CEBU, Philippines - Christmas greetings used to take the form of a Christmas card. A spoken word was not enough, people needed to see the greeting, even hold it in their hands. And a card was it.
Perhaps it was the Christmas card that started all the other greeting cards. One had to select just the right card that approximated or exactly portrayed the message one intended to convey. Thus, choosing the right card to send to the right person usually took quite a time.
True, Christmas cards were costly - in terms of money, time, effort. But those were very much personalized. And to send or receive a Christmas card meant something. Especially so because one had to hand write each of the cards, and send these individually.
One had a list of people to send Christmas cards to. The list was updated every year - a few names added, a few names removed. And so the number of Christmas cards sent closely reflected the state of one's relationships for a given year.
But times have since changed. And so has the Christmas greetings. In this digital age, many people have now gone digital with their Christmas cards too.
Today people send their Christmas greetings by email or by SMS. Some even simply post their greetings - for all! - in the social media, such that whoever comes across the post is a recipient. It's not that personalized anymore, as email or SMS or social-media greetings can be sent to multiple recipients in just one click.
Digital greetings are not necessarily meaningless, though. The mere act of including a name in the multiple recipients already means something - that the owner of that name has, at least, crossed the sender's mind. Well, yes, the act of greeting now costs much less in terms of money, time and effort.
Too many of the "cards" sent via digital media are sent out as mass mailers. It's rare nowadays to customize a greeting for a particular recipient. Most senders simply have to compose - or copy-paste - a general greeting and then hit the e-mail "send to all" box.
And many recipients have grown cynical about digital Christmas greeting. Some would just quickly check whom the greeting is coming from and delete it without even going through the message. Others who are patient enough to read through don't take seriously a word in the greeting, doubting the sender's sincerity.
To a good degree, Christmas has fallen victim to the worsening culture of distrust. And many people believe that digital Christmas greetings are partly to blame. They say that while these digital greetings did not start the 'empty' exchange, these have certainly fed to it. The convenience that the digital age brings requires less of people and more of technology.
Yet most of those who complain of the 'dehumanizing technology' of digital greeting cards belong to the older generations. The young ones would not know the difference. Those belonging to the digital age only know of digital greetings as the way to go.
The physical Christmas card itself was met with antagonism at its start. The very first holiday cards stirred up controversy. In 1843, when a British civil servant collaborated with his artist friend on a Christmas card, to test how the newly established postal service might serve the common folk, it created quite an uproar, as the picture on the card was of a child being fed wine. As the first mass-produced Christmas cards came out in the U.S. in 1875, an American tradition that was soon to be embraced by the world was born!
The physical holiday card hasn't entirely gone away. Even with the present dominance of the 'online' mindset, there are still people who'd go to great lengths to send an actual Christmas card. They are willing to go through all the trouble of sending a real Christmas card to those who are really dear to them. But then again, these people mostly belong to an older generation.
There is probably nothing wrong with adapting to the times. Actual or digital, a greeting may still mean the same thing - if it bears the very purpose of reaching out, of keeping in touch, of warming a heart. For that is what a greeting is supposed to do. (FREEMAN)