I Screen, You Screen, We all Screen for Screen Culture

Scan, swipe, beep, boop…. Gone are the days of fumbling through your wallet for that pesky buy five get the sixth one free coffee card. Say hello to the days where buying groceries can be done at a smartphones ability to paypass.

The evidence of screen culture today includes the digital arena, where small lit up screens are preferred in many aspects of our society (Trendwatching, 2012). Mcarthy suggests that the physical retail store is perhaps a microcosm of capitalist actions (Mcarthy, 2001, p. 164), whereas the emerging popularity of screens broadens scope and brings in the best of both worlds (Shop2Mobi, 2012), where consumers can use their smartphones to search, compare, purchase, evaluate and consider, all at a flick of the wrist

Shiffman et al suggest that culture is “natural and automatic” (p.393), where a feature of the culture within society has to do with satisfying specific needs (Shiffman, 2014). In the case of screen culture, there are increasing evolutions within business to push consumers and other businesses to conform to this cultural norm. The known and loved coffee cards, used by many and lost by most, examples the specific standard which no longer satisfies the screen culture world. Alas, Rewardle came in to take its thunder, by migrating into a mobile app.

Consumers can gain purchase power within Rewardle, by tracking there points, scoring bonus deals, and having the utmost convenience. The interface to everything and anything that lies beyond the screen (Trendwatching, 2012), not only stops at the consumer, but for the retailer in question, they can gain valuable insight and strong customer engagement to bring forward their marketing efforts.

Can it go beyond coffee shops?

Certainly! Shiffman et al considers that culture is learned as we begin to acquire beliefs and values from our satisfied needs. A way to understand this is to think of how children learn by playing with toys, given that in a modern world iPad’s are increasingly becoming childhood memories, we can apply the learning theory to the reading culture vs the Screen culture and how this trend has become an apparent norm within society.

As noted above individual needs will become satisfied by screen culture and as technology continues to advance, so too does our learning. Another example is the NFC (near field communication) technology in smartphones that enables payment terminals to communicate with each other for the good of our size-decreasing wallets (Kessler, 2010).

Individuals are yielding to their old standards of needs; from using credit cards and coffee cards, and replacing them with the involvement of screens due to our increased learnings and efficiency (Komando, 2011).

 

 

 

 

Reference List:

 

Kessler, S., 2010, Why your smartphone will replace your wallet, Mashable Australia, Dec 16, Mashable.com, May 15 2016, < http://mashable.com/2010/12/15/smartphone-wallet/#G8t5hEtJTuqm>

 

 

Komando, K., 2011, Your Phone will replace your wallet, YouTube Video, Jan 11, The Kim Komando Show, viewed May 15 2016, < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEurC8AUB2Y>

 

McCarthy A., 2001, Ambient television: Visual culture and public space. Duke University Press, 164-165.

 

Schiffman, L., O’Cass, A., Paladino A., and Carlson, J., 2014, Consumer Behaviour, Pearson Australia, 396-397.

 

Shop2Mobi, 2012, Mobile Smartphone QR Code Shopping, Nov 5, Shop2Mobi.com, viewed May 8 2016, <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNZxosAu1Ds&gt;

 

 

Startup Daily, 2013, Startup rewardle says goodbye to fat wallets and loyalty cards!, Startup Daily, May 15 2016, < http://www.startupdaily.net/2013/03/startup-rewardle-says-goodbye-to-fat-wallets-loyalty-cards/ >

 

Trend Watching, 2012, (R)etail (R)evolution: Etail is retail is etail’, May 2012 Trend Briefing, trendwatching.com.au, < http://trendwatching.com/trends/etailevolution/>