cultures and technology :: It is predictable that traditional cultures of countries will be lost as technology develops. Technology and tradition are incompatible. Do you agree or disagree?

No one would deny that the advancement of technology have immensely changed the way of people’s lives, including traditional customs. Regarding this, some people assume that the traditional culture of each country will disappear due to the enormous technology breakthroughs. I totally agree with this idea that tradition is unable to co-exist with technology.

To start with, the dramatic development of technology in media may play a critical role in fading away local cultures. It seems easy to find materials illustrating the backgrounds of other countries such as movies and dramas, which in turn, making people expose to other cultures. According to research, this persistent exposure to international media has contributed to a social trend which people become curious about new cultures and in turn welcome it, rather than retaining their local unique culture. Therefore, this may result in the disappearance of cultural diversity as technology advances.

Moreover, the improvement of technology enables people to contact with families living apart more frequent than ever, which is one of the cultures of various countries. With the help of technology appliance such as mobiles and web-camera, people these days have more opportunities to keep in touch with other family members without travelling. However, it was not uncommon for people in the past to visit hometown, especially on special occasions. The frequent contacts help people to feel closer regardless of how far they are. To take Korea as example, visiting the hometown, which was given the great importance on the public before technology developed, is not considered as a priority custom any more. Instead, they travel overseas or afford holiday on a special occasion, which means people no longer follow the local tradition.

To recapitulate, the technological improvements have indeed brought about losing tradition in various ways. Hence, I agree that traditions are unable to be compatible with technology.