do the math:
2008-1962=46.
2008+46=2054, not 2040; likely to be an important distinction when it rolls around.
now, reverse it.
1962-46=1916.
think how much LESS has changed since Mad Men days.
1916 would look like the 19th century to the Mad Men, not a variation on modernity.

do the math:
2008-1962=46.
2008+46=2054, not 2040; likely to be an important distinction when it rolls around.
now, reverse it.
1962-46=1916.
think how much LESS has changed since Mad Men days.
1916 would look like the 19th century to the Mad Men, not a variation on modernity.

Drinking whole milk was considered healthy by Mona for Roger's ulcer. He had a heart attack. The 2008 audience, with knowledge of the low fat is better diatary beliefs could laugh at her encouraging Roger to be healthy and drink milk products. Things seem to reverse themselves as generations change so perhaps real eggs and whole milk will again be considered healthy, since it is likely that many future foods will be chemically based which will make 'real' foods scare and therefore more expensive and trendy.

Hi Sizzie! Actually, the milk, cream diet was recommended by Mds back then. It was felt that milk products would coat the stomach and help the ulcer heal. Often cardiac pain feels like ulcer/stomach pain. That's what happened to Roger. he thought his ulcer was better, while he was clogging his coronary arteries. Of course, I loved the scenes where he added booze to his milk/cream!!

Yes, 60'schild, I remember people forcing milk/cream down because they felt it was good for them and their ulcer. I know the thinking on ulcers has changed, as well as the other reasons against whole milk. I can't remember the latest on ulcers, though. Whenever someone was in the hospital , we almost always took them a milkshake or malt as a treat. Was MM where a child was playing astronaut with a plastic bag from the cleaners? The kids on my block played with guns every day, if we didn't have 'real' cap pistols we made up pretend ones, sometimes war guns like bazookas.

Sizzie, I think the milk cure for ulcers stopped because other more effective treatments came out, like antacids and medications.
And, you're right about the plastic bag! That was in one of my first postings, about the humor in MM. Sally, Betty and Don's daughter, was playing with the bag on her head, Betty called her into the kitchen to scold her, not about the bag, but about leaving dry cleaned clothes on Betty's closet floor.
How times have changed! Now, plastic bags have warnings on them.
Many of my fellow boomers started giving examples of the dangerous world we lived in as kids, and how we managed to survive!

I think our wasteful disposable items will be regarded as ridiculous. It wasn't until the 70's that the plastic, one use and throw it away culture that we still have now became the norm, and will seem anachronistic in the not too distant future. I remember growing up (born in '55) my grandmother, and to an extent my parents, had the same items in every room forever. No disposing of anything because they wanted a different color or "look". We have become "victims" of advertising, and trends. That's why the show's setting in SC is so great, because we've all become mindless consumers.

to all maddicts:
i think on some level we can hope for a world free of today's stultifying earnestness and suffocating political correctness--a world more like Mad Men.
equality of opportunity: sure. (we're seeing a vivid example right now as i'm writing this.)

I see 2040 brining about same sex marriages in every state! We will be embarrased that it did not happen sooner, and so will our children.

I think people's personal decisions like gay marriage and abortion will not be the political footballs they are today. I think the abortion issue will be rendered obsolete by birth control technology, and planned voluntary euthanesia will become legal for those who are terminally ill.

People will get over the obsession with being stick thin and concentrate more on health as the obesity wave kills a lot of the population. With Earth's resources becoming more and more precious, there will be a big concentration on preventing overpopulation and husbanding the resources left. The idea of leaving for another planet becomes more viable as Earth gets less habitable.

As daily life becomes more and more complex, people will escape to arts and entertainment and elect all actors, not politicians. They will eventually elect an animated cartooon figure to be president.

The human body will begin to merge with electronic devices and we will have micro chips inserted into our veins that are programmed to travel through the body and target and kill disease cells, cancer and fat cells. We wil have the equivalent of micro computers actually functioning in our bodies, such as chips placed in the speech pattern part of the brain so we can instanty speak another language.

The struggle between religion and technology will intensify but eventually people will realize that the two are not necessarily opposite poles.

The class struggle will narrow down to the educated vs uneducated citizens, with the number of the uneducated being larger because our educational system did not keep pace and many people finally turned away from it. However, those who are tech-savvy will hold the reins in the employment market.

