internet connection can access similar material. This is just one example of how certain cultural trends are being influenced by the web. However, not all cultural phenomena can blame their decline on the digital age—one of the most significant and unique cultural icons of the last 50 years is now all but forgotten:
7. Drive-In Theaters
For those unfamiliar, there was once a time when movie theaters were held outdoors. It may sound unbelievable, but it's true. These theaters featured enormous screens, and each parking spot had a small speaker that you would place in your car window. You may recognize this from movies or TV shows set in the '50s, but we assure you—they existed in real life, and there were many of them.
The first drive-in theater made its debut in 1933 in New Jersey. In the following years, similar establishments sprouted across California, Texas, and Ohio. By 1948, just 15 years later, there were over 800 drive-ins; a decade after that, the number soared to nearly 5,000. These outdoor theaters became community landmarks, some even offering playgrounds and mini-golf, with a few large enough to fit 3,000 cars in front of their massive screens. During a brief period in the late '50s and early '60s, drive-ins outpaced indoor cinemas in terms of popularity.
The decline of the drive-in theater can be attributed to three primary factors: rising real estate prices, the nationwide adoption of daylight savings time—which reduced viewing hours during peak summer evenings—and the rise of VCRs and home video. Speaking of which...
6. Video Stores
For those of a certain generation, the memory of walking into a video store for the first time is unforgettable. The sight of rows upon rows of video cassettes, all available for rental, was revolutionary. From the late '70s, when home video became a cultural phenomenon, through the rise of the DVD, it was nearly impossible to walk more than a few blocks in a mid-sized town without encountering a video rental store. But when the DVD emerged, something unexpected happened.
Although DVDs were clearly a step up from the VHS tapes that dominated the market for years, their sales and rentals still fell short of industry predictions—except in one completely unforeseen area: online rentals. Netflix, founded in 1997, the same year DVDs became widely accessible, revolutionized the rental market with its convenient online ordering and mail delivery system. This disrupted traditional brick-and-mortar DVD rental stores long before Netflix transitioned to digital streaming, a move that ultimately led to the decline of even its own DVD rental business.
With the vast majority of content once found at video rental stores now available online almost constantly—and Redbox filling in the gaps—the days of physical video stores are numbered. Blockbuster, once the largest video rental chain, was purchased by Dish Network in 2011, and by 2013, only around 500 US stores remained, a steep drop from over 3,000 just five years earlier. In 1989, nearly 90,000 video stores operated across the United States.
5. Newspapers
Given the trends we've seen so far, it should come as no surprise that newspaper circulation is on a steady decline as more people turn to the web for their news. However, this decline is not just steady—it’s accelerating rapidly. Even long-standing giants like USA Today, which were historically resistant to these shifts, are now unable to reverse the trend. In fact, there isn’t a single newspaper where ad revenue is increasing.
At this stage, the survival of these well-known newspapers hinges on two main factors: their ability and willingness to transition to digital platforms, and whether anyone can figure out how to optimize ad revenue in this new (for them) online space. While print ads still bring in $20 billion annually, that's a significant drop from the $70 billion of a decade ago—and now, Google generates more ad revenue than all US newspapers combined, thanks to its expertise in monetizing ads on the web.
While these newspapers might find ways to adapt and survive in a digital environment, the physical editions themselves, which require substantial costs to print and distribute, will likely be obsolete in the near future.
4. Catalogs
When Aaron Montgomery Ward published the first mail-order catalog for his business in 1872 (on a single 8x12 price sheet), he probably didn’t realize he was laying the foundation for an entirely new form of global commerce. By allowing customers to shop at their convenience and in private, Ward (followed by his competitor Richard Warren Sears) had created a new motivation for purchasing—convenience. By the early 20th century, mail-order sales were worth billions in today’s dollars; by 1908, it was even possible to buy a house through mail-order.
While over 10,000 print catalogs are still circulating today, according to the National Directory of Catalogs, their numbers are rapidly shrinking as online catalogs expand. Major retailers made the shift to digital platforms years ago, and the remaining print catalogs primarily serve niche markets, often acting as intermediaries for online orders.
As surprising as it may seem, the 12 billion print catalogs mailed in 2009 represented a 7% decline from the year prior. It's also interesting to note that the industry's target demographic—70% of which consists of married, female homeowners over the age of 50—are often less familiar with and more hesitant to trust the Web.
3. Television
Although we're often told we're in the midst of a golden age of television programming, the television set itself—the classic square box or long flat panel that takes center stage in the living room, connected to cable, antenna, or satellite to receive broadcasts—now appears more outdated with each passing year. Not that flat-panel TVs won’t continue to sell like hotcakes, as they become increasingly affordable. It's just that they can no longer truly be considered ‘televisions,’ given that they are virtually identical to computer monitors.
As demonstrated by the earliest home video devices (set a timer, record the late show, watch it in the morning!), viewers have always preferred to watch content on THEIR terms, not according to the network's schedule. The quick and successful uptake of DVRs by cable companies further proved this, and the incredibly lucrative licensing deals with Netflix and Hulu are now steering broadcast networks toward a new business model—one that no longer relies on scheduled programming.
Even the least tech-savvy viewers now realize that they don’t have to follow a network's programming schedule to enjoy the content they crave. With your smartphone delivering timely news alerts, streaming of your favorite cable shows almost instantly, and broadcast content available for recording on your DVR or streaming across multiple platforms, it's hard to justify the appeal of scheduled programming. It seems likely that the appeal of this format will continue to wane year after year.
2. Physical Media
Some of you may have noticed a growing argument that, in the near future, all media will be entirely digital. While the DVD's introduction had little impact on this trend, the struggle of its successor format underscores this point even more.
The video format battle of the 1970s, between VHS and Betamax, seemed to be on the verge of a sequel when Sony and Magnavox introduced their competing Blu-Ray and HD-DVD high-definition video formats in 2005. Just as VHS triumphed in the original clash, Blu-Ray appeared to claim victory in the newer format war—but, surprisingly, even five years after Blu-Ray's so-called 'victory,' the HD-DVD format still holds on. In some respects, the two formats have achieved nearly equal popularity.
This situation seems to reflect a general lack of fervor or knowledge about either format, and the music industry has made it clear in recent years that the experience of physically holding media is steadily giving way to the convenience of digital access. With broadband and data networks improving their ability to deliver high-definition content, the drive to take sides in a format war is rapidly fading. Soon, as high-speed Internet becomes accessible nearly everywhere, physical media formats will be viewed more as obstacles to obtaining content than anything else—along with the limitations posed by the largest content provider in human history:
1. Land Telephone Lines
The significance of the telephone is beyond dispute—it's one of the most revolutionary inventions, enabling instant voice communication across the globe. However, as cell phone usage has steadily increased since their introduction, something noteworthy occurred in 2012: the number of U.S. households without a landline phone became the majority for the first time. Many children today have never used a phone that wasn't wireless.
While this may not have much impact on well-established telecom companies, who have largely adapted to the evolving wireless landscape (with some even choosing to discontinue landline services entirely), it carries significant consequences for the millions of landline phones still in production today, as well as the extensive network of telephone lines that spans the globe—an intricate infrastructure that will soon become obsolete. Utility poles do more than just hold telephone lines, but those lines themselves won’t be able to serve another purpose. As the system ages, reduced maintenance will become a growing issue.
As a side note, older generations may recall how groundbreaking answering machines were when they first arrived—you could finally catch every call! Today, even landline phones typically come with voicemail—when was the last time you saw a standalone answering machine? If you can still remember, you're likely in the minority.
