In the subway, there is an advertisement picture in which a woman watches a snap movie on her phone. Beside her, a young boy is touching his phone and he reads a webtoon. In addition, a girl student is listening to an online lecture on her phone. A group of people are talking each other, and they are wearing mountain-climbing equipment. And, there is a businessman who reads an electronic book. What do they have in common? The answer is that they are examples of snack culture. Have you ever heard of “Snack Culture?” If you have not, let’s learn more about it!
▶▶ 1. What is “Snack Culture?”
Snack Culture is a compound phrase which combines the word “snack” and the word “culture.” It is a culture that only takes a short time, so people can enjoy it regardless of time and place. Snack culture was originated from the life pattern of an office worker. Many workers can’t have a lot of time when they do something. As a result, they started to find the pastime which takes only 10-15 minutes. This phenomenon made modern office workers focus on web-toons, internet dramas, and snap movies. It received fervent response from office workers because these things made them free from their trouble and were inexpensive. After that, it was spread out in many different fields, such as fashion, food, and broadcasting. In addition, it is suitable for modern people who long for something new at every moment. Modern people satisfies their consumption desires by experiencing many things in a short time. Of course, the popularization of smart electronic devices has contributed to snack culture.
▶▶ 2. Pop Culture in the Snack Culture
Do you know about snap movies? Most young people might know about this content. It is a short movie that takes only 2 or 3 minutes and is made with many pictures which are taken by ordinary men. The video is short and includes an individual’s personal story, so it is popular. Besides, the mobile movie gains massive popularity. It can be watched by phone in ten minutes or so, so students or workers watch these movies during their commuting time. We can also watch the dramas or variety shows through smart phone, edited briefly. They consist of only funny parts, so they cause us to laugh soon. Are these short entertainments popular with only young people? No, the electronics book is loved regardless of age. The E-book which can be read anytime and anywhere made the stagnated book market more active. The amount of sales volume is increasing gradually, and a publishing company that sells the books opened its digital market in Korea.
▶▶ 3. Snack Culture Hides under Our Real Lives
Home appliances could be examples of snack culture. Home appliance does its role correctly, but it takes short time. For example, a steam iron can be heated only in 20 seconds, so it is very useful for many single persons whose schedules are so tight. Also, a washing machine takes 50 minutes from washing to drying. It is not only convenient but also economical.
We can see snack culture in the field of education. While students go to school, they can study through their smart phones. For example, they memorize English words through mobile applications. They choose not a book but a smart phone to study, because they want something simple and convenient while they are at school. Recently, people made many online lectures that are short, so that students can study them for a short time. Students can spend only for five or six minutes for their studying!
People applied the concept of snack culture to shopping. People can buy something that they want through mobile applications. They don’t need to turn on their computer anymore for shopping. So, they can shop for a short time. “Malling” is also a sort of snack culture. “Malling” is that people shop at multi shopping mall and enjoy leisure activities such as watching movie. So, they can do shopping and leisure activities at the same location.
▶▶ 4. We Enjoy Leisure Culture with Snack Culture!
Snack Culture also has an impact on leisure culture. In Japan, U.S.A, Europe, and so on, many Koreans are also interested in “Trail Running” recently. Trail running is the sport where people run through trail, mountain, desert, forest, and so on. This sport is popular with many people because it is not a burden compared to the marathon in which people have to run a long distance. So, many people enjoy trail running these days.
Recently, many people are interested in buying trekking shoes. Because they spare their time to walk down unpaved road, it is important for them to choose and buy th trekking shoes suitable for them.
When people go to work or have the short time during the lunch time, they enjoy walking wearing trekking shoes. In other words, although they don’t have much time to go trail running or hiking, they try to enjoy trekking in everyday life. In addition, the number of persons who wear outdoor clothes and take a walk to their works is currently increasing.
Camping culture also can’t be exempt from the influences of snack culture. That is, “Day-camping” and “Owl-camping” result from snack culture. Day-camping is to go camping for one day, while Owl-camping is to go camping from middle of the night to next day morning. Usually, people go for the overnight camping, but the number of persons who go day-camping and owl-camping is increasing these days. So, with this trend, camping equipment becomes simple. People bring blankets instead of a sleeping bag.
▶▶ 5. Is Snack Culture Always Good?
As you read the above passages, snack culture has an impact on the wide areas. Actually, this is very sad for people because this culture resulted from the busyness of modern society. People pursue speed and convenience, and they are familiar with something speedy and convenient due to the development of digital technology and a shortage of leisure time. And, they live a busy life and can’t do things in a relaxed manner. Therefore, snack culture may necessarily appear in modern life because of these reasons. People are used to snack culture these days, but when something is processed slowly someday, people may feel uncomfortable rather about snack culture. So, we can’t forget about snack culture for our life.
However, should we always eat “Snack?” Can we live with only eating snack? The answer is “No.” Although we live simply and conveniently through snack culture, we can’t always live simply and conveniently. We need to take our time in our busy life. In other words, it is that snack culture is good for a certain people, however, this is not always right. We can’t live on “Snacks” everyday!Kim Min-chae | By CP Reporter, Heo Moon-hee | By CP Reporter