People will still love their kids although the family as we know it will continue to change. More affluent mothers will not physically bear their own children, opting to use hired human female reproductive systems or robot technology.

Clothing will be recyclable paper, no more laundering, closets, suitcases, or sizes.

All food will be effectively processed into capsules. with more nutritional value.

Life will continue to change at an accelerated pace. Education will depend not on learning "facts" that are soon obsolete but on learning to understand and work new systems.

flowerpower:
sounds like the sci fi of the 1950s predicting 2008.
look how modern the SC offices still look to us.
life does not change at an accelerated pace.
it's changed much less in the past 50 years than in the 50 years before that.

Slightly off topic: Just what happened to all those ulcers we heard about in the 60's, 70's and 80's? I never hear of anyone having an ulcer now. Are we just masking it with Prilosec and antacids?

Sizzie
It's totally untrue that lowfat equals healthy and I seldom hear about ulcers - maybe they have a new name or new names? A lot of food is already more chemically based than you realize (and poisonous too) - grown in petrochemical fertilizers, manipulated in the lab (GMOs) sprayed and sprayed against insects...

I haven't researched ulcers lately, but I remember hearing at one time that it was considered they might be caused by a virus. During Roger's time, weren't they mostly considered a stress illness..although, I doubt we used the word "stress". If my Mom was feeling frazzeled, (not from an ulcer, just from every day life), she took one of her 'nerve pills'. Goodness knows what was in it,and it was doctore prescribed. I agree with you chesterton, but I do think the current social convention is toward low fat and that is just an example of how things change and how a majority of key issues are based more on what Madison Avenue companies tell us then what is truth. And the writers reference that often.

I predict that in 2040 the orangutans, chimps and gorillas will rule Earth. Humans will have regressed entirely until a man who looks like Charlton Heston will declare what a madhouse it all is, denouce the damned dirty apes and slowly save the world with his hot chick Nova.

The ulcers of 50 - 60's is now called Irriatble Bowel Syndrome!!!! I grew up on whole milk and my kids are too, no history of heart disease in my family (not to my knowledge yet!) World has gone to hell in a handbasket (can;t have toys from China, don;t use plastic bottles, etc., etc....) I should be dead now

It's a bacterial infection from H. pylori:

"If you're one of the 5 million Americans with duodenal ulcers, you aren't, as you may believe, the victim of excess stomach acid, too much coffee, fried food or a cement–headed boss.

You are most likely the victim of a spiral–shaped bacteria, Helicobacter pylori.

The bug lives in the lining of your stomach, and washes down into the upper bulb of the duodenum, the first part of the small intestine where most ulcers occur. There it gnaws at the lining, initiating a painful ulcer, and somehow signals the stomach to produce more hydrochloric acid and more pepsin, a digestive enzyme. The pain of an ulcer can be relieved by eating.

Half of adults older than 60 have H. pylori in their bodies, but only a small percent of them develop ulcers. Among younger people, only 5 to 10 percent have H. pylori infections, and far fewer have ulcers."

More at http://www.hbci.com/~wenonah/new/ulcer.htm

It is not known why some people develop ulcers from the bug and others don't.

The scene of Roger putting milk in his vodka in S1 was hilarious. I'm thinking that wasn't what the doctor ordered.

I have to respectfully disagree with Demolino's "life does not change at an accelerated pace.
it's changed much less in the past 50 years than in the 50 years before that."

That certainly is not my observation in almost any field.

Can you imagine what the people of 1962 would think to know that today we have a black candidate for President of the United States and a female candidate for VP of the U.S.?

Pretty wild.

flowerpower:
c'mon, think it thru: the whole reason we like mm is because we can still identify with it. someone in 1962 watching a story about an ad agency in 1916 would be looking a whole different world.
you're saying your life is more different from your parents' than theirs were from their parents'?
i can't prove it, of course, but to me it's just common sense.
and...laurie b:
any informed person in 1962 would have expected a black or woman president by now.
(if not the one in 2008, then the other in 2012, the way things are going...)

I disagree. In 1962 you were still a year away from Selma and Montgomery and two years from Dr. King's speech in washington. As for the women, women didn't start marching until the late '60s.

So yeah, I think a woman or a black running for presidential office, much less being nominated and elected, would be a real shocker.

