For as long as many of us can remember, Black Friday has been the one day out of the year when people go crazy at the stores. Black Friday was always a fun day when everything at the mall is on a huge sale. Good deals, cute clothes, nice shoes and expensive Christmas gifts all get purchased on this one day. Lately, I haven’t been seeing Black Friday being as big of a deal as it used to be. What happened to this fun holiday?

Every year, more and more people choose online shopping over in-person shopping. Of course, online shopping is more convenient, easy, and fun. However, it is still not the same as going out and actually looking at the items you want. I feel as though Black Friday doesn’t even have the same meaning it once had. It used to have such a huge impact on nearly everybody and their schedules. People would actually plan their whole day, sometimes even week, around this one day to go shopping. Why would they do this? Because shopping can be so much fun when it is already known that there are going to be good deals. 

There are many factors that play into why this holiday has deteriorated. For example, technology is constantly changing every year. There are now 13 Apple iPhones in existence. According to an infographic from digital agency Sequence, customers are getting used to making their holiday purchases online. Many millennials now use their phones every day for shopping online. Sometimes I think it would be nice if we all tried to stay away from our smartphones over the holidays. 

Although technology plays a big part in belittling Black Friday, there are also copycat “holidays.” Days such as Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday and Amazon Prime Day make it hard in the sense that there are more opportunities than just Black Friday. I think people see Black Friday as “not a big deal” because in a couple days it will be Cyber Monday, so it is not a problem. 

As the years go by and technology and new sales events advance, I think Black Friday will soon no longer be a holiday. I hope that we continue this tradition every year and that no one forgets the rushing feeling of Black Friday.