On Thanksgiving night, I did what millions of Americans did, and stood in line at a store that was going to open their doors at midnight. For my personal experience of this “American tradition” I chose Bestbuy in hopes of getting a new wireless mouse for my laptop and an Asus tablet. I drove by the store at around 6:45 to get a feel for how long the line was. Then I made a run to Waffle House to eat, and was standing in line by 7:30, which at this point was wrapped around the building, four and a half hours before the store was going to open their doors.
This was the first year I decided to do any Black Friday shopping. It was worth the experience because I got a large percentage off on both items I purchased. However, I think Black Friday shopping in its current form could be on its way out for a new form holiday shopping could be on its way in: Cyber Monday.
As many people saw, a woman in California used pepper spray to secure herself an xbox on Black Friday. This is not the only case of violence on the most popular shopping day of the year. As Black Friday crowds get bigger and bigger with every passing year, the shopping experience becomes more intense. However, there is an alternative that many people are turning to. The Monday after Black Friday is known as Cyber Monday. This is because on this day there are more online sales than any other day of the year. Technology has allowed us to circumvent the hassle of large crowds when doing holiday shopping. Businesses did a record number of sales with this years Black Friday, but online retailers also did a record number of sales on Cyber Monday. I believe that as crowds continue to grow and online shopping becomes more mainstream (although it is already very mainstream) Cyber Monday will become a more significant shopping day than Black Friday. This may not be the case, because consumers still get a great deal of satisfaction from going to the store and getting the item they want to purchase right away. But as the crowds become more hostile every year, I believe more people will give up the instant satisfaction for convenience.
This is sad in a way, because as a people we can no longer act as civil towards each other as we once did. This is not the fault of technology, but technology has allowed this to happen. It is entirely possible to work from home on the Internet today and never have to interact with anyone face to face. The growth of Cyber Monday is just another thing that shows our world is become more digital and technology is playing a more prevalent role.
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