Any other opinions out there?

This talk about ulcers is giving me . . . an ulcer.

@ Laurie B: Let's hope the changes in 2008 will be more like 1968-this country needs a serious explosion of change we can believe in!

redhead:
for me, the biggest part of mm's appeal is showing how things don't always change for the better. i think the writers intended that.
i'm constantly struck by how much freer life was, and still more civil.
(i know. i know. easy for me to say; i'm a straight, white, male. point taken.)
just somehow, i wish i had lived then.
maybe by 2054 we'll recognize the wisdom of the ancients and a man will light up in his office and kick back with a scotch while a secretary in a tight dress...

Why cuz 1968 was so darn great? Ick. Let's not get started on political viewpoints.

LaurieB: No, just that '68 was an explosion of change that now has made the lives of many people better, though it's all still a work in progress. I view 1968 as the turning point from stagnation towards change.

demolino: I do agree that some aspects of life were freer. Recall how Bobbie said in the car "why is it so hard to just enjoy". Society these days seems so thin-skinned with people getting so easily offended and acting so self-righteous. I used to want to live back then--maybe now just for a week or two to stir things up--like the Reese Witherspoon character in "Pleasantville". While visiting 1962, I would also make a substantial financial investments in IBM and PepsiCo.

I remember my first political science class in college in the early 80's. My professor said there would never be a woman president or a male black president. The ideology of "traditions" hold strong in the U.S. and that type of change would not happen in our lifetimes. I thought the old man was crazy - we will have a woman president in less than 10 years!! Well it is almost 30 years later and tradition is still hanging tight. I can see the strong traditions at Sterling Cooper and Don hanging on to them like my old college professor! Let go Don and be free!!

Yeah I remember "Make Love Not War".... I think the late '60s started "The Peter Pan Syndrome (I won't grow up), "The ME Generation", and a general lack of self-responsibility that continues today. Reliable birth control was on the market and yet 60 MILLION abortions have been performed since 1973. Whether you're pro-life or pro-choice, that's just pandemic.

The '60s are split into two parts - pre-1967 and post-1967. I felt safer before 1967. After that, it was havoc and mayhem.

I haven't felt safe since 1st grade when I missed the afternoon schoolbus and had to walk all the way home alone. :)

The Detroit Riots were in July 1967. Burning buildings, looting, gunfire, the national guard rolling down your streets You never get over something like that.

Every situation leaves its imprint upon the person who has experienced it.

This is such an enormous subject, and a real sore point with me at the moment.

Suffice to say for now, if you get the chance, watch the movie "Idiocracy," with Luke Wilson.

It's about the extreme dumbing down of society and is tragically hilarious.

Well I was only 6 in 1967, so I wasn't conscious of the rioting then. Laurie B., based on your picture, you don't look old enough to remember it either... I've fantasized about being born earlier for a long time so I could have enjoyed the 60's fashion, music and been part of the social/political counterculture that brought about so much change. I know there was plenty of disillusionment and tragedy but I've always been impressed by how people truly came together to make a difference and persevered. There was a sense of purpose and responsibility in young people that you don't see now. And the clothes! I love early to mid 60's style. And I agree people are awfully touchy these days, political correctness is running amok. It's such a bore. Especially here on the west coast.

Dry Manhattan: thanks for the tip--we'll check it out @ Blockbuster!

Hey, Tamara your post made me think of another current event in the 60's...Apollo 13. The nation really came together for the astronauts. I wonder of MM will bring that up this season? Or was it later in the 60's?

....it will be on next Wednesday, September 3, at 1:05 am - HBOE.

Wow, 1968 - I was 16. Too much to list everything that happened that year, so see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1968 for an idea of what was happenin'

.....Redhead64, "...all the way home..." I laughed outright. Very funny thanks.

Come to Seattle, haven of reserved politeness and utter road rage (we battle with and without our turn signals!)........

