Most Lankans believe living in urban areas makes them ‘modern’: RCB survey
Most Sri Lankans who perceive themselves as modern prefer living in urban areas than rural or semiurban areas. However, people who consider themselves as traditional prefer living in rural areas, according to a new study done by the Colombo-based Research Consultancy Bureau (RCB).
A partner in the regular Business Times-RCB polls on issues of national importance, the research agency this time ventured into studying Sri Lankans, the trends and patterns to define a modern Sri Lanka.
"What should someone do or should not do when acting as a modern person? You may think that just giving up old things, will inevitably create the impression of being modern. Is it so? Perhaps, even if you follow the age- old traditions and appear not to be keen on sophisticated things, you may be perceived as modern," RCB said.
To find answers, RCB researched regarding four self-perceptions of Sri Lankans, modern, somewhat modern, somewhat traditional and traditional. "So, if you consider yourself as modern, what would you actually do? What would your life be like? And if you think you are a traditional person,
Referred Items then how would your life be like?" it said adding that questions were asked from 303 randomly selected people in Sri Lanka, through a mobile phone application and street intercept interviews.
The study found that even "if you use only a standard vehicle, that itself is enough for you to perceive yourself as modern, though you may not have a luxury vehicle".
It revealed that, "if you want to appear modern, a standard vehicle will suffice but be aware that you should not be a frequent user of public transport as it is the main means of transport of those who consider themselves traditional".
Except for the traditional people, most others like to use new technology preferably purchased upon a known persons' recommendation. The majority of the traditional populace is not keen on purchasing or using the new technology. "If you use your mobile for work or study purposes, like mobile applications, then you are more likely to be considered as a modern person. If you use the mobile for phone calls or texting purposes alone, that gives the impression that you are traditional. Hence, despite the type of mobile you use, to be modern, you should not be someone who just uses it to make calls on it," the RCB noted.
"If you think you are modern, you are most likely to say that you know new trends in fashion but simultaneously not reluctant to say that you aren't an avid follower of them. Even though you are updated on the fashion trends, you don't have to follow them to be modern. This is well explicated with the female participants who declared themselves as modern. Regardless of the fact that you consider yourself modern or traditional female, the common most preferable attire is the Kandyan or Indian sari. So, if a girl is clad in a Kandyan sari, that doesn't say that she perceives herself as traditional, but on the contrary she might be modern. With gents this was not so ambiguous, traditional or modern your most preferable social attire is pants and shirt," RCB noted.
"If you perceive yourself as modern, you might not engage in religious activities as traditional people do and your entertainment activities will mainly be outdoors since traditional people tend to engage mostly in indoor entertainment.
However, whether you are modern or traditional, most of the meals you consume will be homemade.
So, having home cooked meals doesn’t mean that you are traditional, hence you may perceive yourself as modern," it added
In conclusion, the RCB said that to act modern, "you do not have to give up all the old things and get hold of all the new things either, since things are bit more jumbled".