Ten Predictions for the 2020s

[Alolan_Apples]

Happy New Year everyone! As you see, the 2010s is now over. It was a long decade, but once you get to the end of it and pass it, that’s it! Although we have some good memories, there’s nothing left to add to the 2010s. It’s all history.

As we’re pulling into the new decade, I made a few predictions about what will happen this decade. I may not be right, but judging by the history from past trends, they could happen. Let’s see what I get right in ten years from now:

• Texas and Florida to become more dominant. California and New York to become recessive: For the longest time, New York City was the most famous city in not just the United States, but also the world. It played a very large role throughout our history, and was even featured in pop culture more than almost all the other cities. But starting the 2010s, it’s starting to lose its dominance. In fact, the state of New York suffered one of the biggest population losses. It will still be big, but it won’t be as dominant as it used to be. California is also going to be more recessive. It was once the best state for the longest period of time, but now they’re driving people out of the state because of their taxations and regulations. The lesson is, don’t raise taxes too high, especially if people are leaving. Also, more laws mean less freedom.
  Texas and Florida (as well as Georgia and the Carolinas) is an interesting case. At one time, they were among the worst states. The South was where slavery was supported, the region that seceded in the 1860s, and the region with government-sanctioned racism. The South is also the poorest region. But with the downfall of places like California and New York, Texas and Florida may start waking up and would become more dominant than the rest of the nation. Their laws are more friendly for business, and they don’t have state income taxes.
  What makes this even more interesting is that there’s going to be a change in number of electoral votes per state. Texas and Florida are bound to gain them. Since Texas is historically Republican trending Democratic and Florida being a swing state since 1996, both states will basically be the states that determine the presidential elections in the future. Right now, Republicans rule these states at the state level, but the federal level is what matters more.
• The Fall of Social Media: The 2010s was a big decade for social media. Almost everything that happens gets recorded on the internet. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr, and everything else have been dominant. But nothing lasts forever. I predict that this decade, they are going to fall. Other than potential government regulations and the trend of dominant companies dying off or losing dominance, there are many concerns of privacy, security, and bad management. If any of these get out of control, and the companies don’t do anything, social media might reach the end. Another problem with social media is that it’s hurting social health in people.
• The Fall of Google, Amazon, Apple, and Microsoft: This may seem a bit farfetched, but their extreme innovating and/or corporate abuse may bite them back. Some companies out there actually treat humans as machines rather than real people. Some companies’ innovating can only go so far to the point where people are fed up. Some companies are cutting corners, trying to make as much money as possible while not caring about quality of service, their employees, or the environment. This may eventually lead people to finally giving up on these companies. Companies that try to remain more ethical may not be as profitable, but they would eventually become more popular than the said companies.
• The Age of Nostalgia: It has been picking up in the 2010s, but it may become even greater this decade. Nintendo released their NES Classic Edition and SNES Classic Edition, 70s Music and 80s Music are being played a lot, records are making a comeback, and nostalgia-themed products are showing up in stores. I’m not sure what’s causing nostalgia to getting more popular, but I could assume that it has to do with current technology and media. For technology, innovation is probably getting too far to ridiculous ideas. iPhones are ditching the home button (forgetting basic schematics), Windows 10 is an invasive operating system, tech companies getting to gimmicky, and some gadgets and lifestyles that are dying because phones made them obsolete are being replaced by something that’s getting ridiculous. For media, the 2010s was a bad decade for film. It’s not just the Emoji Movie and The Last Airbender. Film quality has fallen. Franchising now rules the industry, remakes, reboots, and sequels are all over the place, and other movies are not as good. I’m guessing this may make several people want to go back to the older days, back when they thought everything was good, forgetting the bad parts of those times. Throughout many generations, once something new replaces something old, almost everybody moves on as they become the new trend. But now more people are going to resist change as companies would try to fulfill their needs.
• PC Culture backfires, collapses, and becomes a disgrace: Since Obama became president, people agreed that it’s time to move on as political correctness starts to grow. But it’s getting worse. Nowadays, almost anything can be deemed as “racist” or “homophobic” because it’s not inclusive enough (like some religions don’t allow some activities or practices, some cultures don’t eat the same food we eat or do the same stuff we do, some stuff disproportionately affects different groups by nature, and some activities are just not popular among demographics). And there are people that get very angry when people still do these activities or even talk about them (for the reason that it’s “racist” or “homophobic”). And it’s not just political correctness that’s going to fall. Safe spaces, trigger warnings, no-platforms, victim culture, cancel culture, double standards, and anything else related to this matter will hurt everybody. And then, more people will rebel against these practices in an ugly manner, and many people will stop caring if whatever they’re doing is really “offensive”. This will unfortunately have negative effects, and you can blame it on the PC culture, not just the people who hate it.
• Some changing trends actually continue: While I predicted the downfall of online stores, some trends that were created in the 2000s and 2010s may actually continue to change the world. Cable TV will eventually die because of the popularity in online streaming, Uber and Lyft will continue thriving, new holiday ideas will continue to sit in stores, and catering businesses would still survive.
• People will care for the environment: I hope Greta Thunberg gets what she wished for - for people to care more for the Earth. While there’s still a few defectors, people will finally start doing something to care for the Earth. They may focus on artificial photosynthesis, conservation of the ocean life, and new ways to dispose trash (like pyrolysis). Plus, solar and wind energy may become cheaper, and if we go that route, we may reverse the trend of ecological destruction. Capitalism may allow environmental damage, but excessive regulation may inhibit saving the environment. Just like the PC Culture issue, this has been going on for far too long, and when a problem like this is going on too much, people will finally do something.
• The European Union will collapse: After the Brexit vote in 2016 and the conflicts in Greece in 2011, I can see the failure of globalism. The ending of the Cold War shows that globalism is a great idea, but the Brexit vote proves otherwise.
• Robots replace more jobs: When people predict that robots will be replacing many jobs, they might be right. Technological advances have been job creators for a long time, but it may reach a tipping point where it’s more of a job killer than a job creator. Jobs at the highest risk are mostly industrial jobs and service jobs, as jobs in politics, creativity, and medicine are at the lowest risk. So I guess it’s time to stop advancing technology. Even technology has its limits.
• United States to have a net loss in population rather than net gain: This is not counting for just one year, but for the entire decade. The biggest culprit - the falling birth rates. Not too long ago, the number of births is inching closer to the number of deaths. It may eventually pass the point, and we’ll enter the trend where death rates exceed birth rates for more. Not to mention, there’s also a chance that many people will leave the United States as hardly anybody would want to move in. If this continues, we may cross the 300 million mark again, but go below.

Like I say, these predictions may or may not come true, but I wanted to make them to show what could happen this decade. Of course, we will never know what will happen this decade.