Greeting card giants Hallmark launched their first ever app earlier this month. The eCard app, available on iPhone and iPad is scheduled for an Android release soon as well. A spokesperson for the company described the thought process behind the launch of the app. It’s thought that the idea is to get people to connect on a deeper level via smartphones and social media.
Indeed, it seems as though the sending of cards is part of our cultural tradition. The need to be kind to people and to show them we care. A few years ago Canadian police in Abbotsford sent Christmas cards to criminals. This is an excellent indicator of the importance of human interaction, and how giving greetings cards is such a big part of that.
As we’re all aware, technology has had a massive impact on our social interactions. It’s unlikely that things will ever go back to the way they were before technology evolved. Computers and smartphones take up so much of our time. And we all live busy lives with hectic schedules. So the benefit of using technology for interaction is that it’s quick and efficient. For instance, we can keep up to date with the lives of people we know who don’t live near us. And the way we do this is through social media sites.
Many people are getting to the stage where they prefer digital interaction to the face to face approach. Indeed, nowhere is this clearer than in the world of romance. Nowadays people don’t need to go out and interact face to face with other people to get a date. These days there are a whole host of apps and dating websites to choose from. People can go on there and create and browse profiles. In fact, on some sites that isn’t even necessary, sometimes it’s just pictures on show.
Because of this it’s become so easy to stay behind a screen and interact on a virtual level. The advantage of this is that it has made social interaction more accessible. People who were perhaps too shy to interact in a social context can do so now using technology.
We even use technology for documentation and as a diary. We record things that are important to us; we take pictures of our food, and we leave voice notes to remind us of things. Just think, how many of your friends birthdays would you have forgotten if Facebook weren’t there to remind you?!
And it’s not just for memory jogging that technology is useful. Take the card app concept, this taps into our basic need to show we care about others. How long before eCards begin making their way into other areas of life? Sites like eco2greetings.com offer a vast selection of corporate Christmas cards. And there are bound to be more apps on the way. This is the beauty of technology; we can combine business and pleasure with simply the click of a button.
These days it seems like there’s an app for everything, and if there isn’t there’s probably one in development. We all want a simple and practical life, it’s important for us to be able to access things with ease. And mobile apps are a great way of doing this. By using your smartphone you can use apps on the move. This allows you to interface with businesses and interact with friends on a deeper level.
