A Fast Changing World, Really???
Over the centuries, the global culture has changed. From fashion to music, education, technology, the changes were inevitable. Some would say “the PAST is the PAST” but we all know how a leisure stride down history lane can be exciting.
CULTURE
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Birth & Childhood
In the past, new born babies were unable to open their eyes for a few days after birth but that is not the case anymore. Now, babies are born with their eyes wide open and with their limbs strong enough to fight Karate if they want to. This is an example of the changes that come even with evolution.
Image source: unsplash
Women can now go through painless childbirth. If they wish to avoid discomfort and pain, pain meds. such as FENTANYL or NUBIAN can be taken to reduce pain. EPIDURAL ANALGESIA or INTRATHECAL ANALGESIA are pain relievers injected around the spinal canal and into the spinal fluid respectively. They numb the nerves around the legs, abdomen and the waist.
Laughing gas can also decrease pain awareness when the woman inhales it. The only downside to Epidurals is that it requires a number of interventions like electronic fetal monitoring, blood pressure monitoring and others. Also, the baby would be groggy and sleepy for a while after birth.
On the topic of child development, we can all agree that there are no toddlers or children anymore. You’ll be amazed at how much your kids know about the world and how intelligent and perceptive they are. The human race is evolving at a remarkably fast rate.
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Gender
In those days, we had only two known gender which is the ‘MALE’ and ‘FEMALE’. Now, there are more genders in our society. In filling out a form, the options would be:
Female O Male O Custom O
Instead of the traditional;
Female O Male O
Here is a list of non-traditional genders and their meanings;
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- A-gender: It means ‘without gender’ (non-binary).
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- Bi-gender: It includes any two gender identity and behavior.
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- Cisgender: A person who identifies with his/her biological sex. For example, a female identifying as a woman.
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- Transgender: A person who does not identify with his/her biological sex.
As the world evolves, so do the people. They have begun to see themselves in a different light and have new ideas. The barriers of gender have been broken.
Such remarkable change!
FASHION
All over the world, fashion trends have evolved from what they were. Clothes have become thinner and cover a lot less than they used to. From the eras of long gowns, maxi skirts and baggy shirts to the modern era of Crop tops, bum shots, knickers and sheer clothing.
Between the ‘80s – ‘90s, women in Nigeria and other African countries wore wrappers which were either tied around their breasts and hips or sewed into a blouse/buba and wrapper set.
Nigerian men wore tight shirts, baggy trousers and high heeled boots. Hairstyles were predominantly Afro for men and threaded or Afro hair for the women. At that time, young girls had luxuriously thick and black natural hair.
After decades of dressing retro, pop and hip, present day Nigerians have begun to embrace their culture in terms of fashion. Ladies now choose to wear their natural hair as opposed to synthetic wigs and attachments. Ankara is now sewn into fashionable styles for both men and women.
EDUCATION
In those days, Africans practiced the informal mode of education. This means that teaching was not done in classrooms but at home, on the farm etc. This mode of learning involved a parent or parental figure teaching a child the values, culture and norms of the society as well as skills such as weaving, farming, fishing, hunting, palm-wine tapping.
Skills were passed down from father to son, mother to daughter.
Women taught their daughters to sew, weave, dye clothes, make hair and other “womanly” duties and occupations.
While men taught their sons to farm, hunt, tap palm-wine and other “manly” duties and occupations. In order for a palm-wine tapper’s son to become a palm-wine tapper, he must have been trained by his father. To our forefathers the best certificate one could get was success in whatever business you traded in.
With the advent of the missionaries, things changed. School buildings were erected and the children began to learn in classrooms, subjects that were otherwise abstract.
Now, learning has gone digital. Online classes and certification has made learning easier and more flexible. Students choose what they learn and decide in what environment they want to learn in. Formal learning introduced another type of certification.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
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Health
Long before now, people with terminal diseases die from them. This was due to lack knowledge or medications to treat them.
In Nigeria, children die from Sickle Cell Anemia because parents are not aware of their genotype. Most of these deaths were attributed to the workings of witches and wizards and some of the children were branded as Abikus or Ogbanges.
Science brought about awareness. It was discovered that people suffering from Sickle Cell Anemia could live till about 50years of age if properly cared for. Drugs like folic acid were introduced and today, the number of children who die from Sickle Cell disease has reduced drastically.
A person with cancer can receive treatments such as Chemotherapy, Radiation therapy and
Cryoablation all possible because of technological advancement.
Persons with HIV/AIDS can also live longer through drugs and proper health care.