Things I hope we have put far behind us in 2054:
Not necessarily listed in order of importance!!
1. Men who shave their heads and wear earrings.
When did Mr. Clean become a fashion icon?
2. Numerous tattoos and piercings. Those who
did are going to be SO sorry when they hit old
age.
3. Rap music. Never saw this coming! Crap is crap
and boy, is this ever crap. But, as that sounds
so judgemental, I will say that rap done in
French, or Italian is somewhat amusing. For
about 5 minutes!
4. Corporate and personal greed. Does anyone
else think that most all our economic problems
stem from those who are simply TOO greedy
and always at the expense of others.
5. A completely dysfunctional Congress that is
totally out of touch with the needs of the
constituency. Either do the right things for
the people, or get the hell out!
6. Widespread violence and its' glorification by
the media. Bad manners and the emphasis on
materialism, greed and superficiality.
7. Lack of national health care.
8. Unless there is an iminent threat of attack, the
decision of war between the US and another
country should be made with the input of the
American people. We'll vote on it, damn it!
9. No more stupid presidents!!!!

I think what has really disappeared is kindness. Look at how reality tv glorifies people being humiliated or talked down to. Or how people even speak to each other on reality tv: it's laced with put-down, sarcasm, meaness, hostility. To be nice or kind is to be considered a wimp or a naive sap just begging to be crushed.

Hi capice! Great points!

Hi Laurie B.! Every Republican man I have spoken with since Ms. Palin's nomination was announced has been drooling!!
She is beautiful (beauty contestant winner), she shoots moose (lifetime NRA member), fishes, has 5 kids (anti-choice), wants to drill for oil, and doesn't think the polar bears are in trouble.
What more could any right wing Rep. male want!!

I will say, that I was impressed that she gave props to Hillary and Geraldine Ferraro for helping pave the way for women.

This November election is turning into, which party can be the most unique, and who has the least/most experience. I'll be exercising my right to vote.

Hi Laurie B. This is a first for me... my response to you is posted before your question! Ahhh, technology!!

The "Convention" of leaving our children (if we choose to have them) with other people, to raise them, while too many of us women feel we "need" to make money instead of raising our children.

I see no end of misery for these children raised by strangers, low lifes, grandparents, (who have already raised their children and should be allowed a peaceful retirement, NOT a second life as a parent, to their children's children.)

We were lied to by Second Wave Feminism. We were told that not only would "men do their share around the house and with the children" but that our "buying Power" would increase. For the record, most Men of "Working Mothers" do NO MORE than they did in the 1960s, and our "buying power' is WORSE than it was 40 years ago. And, many of our children are suffering by being ignored, neglected and left with people who really didn't bring them into the world, so don't really care about them. WHERE is the benefit of this "Convention" and to whom is it Beneficial? The small number of MEN who don't want to do their jobs as MEN and support their families ("Hey, SHE can work, and pay half the bills, and still take care of the kids when she's home, do the laundry, make meals, do the shopping, clean the house, and I have to do LESS than my Dad EVER DID? Sign me up! This rocks! I do less, she works her tail off, and NOTHING is expected from me, other than to maybe hold down a part time job. AND, if I decide to leave her, I don't even have to pay Maintenance anymore or Child Support! What a great time to be a LAZY man!") and, Corporations, who have raised their prices accordingly, so that TWO incomes now barely buy what ONE income used to.

HOW is this beneficial to ANY Woman, or any Child, or any Man who loves his wife and children? I see NO benefit at all.

Yes, it was better, when gender roles were better organized. NO ONE can do it all, or "Have it all." Women need to make lifestyle choices, money choices, PARTNER choices (never EVER date a man who won't work) and, most important, Child Bearing Choices. No one says everyone has to have children, but if you DO make the Choice to have them, letting strangers or your elderly parents raise them, so you can buy more "stuff" you have a LOT of Priority Changes to make.

And, no, there is NO such thing as "Quality Time." Either you are THERE, the moment your child needs you (does one expect a two year old to wait 6 hours until Mommy comes home to fix a a broken heart, or kiss a skinned elbow? Really?) or you aren't THERE when your child needs you.

I think as Society and the Economy continues to degrade, we will look at our huge mistake in the idea that "anyone" can take care of our innocent children, while Mommy does something "more interesting" with her time. IMO, if your children aren't' "interesting" enough to raise them yourself, there is simply NO reason to have them.

One of the best inventions yet is the very effective birth control. This, alone, helps us make better decisions about children, and if we "can't afford" to raise them, we don't' NEED to have them.

Nuff said. Sorry about the Soap Box, but neglected children, and lazy men, and self absorbed women are my sore spots. If one is lazy or self absorbed, one should NOT be a parent.

