Reference News Network, November 29 report: The U.S. "Washington Post" website published an article titled "The Shrunk National Thanksgiving Holiday" on November 25. The author is Will Litch. The following is a compiled translation:

I've never fought in Walmart on "Black Friday," but I once almost did. It was about 15 years ago when I returned to my parents' hometown in Illinois. My father wanted to buy a new TV. So, we queued up at Walmart on Thanksgiving night, fighting for a good position, waiting for the shopping rush to begin.

With a bell ringing, the store doors opened, and we rushed in immediately, quickly running to the electronics section. I accidentally bumped into a man also grabbing the TV. He said, "Watch where you're going, buddy." I immediately shouted, "You should be watching out, pal." We stared at each other, then continued rushing wildly.

Walmart stopped opening at midnight to welcome "Black Friday" many years ago, but the culture of shopping battles has evolved. Now, "Black Friday" is basically done online: the deals we want can be obtained with just a mouse click. Although I don't miss the days of competing with strangers in the aisles for goods, I do wonder if some things that made Thanksgiving special have quietly disappeared.

In this consumerist, post-pandemic cultural context, how long will it take for Thanksgiving to become an online video gathering? In the past, this holiday was a multi-day event—Thursday for the Thanksgiving feast, Friday for shopping, Saturday for reuniting with old high school friends, and Sunday for returning home exhausted. Now, it's gradually being compressed into a single day. And the main activity of that day is increasingly sitting in front of a television or staring at a phone screen.

The decline of physical retail has largely saved us the time of queuing up to check out: last year, most of our holiday shopping was already completed before we even put the leftover turkey in a container.

As we are becoming more of a society that stays indoors, culture has also adjusted to fit our current lifestyle—staying on the couch. The idea of going out to public places (let alone fighting with strangers for TVs or dolls) now sounds uncomfortable, even outdated, like standing in line at a record store at midnight waiting for an album release.

For some people, Thanksgiving is still a day of giving—volunteering at soup kitchens or handing out food to those in need. But even such acts of kindness have moved online to some extent: the large Thanksgiving food donation campaign by "Feeding America" is entirely conducted online.

Yes, Thanksgiving is still a busy travel weekend for many. Despite lingering concerns about the recent government shutdown, the number of travelers is expected to reach a new high again this year. But is all this effort worth it just to switch from one screen—TV, iPad, or phone—to another? Spending so much time traveling only to sit motionless in a room seems to make people wonder whether we might eventually skip the whole process. Why go over rivers and through woods to Grandma's house when Grandma can also join via video call? (Translated by Qing Songzhu)

American stores hanging Black Friday posters (Xinhua News Agency)

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7578064572939108899/

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