Just a decade or two ago, almost everyone used to eat at McDonald’s and enjoy a nice, cheap meal. This same generation, that liked going to see the golden arches back in the day, are now much more prone to eating a vegan diet or ignoring fast-food entirely. McDonald’s has put a lot of emphasis lately on vegetarian food and healthier options, but it seems that most of the potential market has already left for other alternatives.
While Ronald McDonald is sitting sadly in his corner, another trend which has almost disappeared are the classic drive-thrus. Back in the day, when you wanted some fast food on the go, you stopped at a McDonald’s or another fast food provider and got your order without leaving the car. But they’ve become so obsolete that people who were born after 2010, usually don’t even know what a drive-thru looks like.
Millennials Hate Beef
Since the decline of milk began, beef sales started to decline right along with it. Millennials are much less fond today of meat and dairy products, especially red meats. Many young people today are ditching meat in general, and those who don’t, prefer to stick with more “safe” meats that don’t evoke a strong moral response, such as fish.
Beef is also a bit more on the pricey side, which makes it a lot less desirable for today’s vegan and broke millennials. Even if you put moral issues aside, the fact that your average millennial owes tens of thousands of dollars for his government-backed student loan is a great reason to stay on the frugal side.
Millennials Aren’t Really Into Sports Anymore
Another institution that has begun to find itself shrinking from year to year, is the sports industry. Back in the day, families used to sit at home and watch sports games, or buy tickets and watch their favorite teams perform. Sports used to be very much related to patriotism and was a common value that was shared across the nation. Nowadays, millennials don’t really care for sports anymore, which explains the severe decline in viewership that brands such as the NFL have experienced in recent years.
This change has caused sports to also transition into a much more digital format, although it seems that the industry will never recover its former glory. Ticket sales are also down across the board, which might explain why we almost never hear about sports today except in a political context.
Nobody Buys Cable Anymore
Everyone knows that everything from the mainstream media to regular TV channels are going through a slow death process. What’s the point of having to be forced through countless commercial breaks and a very limited set of shows and films when you can just watch everything online? Most millennials are paying a very small monthly amount to streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu and the new Disney+. Even all of these combined sometimes cost less than just one cable provider.
There’s absolutely no reason today to keep yourself stuck on a cable network that costs more, only works locally, and is harder to get disconnected from. Instead, millennials are opting for having streaming services on the go, from either their phones or computers. The benefits are endless, from not having commercial breaks to being able to download films and TV shows for later offline viewing, anytime and anywhere.
Millennials Hate Mailboxes
One of the biggest questions that still perplex millennials to this very day is, what’s the point of having a mailbox when you can just send an email? Mailboxes present a few problems for today’s millennials. First, you have to actually go outside and manually check your mailbox, which is a hassle. Second, these things take time to arrive, and millennials don’t like it when things take time. Thirdly, millennials often move places, which makes it a huge issue when they have to constantly update all of their providers.
It seems that in the next few years, physical mail is going to go as close to extinct as it can possibly get. Many companies today are forced to allow their customers to use emails and digital papers when corresponding with them. There’s a good chance that in a few decades, mailboxes will be something that you see in a museum, rather than in the front of a lawn.