Life was quite different growing up in the 1930s, during the great depression. Life was rather austere but practical. We had one phone in our home. It was situated on a stair landing about halfway up the stairs. It was placed there so it would be equally accessible from upstairs or downstairs. This was during the great depression, so we would not have dreamed of having more than one phone. Local numbers consisted of 3 digits. At the other end of the line was a pleasant lady who connected your calls and would even tell you the time if your clock stopped because you forgot to wind it. Try doing that now. Modern technology has changed my everyday life in ways I would never have dreamed possible.
Now we have a clock in every room and a phone in most rooms. My wife and I each have a cellphone we carry with us when we go shopping so our spouse Can tell us to get the quart of milk we forgot to put on the shopping list. It is also very handy for calling 911 if we feel the first symptoms of a heart attack. All we need to do is remember our exact location for the ambulance driver. I guess we don’t even need to do this if 911 has the GPS equipment necessary to track our position using our cell phone. Then we hope that bystander knows CPR in case our heart stops before the ambulance arrives.
We had a 1937 Ford sedan. One Sunday, we traveled to see my uncle: a 40 mile round trip. Tires were not as well constructed in those days and we had two flat tires on the way. We bought a very large chunk of ice and carried it on the car bumper and hoped it did not melt before we arrived. We then make homemade peach and strawberry ice cream with me turning the crank on the freezer. We played the car radio while everyone was relaxing in the front yard, but had to be careful it did not drain the car battery. In those days, radios were tube-type instead of transistor, and took more current.
The car could break the speed limit, but it had no power steering, air-conditioning, automatic transmission, power brakes and no safety features; not even seat belts. We now have a car with all these amenities plus a much softer ride and thankfully, a flat tire is now a rarity.
In the 1930s, we had one radio in the home, which brought us the news fairly promptly. The problem was that we had to use our imagination to envision the happenings, and now we can see everything on the other side of the world in vivid color. A huge difference from life in the 1930s is in the constant communication with the rest of the world: the 24/7 news cycle.
Until about 1937, we had an icebox instead of a refrigerator. A sign with the numbers 25, 50, 75 and 100 would be placed in the window with the number indicating the pounds of ice desired, on top. That would save the ice man a trip to the house to ask how much ice you wanted. Of course the icebox wouldn’t freeze food, but it kept the food plenty cold. The refrigerator was quite an improvement, though. It definitely put the home delivery ice man out of business but It created jobs for refrigerator repairmen in return.
One of the most noticeable changes in my life is that I find the benefits from improved medical technology have really improved the quality of life. My experience with dentists was very traumatic during my childhood. I found all the procedures very painful and that continued into my young adulthood. This resulted in procrastination on my part that was very detrimental to my teeth. I find the technological improvements used by modern dental surgeons a huge improvement. Also, much to my surprise, cataract surgery is almost painless.
I consider the computer the single most important influence for change in my life. It places the sum total of human knowledge at my fingertips. In the 1930s I had to travel to the library to check the encyclopedia, which contained only a minute fraction of the information available online. Today, access to knowledge is limited only by your ability to ask the questions.
