Each year of my childhood, my family took a trip to the local Fargo mall with my grandparents to visit Santa Claus and give him our wish lists for the upcoming holiday. We made it a large family occasion; we would dress up in our best outfits and go out to brunch after spending our morning with the magic of Christmas. I always loved the spirit in the air and the reality of seeing Santa and his elves.

Although Americans still value Christmas as an important holiday, the dynamic of Christmas has changed so that the genuine Christmas experience often gets lost. Our society manipulates the holiday, whether it be by transferring visits to Santa into a technological experience or through persuading people that Christmas is about getting the newest technological gadget, in order to gain profit rather than embrace the holiday. This devalues the importance of Christmas traditions and gets rid of the true spirit of the Christmas season.

This increased technological Christmas can be seen in malls around the city and country. When shopping at the Mall of America on Black Friday, I passed a store called ‘Experience Christmas’ where parents could bring their kids to take a picture in front of a green screen. This picture would be photoshopped so that the children looked like they were sitting in Santa’s lap. The magic of Christmas and visiting Santa as a young child is being exploited into a profit-focused industry that uses technology instead of the true experience.

The gifts that people wish for at Christmas have also transformed from the true meaning of Christmas. Kids ask for new iPhones, tablets, tablets, laptops, or video games, saying that they need these new gadgets for an unannounced reason. Even many adults fall under the notion that technology is the only functional gift for the Christmas season.

With its obsession over this technology, society often repels the home-made gifts that have true sentimental value. Christmas is not about who can get the most expensive gift or finds the cutest iPhone case for their child, but should be celebrated as a time to give gifts to show appreciation for influential people in one’s life. We as a society have gotten so involved in needing to stay current with continually increasing technology, that we use every celebration as a method of getting updated technological gifts rather than understanding the value of the celebration.