Tech The Halls – How Technology has Evolved Our Favourite Christmas Traditions

As far as Christmas traditions go this time of the year rarely changes for a lot of people. Whether it’s the pure bliss of putting your Christmas decorations up to the excitement of shopping for loved ones, the build up to Christmas is something we always look forward to.

However, with technology making significant innovations in recent years, the way we carry out certain festive traditions are a lot different to how it was before. Technology has evolved in such a way that we’ve adapted to more modern ways to partake in popular festive activities and have seen our favorite traditions evolve too.

Even though some traditionalists still prefer to write, sign and post Christmas cards to friends and family, others may opt for a simple ‘Merry Christmas’ post on Facebook or email an animated e-card. Or instead of leaving the house to visit Hamleys Toyshop or John Lewis to buy Christmas gifts, many will opt to stay indoors and do their shopping online. The end result will be similar but the way we do it has certainly changed.

A Digital Christmas Shopping Experience

The most significant change to Christmas is online shopping. Even though online shopping isn’t exactly new, it has seen significant changes in recent years and has become a preference for those seeking a stress-free shopping environment by giving the option to order items in the comfort of your own home or whilst you’re at work.

Online shopping has become very popular thanks to advancements in delivery, security and ease of use. However, with this increased usage of e-commerce stores, can we rely on delivery companies to have our presents under the tree by Christmas Eve? If you’re shopping now you probably won’t have an issue, but if you do leave it quite late can you still expect websites like Amazon, Play and Argos to keep their promise of having your items delivered? Amazon’s one-day delivery service via Amazon Prime looks to be the saviour of Christmas with its intent of getting your products delivered the next day, even if it’s a Sunday.

Although Amazon intends to deliver by 9PM the next day, they can’t always promise to do so due to volume of deliveries and the couriers only being human afterall. Well, they were until Amazon announced Amazon Air Prime, a droid delivery service. In recent years, Amazon has been experimenting with Droids using a future delivery system that’s designed to take packages from warehouses and fly it to a customer’s address within an hour of ordering. Though this isn’t in effect yet, or probably won’t be for a while for that matter, Amazon have already been testing this in the US and the UK so whether we’ll be having drones flying our packages within the next few years still remains to be seen. Either way, companies like Amazon have been trying new and innovative ways to make sure your products are delivered on time.

Another company intend on not disrupting your Christmas deliveries is Volvo. The Swedish car manufacturer has introduced plans to have items that have been bought online and have them delivered directly to your Volvo car using a one-time access key to the boot where the courier will leave the purchases. However it won’t be available in the UK for this Christmas season but could introduce a new way of doing your Christmas shopping.

Another unique aspect of online shopping is how easy it is to create personalised gifts for friends, family or perhaps for even yourself! From personalised Christmas cards to custom made t-shirts, websites like Zazzle and Cafepress have made custom gifts simple and easy to make using their online services. Afterall, nothing quite says Merry Christmas quite like a personalised jar of Nutella with someone’s name on it!

The modern Christmas gift can also weigh nothing at all but still provide hours of entertainment in the form of digital media. There are several online services where digital versions of music albums, films, games and books can be bought as gifts and then emailed to them on Christmas day or presented as a gift code. This is possible thanks to the popularity of platforms like iTunes, Play Store, Steam and the store built into Playstation and Xbox.

Digital Cards, eGreetings and Social Media Christmas

Online communication and social media has made it easier than ever to contact loved ones to wish them a Merry Christmas. Although it hasn’t quite replaced the traditional Christmas card, the idea that you can send a Christmas message easily using email or Facebook makes it a lot more convenient to those with loved ones on the other side of the world. This can be done by a simple personal message that says Merry Christmas or can be done via an e-greeting. These animated festive cards can be sent as emails to offer personalised messages in a pre-rendered template. Companies like Hallmark have a huge selection of e-cards that range from funny and sweet to cards that use famous brands like Star Wars and Frozen. Although these have been around for a while, they’re a fun way of saying Merry Christmas.

Though sometimes just saying Merry Christmas isn’t enough. Whilst social media and email allows us to connect and communicate with each other easily, it doesn’t quite match to being face to face with loved ones. Video communication tools like Skype and FaceTime allows you to easily call loved ones and spend time with them on Christmas day even if you’re on the other side of the world.

Other Ways Christmas has Digitalised

One thing we love about Christmas is making it fun for children (and adults of course!) to enjoy the festive countdown to the big day. An enjoyable part of Christmas Eve when we were younger was waiting for Father Christmas and when exactly he was arriving to your residence. NORAD (North American Aerospace Defence Command) was one way to ‘track’ Santa which was an annual entertainment program that let children call a phone number to see where he was at that point. Nowadays you can do that through mobile apps, social media and even a ‘Santa Cam’ that showed CGI images of Santa flying over famous landmarks.

Like Skype, Google Hangout has allowed you to also carry out your favourite traditions in the comfort of your own home. Christmas Carol hangouts, or cyber carolling, have become a popular way to sing classic hymns and carols with friends and strangers online to live audiences. Another fun tradition that has gone digital is Secret Santa with websites like Reddit pairing strangers from around the world to exchange gifts. It’s even attracted people like Bill Gates, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jimmy Fallon who were very generous in their efforts.

Speaking of generosity, Christmas isn’t what it is without the charitable efforts of individuals and organisations. We’re not all fortunate to receive gifts, food and even shelter at this time of the year but there have always been charities doing their bit to help out. Salvation Army kettles were a popular way of donating to the less fortunate at Christmas but today it’s easier than ever to donate online an even start your own red kettle donations. Donations have also come in the way of social media with Just Giving pages being set up to provide for families by giving toys to children and helping struggling families. Social media has also created exposure for several festive fundraising events including Santa Runs which have grown in popularity across the UK.

People will always choose to write and sign off their Christmas cards, brave the crowds and the cold to do their Christmas shopping and deliver care packages to local shelters. However, technology has evolved in such a way that we can take our Christmas traditions and celebrations much further. Technology hasn’t disrupted our Christmas traditions nor has it changed the way we celebrate it but it has made it easier to connect and spread festive cheer greater than we ever could before.