Harkness – MacGillivray Stories

Having these Recollections stretch back many decades means I won’t include detailed current developments that much. However, viewing things in retrospect also gives a better understanding of the stories here; more so, they also show how they connect into life in the present-day. Given that, it seems just as inevitable to discuss the evolution of technology and cultural patterns of behaviour.

Photography is among those with continuous developments that have altered human behaviour. In an earlier post, “Decade-long Writing Process”, I talked about my old Nokia phone and how it had been significant in my writing process. Back then, it had a manual keyboard that was outcompeted by the new smartphones.

Evolution of Technology and Behavior

Ironically, new technology and lifestyles seem to reflect each other. Thus, marriages in the first half of the twentieth century were fairly stable for various reasons; although some reasons are the difficulty of getting a divorce and the unequal position of women in society.

In a way, the ‘family album’ functions as a kind of family photographic bible. They reflect what was imagined to be permanent. Of course, I understand that nothing is ‘permanent’. Nonetheless, these ‘Recollections’ and my other books may be considered an attempt to immortalise that life, at least within a restricted sphere.

In a later post, Photoshoots and Weekends, I shared how photographic film and developing were so expensive back in the days. Moreover, due to various technical limitations, people often posed for photographs. If we go further back in time and look at the photos of my great grandparents, we will see that these photos were taken in a studio. Hence, they probably involved more considerable expense. 

Digital Technology

Today’s smart phones and all the apps available on the Internet have revolutionised the photographic and media industry. Just as Nokia was not able to keep up with the competition, Kodak was also caught napping and outcompeted by companies such as Instagram. 

Today, younger people use their smartphones to take thousands of selfies, videos, and so on. They also now use various apps, send them to friends and acquaintances, or post them on various websites. In other words, although the ‘photo’ in paper form is still alive and well, it has been greatly replaced by digital media.

Ironically, today’s photo albums often consist of those photos that single mothers have archived on their smartphones or posted on various websites. (Yes, the father is often absent). In other words, the modern transitory nature of human relations is also reflected in the use of modern technology.

New technology and new lifestyles are often viewed as ‘progress’. But there will always be something that is lost. Some examples are the keyboard on my old Nokia Communicator, the LP ‘artistic’ record cover, and the nuclear family. Family life used to always depict stability, picnics, family dog and cat, and holidays; although of course it has its drawbacks such as incompatibility of spouses, the possible abuse of children, and etc.

To sum it all up, the ‘family album’ and the ‘family scrapbook’ are to a great extent, cultural products of a specific cultural period. When we look at that, the disappearance of these cultural artefacts also represents a cultural loss.