The downside of advancement in science is that unlike the olden days when people took herbs to treat their various ailments, various drugs have been introduced. These drugs, contain so many chemicals and have such side effects that given an option, it is best to resort to herbal medicine.
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The Telephone
In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone which was at that time a brilliant but funny looking instrument. At the time it was developed, Mr. Bell used it to communicate with his assistant who was in the next room. Afterwards, telephone wires were placed and spanned a few miles, allowing people within that radius to communicate with each other. Such wires were also connected between a person’s home and place of business. Enabling direct communication between people in the house and people at work like a kind of intercom.
Around the year 1878, telephone service subscribers paid $1.50 dollars per month and they were mostly businesses and wealthy individuals. It was such a luxury to own a telephone at that time and a simple farm girl could not afford one.
With the advent of the Internet, communication between people all over the globe has become fast and easy. A person in Kenya can make an uninterrupted video call with someone in Australia provided there is stable network.
In the 1900s in, Nigerians went to Nitel office to make calls. At Nitel office telephones were attached to the wall and people paid according to the number of minutes they spent on the phone. Then people started to use the rotary phone popularly called “landline” in their homes which was a lot more convenient than the public telephones. These phones were usually stationed at one part of the house and when dialing a person would click on a number and wait for the dial to rotate before clicking on another number.
Let’s move closer to the present, in the early 20th century people paid about
N12,000- N20,000 for a simple sim pack. Phones that did nothing but call and text sold for outrageous amounts of money.
We had the Nokia 3310, Motorola, flip phones and those phones you slide the screen up to use the keyboard. More recently, the Nokia C1 and C2, Express music, Etisalat phone, the Nokia Asha, The Blackberry series, The present day Android phones (Techno, Itel, Nokia, HTC, Samsung etc.) and finally the iPhones and iPads.
Nokia 3310 could only text and make calls. The Motorola was the same. The slide up phones had radio and camera for pictures and a gallery that included music players. The Nokia C Series was a hit, for me it was a hand me down from my mother to my elder brother them finally to me, I used it to access the Internet, reading a lot of books and having so much fun in the very popular 2go app of that time. My Elder brother used express music and since I was never allowed to touch it I do not know much about that phone.
The Etisalat phone was also really nice. The downside of it was its durability which was pretty low. Nokia Asha was a “big” phone to us then with its QWERTY keyboard. Sooner than we thought possible, the Blackberry series came and confused everyone. Everybody wanted to own a Blackberry. They wanted to “ping”, be on BBM.
The BlackBerry overthrow was the most dramatic overthrow in history. One minute we were all chatting on BBM and the next minute someone shoved an Android phone in our faces and we did not know when we dropped our Blackberry phones. We hardly even heard when the screen shattered.
Although iPhone and iPad users have attempted to make fun of Android users till they too drop their Android phones, this crop of people are thick skinned and resilient enough to ignore us and keep flaunting their Android phones. Still, with the number of iPhone users increasing daily, what hope do Android users have to retain their precious phones together with their pride?
It is most interesting to note that the same SIM card that was sold for such huge sums less than 20 years ago in Nigeria is now given out for free. We see MTN and Glo networks advertise free SIM cards and we walk away with our noses turned up.
Nokia 3310 is still expensive till date considering what it cannot do, no one uses Motorola and flip phones except they are stuck in the past.
My Nokia C2 died a few years ago and my mom’s Asha is gone. What is Express Music again?
The BlackBerry series is also gone and we’re holding out for Android. You see all these stuff that’s disappeared? Such is the magic of time wrought transformation.
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The Car
A car is an automobile with four wheels. It is used for transporting people and goods from one place to another. In the year 1886, Karl Benz, a German inventor patented his Benz patent Motor-wagon. This Motor-wagon was a three wheeled contraption powered by a combustion engine. Then the Mercedes Benz was produced, it was a car built with the merging of the Benz and Daimler companies.
People began to use cars around the globe in the 20th century. The first car to become available for mass commercial purchase was the Ford Model T produced by Henry Ford people bought it because it was affordable. Since then a whole lot of cars have come into existence.
In 1922 the Austin Seven car was produced. It was affordable and unique because this particular car was fitted with the kind of controls that present day cars contain. Did you know? Volkswagen actually means “people’s car,” the Volkswagen Beetle was affordable and practical. From the year 1938-2003 Volkswagen was in mass production and use.
Since then various luxury and sports cars, that have wowed the whole world have been produced.
- The Vanguard Citicorp
- The Pontiac GTO
- The Porsche 911
- The Ferrari
- The Bugatti and many more!
The aisle of history is a fascinating one to walk on because there are delightful objects and concepts on both sides. Pity we’ve come to the end of this exciting walk.
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