The often dramatic and disruptive changes brought about by innovative technology, have been discussed in this column numerous times. 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. Increasingly we have come to realise that technology changes almost all things.
In a few days many people around the world will celebrate Christmas, begging the question if technology has also changed Christmas, a centuries’ old celebration.
Without doubt the celebration of Christmas has not been left untouched by technology advancements. Over time major technological changes also changed the way people celebrate Christmas. 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 Christmas communication game changer.