Four British Traditions That Tech Has Transformed

Think about life today compared with twenty years ago and you quickly realise how technology has changed the way we live. Writing letters has almost become a distant memory, as emails, sms and social media messaging take the fore. We pay our bills and generally run our lives through our smartphones; and for many of us our smartphone is also our key entertainment device - where we read books, watch films and play games.

It’s not surprising, then, that technology has had a transformative effect on some of our traditions and habits.

Buying birthday cards and presents

Thanks to the rise of websites such as Moonpig.com and Funkypigeon.com, the numbers of “belated birthday” cards purchased in Britain must have plummeted in recent years! With so many next-day online birthday card delivery services available, and most of us using digital calendars that send us reminders of upcoming events, few of us can legitimately use the excuse of saying they forgot a birthday these days.

Source: Moonpig via Facebook

In the same way, it’s become so much easier to get a gift sent to someone too. Want to send chocolates or flowers to someone? A quick google search and it’s done! Not only can you purchase all kinds of birthday gifts online; the gift-wrapping can also be done for you.

Playing the lottery

When the National Lottery first started in 1994, the only way you could get a ticket for the next draw was to join the queue at a corner shop or newsagents, or in the supermarket. While you might have had your favourite numbers, there was always the risk you might not get a chance to buy a ticket one week, and that would be the time your special numbers would come up.

Source: Pixabay

Nowadays, the whole process of lottery-ticket buying is so much easier. Not only can you buy lotto tickets for multiple draws in advance, but you can also bet on lottery results for a huge variety of international lotto draws such as Spain's El Gordo, German Keno, the French Loto and the US PowerBall.

Queueing

Thanks to the rise of e-commerce the stereotypical image of British people enjoying a queue seems to be in danger of being passé. Apart from odd days like Christmas Eve, Black Friday or the night before a Bank Holiday weekend, shops and supermarkets certainly seem a lot less busy than they used to be.

"Queue" (CC BY 2.0) by oatsy40

With so many of us having our groceries delivered to the door and shopping via sites like Amazon, the need to stand in a queue is becoming redundant. According to a report by Kantar Worldpanel, Brits lead the world in buying groceries online. The same report also revealed the British to be world leaders for the most frequent online purchases of products other than food.

However, if your British genes still feel the need to indulge in a bit of queuing, head to the Post Office to post a letter - things don’t seem to have changed much there!

Playing bingo

Bingo always used to be a game that encouraged people to socialise down at the nearest bingo hall. The simple game of chance where you had to match your numbers to those called out by the bingo caller has always been a community game. Today, though, it’s just as easy to play at home, via online bingo sites.

Not only can you play anytime of day, you can also play multiple games at once as the software keeps track of the games for you. However, that’s not to say the social aspect of bingo has disappeared. On the contrary, now that the gameplay is automatic, it leaves players free to concentrate on the banter going on between players in the bingo site chat rooms.

It’s human nature to fear change and, generally, we’re all a little wary of each new technological advance when it first comes along. But when we see how some of our traditions can be enhanced by technology, and tedious traditions like queuing can be done away with because of it, it doesn’t seem so bad!