20 Opinions On Common American Traditions That Are Slowly Disappearing

Though people value traditions and try to hold on to them, times are changing, and these customs are likely to change with them. As society evolves and modern thinking patterns emerge, so do trends change to match the current vibe. This can lead to a devolving of old patterns, routines, customs and traditions, which have become irrelevant and obsolete with younger generations.

Recently, a question posed on the r/AskAnAmerican community inquired from members, “What’s a common American tradition that you think might not exist in 25 years, and why?” Scroll below to get an idea of the American holidays and traditions that people predict will slowly disappear over the next few decades.

#1 Day Light Savings.

#2 The Miss America pageant. It’s strange now to think how big an annual event it still was in the ’80s and ’90s; I think for a few years they stopped even televising it.

And on that note, live broadcast television that you access by turning on the TV and flipping through the channels to see what’s on. There will still be live events, of course, but in 25 years those may be accessed just through apps. It was only recently that “appointment TV” still provided a common reference point for masses of Americans.

#3 Black Friday, at least in the traditional sense of being lined up out the store and waiting with a bunch of people for it to open, thanks to it being extended to last all weekend now or even longer and online shopping.

#4 Black Friday. It’s already dying and I see it basically dead in that time span. Nobody is gonna rush at midnight to save $50 on a TV anymore.

#5 Christmas cards. We used to get dozens when I was a kid. Almost every family sent them. Now I only get a couple and only send one or two.

#6 Mischief night. The reason why is because we all have phones now so causally vandalizing someone’s house with eggs and toilet paper could be filmed and well you know the rest.

#7 Bobbing for apples at Halloween. I think it was already dying out when I was a kid, now I barely see it, so it might be gone or mostly gone in 25 years.

#8 I think class reunions will be more or less entirely dead by then.

#9 May Day is mostly already dead, but in 25 years forget it. People won’t even remember it was a thing. I am talking about the tradition of making up a small basket of goodies and leaving it on a friend’s doorstep, ringing the bell and then hiding. This was a thing still in the 70s/80s when I was growing up, but I don’t know any kids anymore that do this.

#10 I might get some pushback for this, but gender reveal parties are probably not gonna disappear, but they’re gonna go back to the low-key innocent things like slicing into a cake to find out if it’s pink or blue. Or something else might add to it where after the gender is revealed they could also do a name reveal. Either that or I might be overthinking. Lol.

#11 Block Parties. i don’t think they even do them anymore.

#12 I just went to the 50 year reunion of my wife’s high school class. There were maybe 40 people, of whom many, like me, didn’t attend. I think we stayed for under 30 minutes.

#13 I feel like the days of private fireworks are wanning. The fire danger, injury, impact to pets, etc. Maybe they’ll never go to zero but I think it will be on the margins. There might be an increase of professional shows, with the role of drones increasing.

#14 I’m really afraid it’s going to be trick-or-treating in your neighborhood!! Since that trend took off where parents just park their vans at a church or some s**t, I almost never see it. I bought a house in the cutest little neighborhood and was SO excited for the kids to come by last year, and I didn’t get a single one! There’s a lot of kids in my neighborhood too, I see them all the time. I was so disappointed. I miss small communities.

#15 Columbus Day is probably on its way out.

#16 I used to really enjoy going to polling places on election day and say hello to neighbors who also were there to vote, and the poll workers who were usually the older retirees in the neighborhood. They typically knew everyone by name, and they’d ask about kids, etc. For the past few elections (especially since Covid) this is no longer the case. I miss it!

#17 Are bake sales still a thing? I think those are gonna be goners. People barely have time to cook for themselves and groceries are ridiculously expensive. I personally hear the words “bake sale” and quietly slink away.

#18 Trick or treating is being replaced by “trunk or treat”, which is incredibly lame and makes me sad. Maybe there will be a resurgence but as of now it does appear to be dying.

edit: please stop telling me about your neighborhood where this isn’t the case, the fact that something that used to be ubiquitous is now only happening in like half the country is still a sign of a dying tradition, please stop being pedants.

#19 I think it’s already started to disappear but sending Christmas cards.

#20 Agriculture based school year. In favor of a year round with quarterly breaks. Some parts of the country have already done this. I would expect more to follow. Possibly based on the new typical weather patterns & school setup in the local region.

Maybe some places get a longer break during hurricane season. Others during the Nor Easter season. Others based on the peak heat or main employer in the area. Of course that assumes we still have a department of education in 25 years. I hope not but I suppose public schools could be a thing of the past altogether depending on how things go next month.

Shanilou Perera

Shanilou has always loved reading and learning about the world we live in. While she enjoys fictional books and stories just as much, since childhood she was especially fascinated by encyclopaedias and strangely enough, self-help books. As a kid, she spent most of her time consuming as much knowledge as she could get her hands on and could always be found at the library. Now, she still enjoys finding out about all the amazing things that surround us in our day-to-day lives and is blessed to be able to write about them to share with the whole world as a profession.