How will technology affect the way we read music?

An interesting comment was made in a workshop that got me to thinking.  It was in reference to how it isn't important for music teachers to teach our students to read/write music.  The instructor commented that most of today's contemporary musicians do not read music, but that each musician has their own method for reading/notating music.  And that the method may not necessarily be a paper/pencil method.  Now I can see how some pop/country guitarists notate using tabs, or chord charts.  And drummers - well...  And maybe some singers just read the lyrics and memorize the melody by ear (listening to a recording).  But are the pop/country musicians all musically illiterate?  And is this acceptable?

Even though I'm a middle aged music teacher, I still try to think outside the box.  Just because "that's the way I learned to do it, it was good enough for me, it's good enough for you" attitude has dominated education for decades, I am willing to let it go and look at what's in my future and the future of my students.  Just because we have read traditional staff notation for thousands of years, that doesn't mean musicians will read music staff notation in next 100 years.  And just because we have been reading "books" for thousands of years, that doesn't mean our grandchildren will ever see/touch/use a book.  (Already, my husband does a lot of his reading on a Nook.)  So, can I let this go?  Will my teaching staff notation to my students be relevant to them?  Will symphonies be playing concertos using something totally different from the last few centuries?

Over 10 years ago, I read an interesting periodical article (yes, they're still being published and read) about bands and orchestras that use a tablet inserted on a pole (similar to the base of a music stand) to read their digital music.  Some of the neat aspects of music on a stick (or digital music) was the ability to backlight the music, zoom/adjust size of the music, and turn the page with the quick flick of a finger.  BUT, this is still notation, just not on paper anymore.

So, if there isn't staff notation reading, will it all be by ear?  Will it be by some other method of notation shorthand, maybe using something similar to stick notation (see Kodaly method)?  What about communicating phrasing, articulation, dynamics, tempo, meter?  Will this be conveyed at all in some alternative music notation?

I don't know if I can let this one go.  I think it would be similar to telling today's teachers that teaching children to read is archaic and isn't relevant to their future.  I can admit there are some successful performers (I can't call them musicians, can I?) do not need to read music to achieve their dreams.  But, knowing how to read music allows musicians to pick up any instrument, be shown how to produce music on that instrument, and be able to play music.  Maybe this is the first step in separating a performer from a musician.