Sustainable Romance: A Tech-Forward Approach to Valentine’s Day in Today’s High-Cost Environment.
Blu Author.
A man is staring at a digital clock that produces red neon colours to say 11:55 PM. He waited until it was 12:01 AM before he picked up his phone and clicked into a folder with multiple videos saved with one woman’s name. Chianugo is a 23-year-old Nigerian, who lives in Nigeria and works as a UX designer for one of the country’s leading service providers. In his spare time, Chianugo also works as an animator.
Despite Nigeria’s economic difficulty, or perhaps because of it, Chianugo has had to devise ways to express his affection to the woman he loves without emptying his pockets. Technology has helped him achieve this. Valentine’s Day is upon him, and this is a day that sees a peak in his romantic efforts.
Through the night, his woman shows excitement over the ingenuity and beauty of the animation Chianugo has created in which a character closely resembling him professes his love to a character that looks like her. Valentine’s Day is off to a perfect start for Chianugo.
Once it is dawn, the celebrations kick in full swing. Valentine’s Day is a celebration with women at its epicentre, and this is evident in the swagger with which every woman on the streets and in enclosed spaces carries themselves. Every man is nicer, gentler, a paragon of chivalry. Somewhere, Chianugo prepares to execute the next act in his Valentine’s special.
Many men have latched on to technology now more than ever for cost-effective gift-giving. Where physical cards would have been purchased, many now use applications like Adobe Express, Canva and the like to create E-cards for their romantic interest or partner. For men who aren’t very good with words, the advancement of AI has resolved this. They give any AI of their choice a prompt, and it produces the most romantic paragraph to sweep the feet off of the woman who receives it.
Chianugo opens his phone and clicks on his Spotify. He had curated a playlist with only one name. Once again, he sends the playlist to its matching contact name. The playlist contains songs unique to his woman and means something special to her. The playlist cover is an intimate picture of her with Chianugo.
It is afternoon, and restaurants are packed with couples having lunch. Romance knows no age, it would seem. Love is rife in the air.
Chianugo is still at work wrapping up a few things- he is one of the few people left in the office. The last sequence of his plans is about to commence.
Lauren’s phone beeps and she sees that she has gotten a gift card for Macy’s from Chianugo. She is visibly thrilled because she has been talking about going to Macy’s for this last month but has not found the time. When the call is about to end, Lauren says she also has a surprise for Chianugo, and she reveals to him that she has gotten a job in one of the lead tech firms in Nigeria. He asks which one, and she informs him that she has been hired to work in the digital marketing department of BluDive Technologies Limited. Chianugo breaks out into a wide-toothed smile. They say goodnight to each other, knowing that in 2 weeks they will share the same physical space, but for now, technology has brought them close and has made this possible. What a day for Love.
It is 6 am, and dawn is about to be upon Chianugo. He heads into his room to dress up. The day of love is over. It is back to business as usual.
The world has changed from what it was a few years ago. This change can be attributed to the advent of advances in technology. Be a part of the new era of technology by reading posts on technology with Blu Author on BluDive Technologies.