Well, so I had my revision class yesterday conducted by Dr. Steve Taylor from University of London. He was so funny and engaging, that's why I say UK lecturers are of a different league as compared to local lecturers. He is practically famous in the field of Sociology just in case you are wondering which module..
So we got down to the chapter of globalisation and its no wonder why Sociology is called Sociology. It's not some crappy module like Amath (yes I'm still taking this) which is utterly useless for my future. (Some parts of) Sociology are relevant with regards to our everyday life.
He said something like how our society is all about consumerism and he also compared traditional era to our modern world. Not only based on goods and services but also with respect to relationships and marriages. Lets for instance, use our cellphones or mobiles as examples.
Communication has evolved, together with technology. It was initially created or invented to improve communication but I strongly believe that it has in many ways actually worsened communication. I could write an entire essay about this but this is not what this post is about.
In the past, we never had phones. We made do with what we have. In the past, even forced (match-made) marriages worked out well.
In the past, we didn't have a choice, if we wanted to be connected with our other halves, we would write love letters and wait for months to receive it. In the past, we didn't have a choice, women were born to be housewives and men were born to bring home the bacon.
Now, we have phones and the 'distance' between everyone has actually drifted further.
Now, we have a choice, we have a say, we know what we want.
Now we are all a promiscuous consumer. As soon as the newer models for hand phones are to be released in the market, we would dispose/ sell/ trade-in our existing model for a more current one. No one is loyal to their hand phones, ever. (Just for the sake of this argument, let's say you have enough disposable income to go around.)
If you think about it relationship-wise, it's pretty much the same. It's scary isn't it? Someone comes along with better specifications and disposal of the existing one is almost instantaneous.
Not a sweeping statement saying that everyone is unfaithful. Just that Dr Taylor has a point. How many of us marry our first love? How many of us moved on to find someone with better prospects, who 'fits' us better? That is our future hand phone per say. Even marriage sometimes lead to divorce.
So really, everyone is a promiscuous consumer. It is in us that constantly want to have something better, something more worthy. That is why, if you're not treating your other half right, be prepared for him/her to move on. It's not wrong, it's just in us.
We are no longer living in the pre-modern society. Sad to say, not everyone learns or knows how to make do with what they have. Because always remember, there's always something out there that is better than what they have. But also ask yourself, how many times do you want to change your hand phone or rather, your other halves?
I don't know about you, but I'm a vintage-collector.
No comments:
Post a Comment