Cultural Issues

A cultural issue is a way in which technology alters how people and communities live, interact and treat each other — and the same change rarely affects every group in the same way. Unlike an ethical issue, which asks whether something is right or wrong, culture is about changes to a way of life that may suit some people and not others.

Keeping in contact

Social media, messaging and video calls let you stay close to people who live far away — a teenager whose grandparents emigrated can video call them every week. But hours spent messaging can replace time together in person, so a youth club may lose members because teenagers chat in a group instead of meeting up.

Where we shop and work

Online shopping and streaming have contributed to shops closing, such as a family-run bookshop or a shop that rented out films. That changes a town centre and takes away the jobs and the chance meetings that came with it. Remote working and video meetings mean a job can be done from a spare room rather than an office: a designer works from home instead of commuting, which suits their family, while the café that sold lunch to office staff loses trade.

News, devices and culture

Anyone can publish to a worldwide audience in seconds, so events are reported far faster than they used to be. That can be a boost — a teenager's video review of a small bakery brings in customers from the next town — but untrue claims spread just as quickly, and a made-up hygiene complaint can cost a takeaway its regulars. There is also pressure to own the newest phone so as not to be left out, and a generation gap between those who grew up with technology and those who did not, such as a grandparent who needs help paying for parking by app. Music, food and languages cross borders online far more easily than before, which spreads understanding, but if young people post only in a global language, a local language may be spoken by fewer people each year.