I hope that soon the "Convention" of abandoning our children all day, every day, and thinking "I can make it up with a 20 minute Quality Time insert on Saturday." will die out with the Bush Administration.

Hi wifey! The sad thing to me is that so many women HAVE to work to help the family survive. I think many women would have loved to stay home with their children, especially when they were small. I know I would have. The guilt I feel is still with me.

Well yeah, I was 11 in 1968 so I remember everything from that era. I think it was selfish, gross, reckless, irresponsible and produced the generation today who wants the government to take care of everything and everybody.

Wifey: Well said.

What do y'all think of Sarah Palin??

LaurieB: "Ick. Let's not get started on political viewpoints". Did you change your mind? If so, I'll gladly engage in intelligent debate and commentary (and yes, I know I am opening myself up to trollers and criticism).

Sarah Palin is the ABSOLUTE antithesis of everything I believe in for the future progress of our country. I am making every effort to ensure that neither she nor John McCain will succeed.

I would never have been able to graduate from a top level school if our government had not afforded me the opportunity. Even so, I am deeply affected by the negative economic impact that has befallen our country. The path to our country's future success is not to view the least of us with a closed fist-sorry impoverished person who cannot afford food or gas, your'e on your own . . . . I'd much rather risk overbelieving in the small percentage of those who do abuse the benefits given to them than to support a selfish, "let them eat cake" political platform.

I open my hand to give others a way up, not close my hand and slap them down so I can save money on my tax payments or live in a bigger house. I have been fortunate in many ways, but fortunes can be reversed. I'd surely want to have an avenue to help me if I should ever again fall on hard times. To whom much is given, much is expected. We can all become self-made men and women. However, no self-made person ever achieves his or her goals without help.

I wholeheartedly disagree with opposing views, but I will defend to the death the right to say it and I am prepared to respond to it accordingly.

All I can say is that I was a beneficiary of Lyndon Johnnson's "Great Society" programs which made college more affordable for the working/blue collar class. I would've never been able to go to college otherwise - it wasn't in the realm financially. So, I'm deeply grateful to that and to my parents.

Amen, jamm54. No one in my family was able to finish high school, let alone attend college, before my generation. I am also deeply grateful for the benefits I have received from being a citizen of this country.

Yeah, I feel REALLY sorry for the kids who have to go in debt to the tune of $40K for a BA.

My first Bachelor's cost of total of $2200 (community college and university) by graduation in 1977. My second Bachelor's cost $7500 by 1983-1985 (with loans and interest).

$40K now for a public university? And my degrees are in humanities (so-called worthless, though not to me), so there's no "career" or direct payoff for them in the slightest except being educated. As one of my old English professors said: "If you want to be educated, you go to college. If you want a job, you go to vocational school."

Double amen to you jamm54! I remember my high school guidance counselor asking a group of us to state why we wanted to go to college. When my turn came up, I replied "to learn". With a look of astonishment, she said to me that she had never had a student say that to her. To this day, I have no idea if she was mocking me or was experiencing an epiphany.

That's what makes the cost of a college BA these days just criminal. In order to justify that kind of expense, you're almost forced to matriculate into a subject/field that will translate to paycheck $$ in order to pay that debt off in your lifetime!

The cost probably does nothing to encourage people to enter the humanities for its own sake. But, I think an overall education (such as the humanities), prepares you to be able to operate at any level in society or business, and be able to think, reason, and present your ideas/thoughts in an intelligent, logical manner.

The cost is also discouraging people who occupy the borderline areas of society like myself (blue collar, middle/lower middle class) from taking on that debt, hence less "educated" levels of people in society.

I am enjoying the conversations. I am with you jamm54 and redhead64. I received my BS through loans that took me 10 years to pay off.
My son just graduated with a BA (Liberal Arts) that I worked extra to pay for on a monthly payment plan, with a small loan that he took out.
I was fortunate enough to graduate and obtain employment within weeks. He hasn't been that fortunate. I know it is a sign of the economy today. I feel bad for young adults starting out in this economy.

Poor kids, they really have think long and hard about taking the gamble of going into such debt - they're really gambling that their brains/intelligence is going to pay off somehow in the future with no guarantee of what they will be doing, especially for liberal arts majors.

