Much in the same way that digital cameras made Polaroids obsolete, the proliferation of the personal computer and the printer ended the usefulness of the humble typewriter after over a century of being the most convenient way to type letters and novels. If you learned to type on a typewriter, you're likely a more accurate typist than anyone who learned on a computer keyboard; in the old days, you couldn't just hit the 'delete' key to correct an error. You had to start all over again!
Hipsters love typewriters. They might even love taking pictures of their vintage typewriters with their vintage Polaroid cameras just to feel extra-smug about them. Even something that was once as common as the Hooven Automatic Typewriter is now worth $7,500. If your house is home to an old Malling-Hansen Writing Ball, though, you could be sat on a $100,000 fortune that you never even knew was there.