Afternoon tea, Harry Potter, and the royal family – this is the general idea about the ideal lifestyle in the UK. These are the three mental images in everyone’s mind when they think of United Kingdom. Yet, UK lifestyle is more than just a country full of tea lovers. For the record, not everyone in the United Kingdom loves tea but we sure do love the Queen.
The country has undergone changes in the last several years transforming the life & style so much that it is different from 5 years ago. The greatest reason behind this is, of course, technology. So, how has the UK changed and how is the 21st-century lifestyle different from what it used to be?
Shopping
With the age of the internet, the greatest change in UK lifestyle has been marked with a new way to buy what you want of when you need to do some online shopping. It has been around since the 1980 but with the rise of online banking all over the world, online shopping has become increasingly popular. Practically every company today has an online store with locations across different countries. In recent years when online shopping is really booming. Perhaps one of the greatest reasons is the rise of lifestyle section in blogs and websites. It would be a good idea to check the top 10 fashion blogs in the UK now if you have not already. There are many other high profile lifestyle blog names worth checking up occasionally.
Online articles on reviews of products from different stores reveal trending dresses for women. For example, Buzzfeed has a lifestyle section dedicated to online stores reviewing their products and recommending them to other people for example for this month they made an article titled “17 Extra AF Party Dresses to Wear This December” showcasing trending dresses for ladies. So do online fashion blogs, when a UK lifestyle blog name becomes famous their reviews are seen by hundreds of consumers and many bloggers are paid to endorse the products of different companies. Boo hoo, and ASOS are very popular online stores. They were highest on the list by Independent and by Standard.
Entertainment is also Part of UK Lifestyle
Yes, entertainment, eating out, holidays and experiences are more valued lifestyle sections than buying items. Hence, more and more consumers are shifting towards that trend according to The Guardian. This is not to say that consumers are not buying from retail shops. In fact, online shopping is increasingly becoming a major part of UK lifestyle. It is one of the greatest lifestyle examples, which we can use to show just how different 21st century UK lifestyle is.
Social Change
Fun fact by if.org.uk: In the 70’s it was still common not to have a flushing toilet inside one’s house. About 98% of British households have a central heating system in the 1970’s only 37% did. Only 52% had access to a car/van and 42% to a telephone. Today, however, literally everyone carries a phone in his or her hands. If not, they do have a car or a transportation system card.
Just in 2011, 16% of the adults lived alone, which is a figure that has doubled since 1971. Life & style in the 70’s was to live together only after marriage. Today, adults who live together are less likely to be married. Among women, the proportion that lives in a household and those married fell by a third and unmarried cohabiting has tripled. Is this a bad thing? Well simply put, the strict norms of our society have started to change especially for women.
Social Life in the 70s
In the 70’s it was extremely rare for women to go to university only 2% smartest women (called blue stockings) went to university. However, that figure is more than 50% nowadays. Beyond numbers in education, women have taken not left the workforce after joining it in great numbers since World War II. It is increasingly becoming more and more common for women to be part of the top management not just in companies but also in politics like Queen Elizabeth and Margaret Thatcher.
In the 1971 and 1991 private renting started decreasing from 20% to 7% due to the recession it saw and change during the 90’s when house ownership started expanding and in 2008 renting was part of 11% of households. but as recession-hit once more, renting became part of 15% of households in 2011, younger citizens, under 25 part of demographic that rents the most whereas those who were older are more likely to own a home.
Dating in UK Lifestyle
With the age of the internet, love advice is scattered everywhere, newspapers, videos and random graffiti in the street. Dating is another UK lifestyle example, which has a drastically changed. Here are the facts: 15 million people in the UK were single with half of them looking for a long-term relationship according to The Guardian.
Conservatism aside, there are many things that have changed about dating. It goes all the way from the rise of elite dating applications, like (Tinder Select) and expectation. What we look for in a partner has changed as well as the “ideal partner”. According to Saga, earlier marriage, one’s physical appearance, and social status was important. Today, that does not really matter.
You can agree to disagree, and not see everything with the same lens. It is perfectly common to date someone who already has children. With the change in societal norms and the invention of contraception, longer relationship histories, accepting, and understanding is now an unwritten rule.
Dating in the 80s
In the 80’s, there was only one-way to keep in touch: phone numbers (phone numbers which belonged to an entire household, might I add). But today, there are many ways to keeps in touch: email, Facebook. Twitter, WhatsApp, tinder the list goes on-and-on. The other way dating has changed is that it is increasingly becoming an industry. Now, online dating is increasingly normal. There are applications like OkCupid, Tinder and books, dating coaches, there is a surplus of material for single people in order to go out there and find their perfect match. It is an entirely new industry.
It is perfectly normal for a person to go out on dates with many people at once and with the rise of social media, good online profiles, and being active in it is key according to EHarmony.
Education in the UK
In the 40’s, during World War II the need for workers had increased, encouraging women to join the workforce. In those days, academic standards were higher. “Math’s particularly would include simultaneous quadratics and integral calculus for 15 years old and even 13-year-old boys in private schools.” According to the history of England University, education was not particularly advanced or better than a good sixth form. It consisted mostly of courses in Latin and reading of the scripture (the Bible) along with the Ten Commandments.
Schoolteachers were strict and disciplined the boys by beating them up carrying rulers to do so. At that time, the time to teach in class was 90% and now its 20% because of increased chat and disruptions. Sports were very important, and boys would do “five different sports, 3 times a week”. A student’s ability in any sport was very highly praised.
Education in the 80s
The 80’s were marked by great changes in technology, a closure of factories which led to unskilled workers being fired from their jobs, for example, the computer. Yes, the first computers were obsolete compared to the ones used today. But when they were invented, they were hailed as one of the greatest inventions because they could crunch numbers fast. Only people who were very good with numbers could operate their software, hence women and the elderly who usually carried out calculations using old machines were replaced by a machine and the “100 girls might be replaced by 10 men in the computer room.”
This affected education because the changing technology brought, required the educational system to face new requirements so that their graduates were successful. Instead of reading skills, report writing skills and communication skills were in the spotlight and the math skill set needed to be changed. And so they did. Grammar Schools for bright kids and the Secondary Modern for regular children changed to one institution for all. However, it is to be noted that they did not deliver on the teaching the skill set required in order to be successful. The emphasis on sport decreased greatly.
So How Is Education Today?
Well, for one technology has allowed students to create accounts on different platforms from social media like Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. In these spaces, they talk in detail about their own study process. There are links to find notes, books, past papers, video tutorials. Technology has enabled a great amount of information is increasingly available – free.
The greatest example of this is MOOC short for Massive Online Open Courses and websites like Coursera, Edx, Khan Academy, and Chemguide. For those pursuing a career, online universities are available such as The Open University. Newspapers have sections dedicated to students such as BBC and The Guardian. In these sections, new educational policies are explored, and students write articles with advice. You can find advice ranging from how to ace that A’ level subject to technology, and life and style.
Since the 70’s our world has seen a great revolution thanks to technology. The United Kingdom is no exception to this. Has it been for the better? Well, for now, only time will tell if the UK lifestyle of the 21st century has brought about revolution.
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