As addendum, regarding making logical arguments - only if my brain is firing on all cylinders for that day!

Poor kids, they really have think long and hard about taking the gamble of going into such debt - they're really gambling that their brains/intelligence is going to pay off somehow in the future with no guarantee of what they will be doing, especially for liberal arts majors.

As an addendum, regarding making logical arguments - only if my brain is firing on all cylinders for that day!

Give my hearty congratulations to your son, 60's child! I'm glad not everyone is turning away from the humanities (I think they're the subjects that keep us even remotely civilized!).

Caprice, LOVED your list way back up there. Jam 54, also right on.

I was the first generation in my family to be able to attend college - Class of 1968 - through the National Defense Education Act - paid it back at $20 a month with a lot of the loan cancelled because I taught in a low income neighborhood. These loans were unsecured and many students defaulted on them. It was part of the great money explosion and the War on Poverty that came in the mid-to-late 1960's. Money just flowed everywhere.

My tuition was considerd very high at $1900 a semester and I lost my PA state scholarship when I was photographed participating in a peach march. No explanation, just cancelled!

My family declined to see me for about two years after that, having been WW II brain-washees who thought the government was always right, even when it was wrong. That is how our family entered the Generation Gap.

I remember seeing my high school guidance counselor only once before graduating in 1964. He said. "You have pretty good grades, what's it going to be, nurse or teacher? Or are you getting married?" That was it in those days!

Whoops! "peace" march, not peach march - I never marched for the peaches.

My parents were both really proud of me being in college. Only my mother got to see me graduate, but strangely enough it was my Dad who felt I should be "meeting" my husband at college. Good thing he can't see me now - I never married, and kind of took after him for not wanting to be tied down, and mildly wild. My Dad really felt that was my future - marriage. Sorry Dad! I inherited your freedom-loving ways.

Hi jamm54, thanks so much! I am proud of him, and keep trying to tell him that although the job market is tough now, he has received a well rounded education, and it will pay off someday!

Hi flowerpower! LOL!! I think I DID once march for peaches!!

I ended up in newspaper/advertising sales, but the ability to talk to people at any level on a variety of topics really gives you an ability that many others don't have.

There are so many ways that a liberal arts education can be used (such as sales, community relations, non-profits, city governments, etc). Tell him to not give up!

I'm a college student going for my BS, and the amount some of you paid for college in the past makes me hope for a time machine by the year 2054.

I guess I would have to look at my own teenager to see what's on tap in 2054. I'll never forget her little 4year-old face popping over my shoulder to tell me "Mommy, if I go to www.pbs.com I can play games." She had to set up my husband's laptop. She can listen to her iPod, do her homework, text 6 friends and surf the internet all at the same time.
I feel like I'm losing ground...just proud to be able to use this PC and my microwave!

college will be considered the waste of time it is for most young people.
(it wasn't for me, but i was there for a liberal education, not to get a job.)
if they want a job, the 20-somethings of 2054 can get certified in something--by reading up on it, taking an online course, doing an apprenticeship, whatever.
read charles murray's op ed in the nyt (2 weeks ago, i think it was).
think of your own businesses: what do you care where a kid went to school? you care what he/she can do.

Demolino, for business, that is true. Everyone who came straight out of college with a business or marketing degree to the newspaper advertising dept didn't have a clue. They would've been better off in an apprenticeship or on-the-job training to see how it works. Personally, I think being an apprentice in a field that interests you would be more valuable than a college degree in that case. I'll never regret my education though even though I was "trained" for nothing!

same here.
i enjoyed my liberal education and it's been valuable to me, personally.
but i didn't train for my job until i was well out of college.

Additionally, though, I would be sorry to see that trend happen for college educations. I think liberal arts educations contribute to our culture. If people aren't interested in or able to critically evaluate ideas, events, people, history, other cultures, then who will be the "thinkers" and "leaders" of our society? What impact will that have on creativity or imagination?

wifey,
just curious: you post this impassioned conservative-republican screed (which i agree with, altho i'm a liberal) and then hail the end of the bush administration.
kind of a non-sequitur.

I think cellphones are the cigarettes of today. Ubiquitous, annoying to many, cancer-causing. I hope that is a convention of contemporary society that we lose, but I doubt it.

