Thanksgiving

Since American Thanksgiving was yesterday, I've been thinking about how technology affects the holiday. I thought of how planes brought my family and I to our friends in Budapest to spend Thanksgiving with them and how my mom and I looked up Thanksgiving recipes online to combine them all and make the perfect dinner. When we said what we were thankful for, new technologies were added to the usual list of family, friends, and good health. Before and after the meal, we skyped with family back in the States. While eating leftovers today, a post-Thanksgiving tradition, the adults discussed how easy it is to pop the food into the microwave. I had never even thought of what would have been used to heat up leftovers when my parents were my age - ovens, stoves, and toaster ovens seemingly.

After searching to find greater impacts of technology on the holiday, I found a blog entry written by Tom Dunlap just a week ago. He talked about how Thanksgiving brings out the use of iPhones. Some people changed their Facebook statuses, wishing others a "Happy Thanksgiving" or describing their meal. This intrigued me, because I thought of all the Thanksgiving Apps that could have been created on the iPhone. There are new Apps giving the best Thanksgiving recipes, Thanksgiving party planning tips, Thanksgiving shopping lists, and even "minute-by-minute prep and cook timings and instructions for preparing the perfect Thanksgiving Feast," says a review on the app, iFeast Thanksgiving, from MacWorld App Guide.

Tom Dunlap also posted a poll on his blog, asking how technology will affect the individual's Thanksgiving. Many people said they would watch holiday-themed movies or use Facebook to talk to family and friends on Thanksgiving. Others would post movies clips of their holiday online, and one commenter said "iPhoners" would quickly answer trivia questions at the dinner table. Everyone answered saying that they would use technology in some way. Though, of course, the blog is all about technology, so those interested in the subject, would most likely use technology during the holidays.

Dunlap's blog also touched on the use of RockBand, Halo, and Wii games by his children on the day. In English, we talked about our Thanksgiving plans and many students said they usually just watch TV or play video games, but as far as I'm concerned that is not even celebrating Thanksgiving. Though, it is true that these video games have impacted the holiday. I hope with all this technology we don't forget what Thanksgiving is really about - family, friends, the pilgrims' first successful harvest, and of course, delicious food :)

Click here to be taken to the site showing the Thanksgiving photo above.

Bentley, Susannah. "iFeast Thanksgiving." MacWorld: App Guide. 22 Nov. 2009. Web. 26 Nov. 2009.