The New Roaring Twenties

What's Going to Happen in the Next 10 Years

I'm not a futurist. I have read some books by futurists. Though, not recently. I have been reading different theories lately, including a couple of articles about this being the decade where we finally acknowledge lifeforms beyond earth in our galaxy. So, I decided I would write down a few things that I think will happen in the next ten years. Does 2030 sound that far away? Not really, considering it just seems like 2000 arrived!

1. The end of network television as we know it— I don't know anyone who watches television the way that they used to? At one time there were only three network television channels and we would anxiously await — week by week — the latest episode of our favorite show(s). So many have come and gone, but the one thing that hasn't left is our desire to get to know characters, understand their situations, and root for them to succeed. Network television has not changed greatly, except for adding the Fox network 30 years ago. The network day is still the morning show, some mid-afternoon syndication, the evening news, and the primetime shows — followed by the late night battles. This system doesn't work anymore. We all have different ways to get our news, usually led by the Internet, including Twitter, Facebook, and other sites/apps. Many of us record our shows and then watch a few or several at a time, so the cliffhanger lasts five seconds rather than seven days or four months. It's so much more fun, and easier, to "binge" watch TV. Another note, the TV news has become much more loosey-goosey and focused more on features than on real news. The future of network television is more app–based, subscription based, and free of advertising in it's current form. That leads to the second change …
2. Advertising Becomes Product Placement — We will continue to be barraged with commercials, but they will finally be embedded into the shows and movies we watch. Product placement has had a place in advertising for many years; however, it has been in conjunction with regular, traditional advertising. Because so many viewers skip the advertising in the DVRed shows they watch, it's become clear that the products need to be showcased in a different way. I know there are some "on demand" programs that will not allow the viewer to skip ads; yet, I think this will become less of a factor as we move forward. Moreover, I think we will see more advertising within the music we listen to. I recently read that "Popular music is shrinking. From 2013 to 2018, the average song on the Billboard Hot 100 fell from 3 minutes and 50 seconds to about 3 minutes and 30 seconds. Six percent of hit songs were 2 minutes 30 seconds or shorter in 2018, up from just 1% five years before (Dan Kopf — January 17, 2019, via Tom Whitwell, December 2019.) In addition, many people don't listen to music on traditional radio; instead, they listen on satellite or playlists. We still have to be exposed to products, right? 
3. Professional Sports Will Look Different — The cost of attending games is increasing every year. Often, a game includes a couple of meals, a hotel room, and the cost of the game tickets in addition to food and beverages at the game. In addition to the cost of attending the games, televisions (see earlier) have become better, larger — and they show damn near every single game. In the old days (30 years ago) one was lucky to see their favorite baseball team 20 times in a season, maybe once or twice on the NBC Saturday game of the week, etc. Due to the success of ESPN, WGN, and WTBS, the modern sports channels were born, leading to much more baseball coverage. Previously, you could watch most of your favorite NFL team's games, unless they were blacked out due to a non–sell out. At one point, NBA games were televised on tape delay due to lack of popularity. So, the cost effect in addition to the home entertainment effect, will lead to inevitable changes in professional sports. We will see leagues playing fewer games a season, expanding playoffs, and enforcing that teams actually "try" to win. The trend — the sickening trend — of losing on purpose is going to be forced to end as the leagues will tie draft picks to a different formula than just "worst record." Tanking will become an era whose time passed, thankfully. Finally, Major League Baseball will lower the number of minor league affiliates as well as reduce the number of rounds in the annual draft. Things will change because they have to. Oh yeah and we will continue to see more of #2 (advertising) within the games we watch on TV as leagues work with sponsors and vendors to promote products right on uniforms. Yes, Nascar has been doing it for years! 
4. ET, Phone Home — I do believe the pundits who claim that this will be the decade that we acknowledge other lifeforms in our galaxy. I'm not sure what it will look like, but we might be getting close to this being reality. Maybe it won't be as deep at Close Encounters of the Third Kind or as fun as ET, but it is likely that there will be something. As they used to say on X-Files, "The truth is out there." 
5. Billy Joel Will Not Release a New LP (of new songs, that is) — Someday we'll find out the truth to why Billy Joel hasn't released a new album since August 10, 1993, and it will probably shock us; however, the great rock 'n' roller will continue to tour and be popular as ever. In a Rolling Stone piece in May 2019, Joel said, "No, it’s a fair question, and I still write music. I just don’t record it, and they’re not in song form. It’s another kind of music altogether. It’s purely for my own edification. I don’t feel compelled to record it. I don’t feel compelled to make myself be relevant. Like I said, I lived the rock & roll life, and I’m not writing that anymore." He even indicated that he was done recording right on his final song on his final album in 1993:

"And these are the last words I have to say
Before another age goes by
With all those other songs I'll have to play
But that's the story of my life" 

I hope you all have a wonderful 2020! It may again be the ROARING TWENTIES! Let's make it happen!!!