Nothing has really changed at the heart of this. Men are still sexist but it comes out in different ways than it did in the 60s. Women still are trying to please men but do it differently. The same will happen in 2040. Men will find new ways to be sexist about women and women will still be finding ways to please men. What no one realizes is how much they hurt each other doing this and how this means they never really have true intimacy. Cigarattes, abortions, gay, and all that, are not as important as the fundamental divide between men and women.

Hey OldFashioned! Yew made a Freudian slip in more ways than one!
Ol' Siggy would definitely agree that yapping on the phone and smoking involve an "oral fixation"

" think cellphones are the cigarettes of today. Ubiquitous, annoying to many, cancer-causing."
-oldfashioned

What a great line.

Just getting around to answering a question that was asked to me way up thread by demolino: "you're saying your life is more different from your parents' than theirs were from their parents'?

Gawd, yes! Just to lay out a few of the differences, I can control when and where and IF I want to have children. I have my own independent career and income, have a college education, (financed by federal financial aid without my father's money), can choose to marry, divorce or stay single without the diaspproval of society, got the church out of my bedroom, moved off that dreary farm, am legally protected against sexism in my workplace, etc etc etc.

The times they are a changin' was not just a song title!

More that we hope will be a thing in the past in 2054:

Dumb "entertainment magazines." How many more of these things like People, OK! and the like do we need?

Stupid trends: multiple piercings, tanning beds, "vitamin water" to name a few.

The "Yes You can Have It All" Syndrome. Never was true: how do you juggle a full time job out of home and a full time job as a mother? One or the other will suffer -- and from what I see, it's the kids.

How lax does it get, even in schools? Kids that are latchkey -- parents don't care. Or they don't have the time to get involved, like our parents did: I pretty much doubt that these parents are checking to see Did you do your homework and demanding to see what test you came home with from teacher...and what the grade was.

Parents are not as involved as they were when we were in grammar school and high school.

Another trend I hope dies a merciful quick death:

txt msgng. N all D txt msg-spk dt gos w/it.

flowerpower:
maybe socially, you could argue it.
technologically, no; things changed much more early in the 20th century.
but as these blogs are mostly about social change, i take your point.

Newspapers and books (handheld) will be gone. The cost of paper, ink, delivery, and printing will cause them to be obsolete. Instead, "newspapers" and "books" will only be accessible on a a screen.

There will be no libraries or bookstores, instead you will be able to "check out" a book online or pay a subscription fee to read books from the "online library" or read a daily "newspaper" online - like paying Comcast.

If there is "book" buying, it will be on a disc like a CD, not a paper book. That will be how a person owns books, just like they own dvd's now.

I think paper money and coins will disappear completely, too. The expense of printing money/minting coins will be cost prohibitive. It'll just all be cash cards period, like everyone pretty much does now with their ATM cards. It's just that EVERYTHING will accommodate those cards, like vending machines, etc.

Hi jamm54! I hope the print media never goes away! Especially books. God, someday people may have to go to a museum to see what books looked like! I love books, there is something very comforting about them, weird huh?

I remember when JFK Jr. came out to announce Jackie Kennedy's passing, and he said she died surrounded by her loving family and her books.

It's funny you mention cards for vending machines. When my son went to a state university he was issued an ID card that we loaded with any amount of money he needed. He was to use that for vending machines, washers/dryers etc. on campus. So that technology is already with us.

Hi 60'schild! I hope newspapers and books never go away either (especially having worked at a newspaper most of my life), and being an English major and owning a ton of books.

There's something about holding a book or newspaper as compared to the idea of reading on the screen - the technology is distracting in that instance. But, I can see it happening because of the environment/limited natural resources, and the proclivities of the coming generations (being on computers).

That's wild about your son's ID/vending card for anything! I figured with ATM's it's bound to become widespread in another 25 years. The exchanging of money in a transaction, I don't know, again I'd hate to see currency go. Love to look at the different money around the world, and love our quarter/state coins!

Additonally, even though Amazon.com is "convenient" it doesn't replace browsing through a bookstore. Most of the time, I have no clue what I'm looking for, and browsing in different sections allows the spontaneity of coming across an author, story or subject that catches your interest. Unless you know exactly what you want on Amazon.com, as far as I know, you can't "browse". THEY throw in similar titles, but it's not you who is grouping titles together. So.....