10 things that should be left behind in 2010

So here we are on the cusp of a new year - and by some methods of counting, a new decade. Here are the top 10 things that we continue to hold on to from the 20th century that I think we should be letting go of now that we're 10 years into the 21st ...

1. Smoking. It's gross, smelly, and obscenely expensive, and we've known for 30 years now that it kills. This habit needs to go.

2. Fax machines. They're blurry, require specialized equipment, and don't work nearly as well as emailing a pdf.

3. Having to a) be told where to sign on a credit card slip and b) hand your card to the cashier after swiping it yourself. Everyone ought to know by now what to do when they use a credit card. And if you're going to make use of the time-saving device that is the automatic swiper, then don't pretend that you're actually caring who just used the card.

4. Internet paranoia. The days when the Internet meant scary stalkers and people out to steal your personal information are over. Scary stalkers still exist, and your personal information is everywhere ... but the Internet is a vital tool for the 21st century, and being scared of it is so Y2K.

5. Vista. 'Nuff said. Let's move on to the next bug-filled operating system, please.

6. Bratz dollz and the rest of the slut culture. Let's let our little girls be little girls and stop asking them to wear words on their butts at the age of 6. We all saw where Britney Spears went. Let's learn from her example and let our girls grow up more slowly.

7. No Child Left Behind. (Okay, that may not be 20th century, but the thought process behind it certainly is.) Let's find a more up-to-date educational method, one that allows our children to take their place in the global village that is the 21st-century world. No more money wasted on reams of paperwork, no more reliance on "standardized" testing to measure individual achievement. (It's true, I don't have a good answer ... but I know a bad one when I see it.)

8. The National Enquirer and its ilk. (Pipe dream, yeah yeah yeah.) Let's give celebrities some space and some privacy to be human beings. The saddest part of this Tiger Woods debacle, to me, is that his attempt to retain his privacy has failed so epically. A person's private life should be just that.

9. Suggested questions in the back of books. Come on, people - how old are we? I applaud the rise of book clubs ... but please. Do people really need to be told how to talk about books? I don't think so.

10. Implicit belief in the news. By this point, the mainstream news media exists for pretty much one reason: to raise ratings and earn money by creating widespread fear and panic. The sooner we realize this and stop listening to all these sensationalistic stories, the sooner we reclaim our lives. Let's stop allowing sound bytes and ridiculous headlines and slogans to affect the way we live our lives.

So that's my list. I'm sure you have others, or disagree with some of the above. Let's hope that 2010 sees us all moving forward into the new millennium and letting go of some of the traps of the past.