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Over the years and through many eras technology transformed the way how people live their day-to-day life, how they work, entertain, meet, learn and play.

In a few days many people around the world will be celebrating, so the question is if technology has also changed the festive season, a centuries old celebration.

Major technological changes have changed the way people celebrate. Many technologies played a role in these changes such as the telegraph (early 1800s), Alexander Bell’s telephone (1876), Thomas Edison’s light bulb (1880), electric Christmas lights (1882), Guglielmo Marconi’s radio (1894), Harvard University’s Mark 1 digital computer (1944), and the personal computer (1977).

However, it probably is the internet (1983), the World Wide Web (1991) and the smartphone (1992) that brought some of the biggest changes to Christmas. In 2004 Facebook and social media arrived to also become a festive communication game changer.

Shopping

As technology became more pervasive through improved access to the internet and mobile devices, one of the important changes is the way people are shopping for gifts. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, fewer people are braving the busy high streets, while listening to Boney M’s rendition of Mary’s Boy Child. Many people, especially the wealthy and young, now prefer to shop online for gifts. According to research about 2.05 billion people, or 26% of people worldwide, shop on the internet.

Not only is it easier to find unique gifts online, but also more convenient since people can shop any time and any place, and the gifts are delivered to your door. The internet has also made it less stressful to keep up to date with the latest technology information and comparisons. And if you really miss Mary’s Boy Child or Jingle Bells you can always tune in to Spotify on the internet while shopping online.

Gifts

The long-standing festive tradition of giving and receiving gifts has also been changed over time by technology. In the past, people used to make their own unique gifts. Very few were commercially bought.

But now, commercially available, mass-produced gifts are popular, in particular technology gadgets that are the gifts most expected by adults and children alike.

Communication

Communication with family and friends over the holidays has always been important, especially when they are far away. Mobile communications due to mobile made it easy to communicate with family and friends via a text message (SMS) instead of waiting for an international phone call as in the past. However, this has lately been replaced by the ever popular social media. Twitter and Facebook make it easy to send a single greeting with photos or short video clips to hundreds of people simultaneously. Holiday greetings today are therefore rarely personalised.

Festive Cards

Another important change over time is the disappearance of physical cards that were sent via mail or even delivered by hand. Many years ago cards were handmade and decorated with dry flowers, dry leaves or drawings.

Later this was replaced by mass printed commercial cards. Currently, to let people know you think of them in the festive season, an email or digital card (e-card) suffices. And when cameras became a feature of smartphones, video greetings became widely used. The beauty is that all these digital changes reduces waste or recycling of paper.

Perhaps in the not-too-distant future we will even be able to send greetings as a hologram or over the metaverse via our avatar. However, it will still take a few years.

Holiday get-togethers

A virtual get-together will never be the same as a physical get-together with its warmth and richness of expression. However, a virtual get-together via video calling, Zoom or WhatsApp can be a good idea when it is difficult to see family and friends face to face due to distance or other reasons. Since the pandemic, an increasing number of people have started to meet loved ones virtually for important occasions. And in the future it may just be possible that we may teleport to attend the Christmas celebration and smart robots may help to prepare a festival meal.

Decorations

In the past trees were real and decorated with candles, candies, gingerbread, fruit, and handmade ornaments and gifts. These decorations were replaced by LED lights and commercial ornaments. The LED lights are usually controlled by a chip or even from a smartphone.

Smart home devices such as Amazon Alexa or Google Home speakers allow people to set a specific mood by customising the room lighting and background music using mere voice commands,

Information

Unlike in the past the internet now provides us with an abundance of information about almost anything we can think of. From preparing a festive dinner, baking biscuits and gift ideas to making your own decorations or gifts.

Reshaped celebration of Holiday season

It is no secret that technology has changed traditional celebration. It is also possible that technology may not have replaced the turkey or gammon as part of the traditional festive meal, but it has changed the ways in which we prepare and organise ourselves for holidays.

Technology has shaped the way we celebrate, share and communicate during Christmas time. Everything is tweeted, recorded, Instagrammed, uploaded, shared, liked, and retweeted at a pace that unfortunately leaves little room for pondering the real meaning of this time of year.

In 20 years from now, our festivities will certainly look very different once again due to the influence of technology.

Credit Professor Louis Fourie