Explore the transformative impact of cutting-edge innovations on the way we live “3 Ways New Technologies Have Redefined Our Culture” It isn’t an understatement to say that the last 30 or 40 years have been a period of breakneck tech development. In the space of that time we’ve jumped, for example, all the way from VHS to DVD to Blu-Ray, and now forgoing all of them altogether in favor of streamed content.
Along with these technological changes, global culture has been rapidly shifting as well to match and perceptions of what things are ‘normal’ are radically different. Here’s just a quick look at some of the more significant ways that we see the world through the modern high-tech lens.
Communication
Any readers born on this side of the millennium will naturally be unfamiliar with a world before mobile communications but, in reality, we have only been able to commercially buy cellphones for around 40 years. It took until the mid-90s for the cellphone to become remotely recognizable as a modern mobile device, and as we now look to the spread of 5G networks around the world, remember that 3G was only in place from the turn of the century.
With the technology we have today, being able to contact any person at any time is taken as the standard. The world has effectively shrunk with calls and messages around the world now being as easy as calling a neighbor, although some argue that it has come at the cost of personal space and time as we’re now always available on demand.
Entertainment
Speaking of things on demand, as we discussed in our introduction, we have moved away from having our entertainment limited to certain times or locations like broadcast television or cinemas. It hasn’t just been in mainstream media either; every aspect of entertainment from sports to casino games has become something convenient and easy to access.
The cultural effect is that these kinds of entertainment are now expected to be always available, as in the casino example. Where card and table games were things you needed to go to a casino to do, it has now become just as common for people to play blackjack online in the UK or US, along with poker, roulette, or slot games. These games have become available anywhere and are more accessible than ever because of it.
Money
We are very much in the middle of the latest revolution of technology in the form of digital currency. Starting out over a decade ago as a niche interest of only the truly tech-adept, cryptocurrency has gone global and the biggest names like Bitcoin have reached household level. It’s even become the national standard currency of El Salvador.
Culturally, with the decline of cash retailers and the rise of wireless payments, the era of physical money seems to be coming to an end. It may seem like a gradual change, but when you think that it is ending thousands of years of established practice in only a few decades, it becomes all the more dramatic.
The next cultural shift is still unknown but we know it’s waiting on the horizon. The only questions left are how dramatic it will be and just how fast it will happen…
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