Maybe RSS should rebrand as "textcasting" or something. Podcasts are popular, are not considered only for "power users", and are just RSS feeds of audio links.
Also, it's much easier to track the average person's actions when you send them an email vs when they have an RSS feed. So, all these websites that show a 'sign up for my newsletter' popup when you visit them, will not choose the RSS option.
I hate tracking URLs, pixels etc. but I don't see how we can get them to not use them.
And even if you have RSS, chances are you have a lot of feeds you never read that just end up part of the furniture of your life.