A good question, and one I am struggling to find an answer for. It’s easy to address this from a hindsight point of view (50 years ago, people used landline phones and phone boxes on a regular basis, not anymore), but from the perspective of now, what is going to go out of fashion, to the stage where 50 years from now, people will question what we were thinking?

I’d like to think we might finally move beyond fossil fuels, but that’s rather dependent on technological developments. Maybe the ‘traditional’ concepts of TVs and computers as separate entities will have finally gone the way of the dinosaur, though that’s not so much a ‘wonder why’ issue, as there is already some blurring of the lines there.

It’s conceivable that 50 years from now, people will wonder why anyone ever bought physical media. CDs, DVDs and blu-rays are all being usurped by downloads and streaming services. I for one would be astonished if anyone was still buying a CD in 50 years time. In fact, I can’t help but wonder if we’ll see a merging of our entertainment mediums into one device. Rather than a separate TV, computer and games console, these devices will all roll into one, and everything will be streamed or downloaded. Indeed, developments in high-speed internet may make downloads a thing of the past, something that future generations look back upon with bewilderment.

That’s my guess. We’ll buy a multi-media platform, and purchase or subscribe to the services we want. The idea of having various different bits of machinery will seem alien to the next generations.