Social, Cultural and Technological Changes (Auto-Ethnography)
Education is the foundation upon which we will build our future.
-Christine Gregoire
I am born and brought up in a small town in Andhra Pradesh. Since 1997, I have witnessed many changes in my livelihood culturally,technically and socially.There is a tremendous transition from “posting a letter” to “writing a mail”, “Let’s play caroms” to “lets play mini militia” and even there is change in perspective of parents over daughters from “Is it necessary to do job” to “Explore yourself” .Every thing in this world can be seen from at least two perspectives .Similarly these changes has both positive and negative impacts in our life.In the race of gaining something we are missing something .
Technological Changes
My generation has seen some incredible technological advancements in a very short span of time.I still remember the first time when I talked in phone .It is landline telephone.I was so excited to talk in phone with others.But now we due to technological development we can find the most advanced AI based mobile phones in our pockets itself.At that time the only purpose of phone was communicating with others.But now we are using the mobiles to watch movies, as a camera ,as a clock and many more. waiting for high-cost STD calls changed to personalized and free group video calls in Skype.During my childhood we used to get DVD and CD’s to watch movies but we are watching movies at our fingertips itself.For listening music, I used to download songs and enter them into SD card but now we can use saavn and wynk apps.There is a time we used to take the photocopy of notebooks but now we are just scanning them with our mobiles.
I still remember my father used to stand in line for hours to make bank payments ,pay water and electricity bills .But all of them are digitized and we are paying them from our home itself using Paytm,Phone pe etc.I remember till the age of 10 I did not watch any movie in theater because of unavailability of theater in my locality.Now we can see high quality movies in amazon prime and netflix. They gradually will replace the theater.
When I was a child I used to spend 4 to 5 hours in shopping malls along with my parents to buy clothes.But we can buy anything online using shopping websites.So due to development in technology we can do any work at our fingertips.
Social Changes
At that time television is not available in all the houses.So everyone used to come together and watch serials.Especially during Saturday and Sunday children as well as old people used to gather along with meals to watch movie during lunch and dinner time.Now due to advancement in technology people can watch movie in their home it self even live streaming is available these days.So people are becoming less social.
In the previous decade, kids were more social.They are willing to visit each other’s house, sit together, decide what they want to do and roam around using their 2-wheeler’s cycle/scooty . Children used to go out and play but they they are playing in play station or video games.There is a change from “Let’s play caroms” to “lets play mini militia”.Children are spending less time with parents and grand parents and spending their time in watching cartoons,video games.
Families used to call other families for social gatherings.But now the scenario has changed entirely. Even though advent of technology has many positive impacts on people on the other side it is making them less social.
Cultural changes
Many aspects has changed in many ways — be it the food we it, the dresses we wear, the languages we speak, the values we believe and many more. There is significant change in everything. On one hand, it is good to see the changes of being open to different traditions and cultures, and accepting as well as respecting those differences. But on the other hand, we are forgetting the values and traditions.
Even there is change in perception of parents over their girl child.During 90’s they were not allowed to go for higher studies and also for the job .But now there is change in perspective of parents over daughters from “Is it necessary to do job” to “Explore yourself” .
Education brought many changes in our culture.Due to education there is migration all over the country.A good mix of geographical, economical, social and political diverse people come to work, for studies,for business development. Also migration to other localities for economic well-being has led to wide range acceptance and inclusion in societies. So there is change in mindset of people due to mix of different cultures.
