Posted on 02/21/2007 10:07:19 AM PST by Incorrigible
By TRACY DAVIS
Christina Wall uses only technology that was in existence before 1950 as part of her master's project. (Photo by Eliyahu Gurfinkel)
In this pre-1950 land, there are no frozen dinners, no non-stick skillets and no fast food franchises. She can't use a dishwasher, clothes dryer or microwave; she has no access to ATMs, DVDs or CDs.
Wall, 32, an Eastern Michigan University graduate student, hasn't left her west-side Ann Arbor home for another plane in the space-time continuum. She's simply going a month — through March 2 — without using any technology created since 1950. It's part of her master's degree project on the impact of technology in modern life.
When she has a headache? Uncoated aspirin instead of ibuprofen. When she needs to contact a friend? Snail mail or an antique rotary phone. When it snows? Sledding instead of reality TV. Her project is a completely original conception, said Professor Denise Pilato, who teaches in EMU's College of Technology.
"In some ways it's an experiment,'' she said. "And being that it's an experiment, there are a lot of surprises for her.''
Perhaps most surprising is that there have been so many happy ones. For example, Wall estimates she'll save up to $400 this month because it feels more "real'' to spend cash than to use an ATM card.
And she has found her day has more hours.
"It's amazing,'' she said. "I literally feel I like I have 40 hours in a day. I realize how much time was sucked up with TV, and more specifically the Internet and e-mail.''
The classically trained pianist now has time to practice 45 minutes daily, to read books, to sit down to breakfast and to reconnect with friends.
Neighbor Margaret Steneck, a retired University of Michigan history professor, has taken great interest in the project. "It's not just what was available in 1950, but what would someone living in her house, in her socioeconomic range, be able to afford and have available to them,'' she said.
For example, television had been invented by 1950, but it wasn't commonplace. And certain types of cosmetics — lipstick and hair conditioners were around but don't appear to have been commonly used by most women, according to Wall's research.
Wall's friends, family and students have had to readjust as well. To the ire of some of her students, Wall, a graduate student instructor at EMU, is not available via e-mail and is not posting her lectures online. Now, students have to phone Wall or go to her office hours to talk to her.
"It was interesting and it was sad,'' she said. "You can just see how addicted students are now, and that they have the expectation things are going to be spoon-fed to them. ... Now, they feel like they can't have a normal conversation. And by losing that skill, they become fearful of them. I feel like part of the reason to do this is we're in this spiral that's not good.''
She hasn't decided yet how her life will be changed when she is done, but it will definitely be changed, she said. She's considering doing more work on the idea and pursuing a Ph.D.
Wall admits she has "cheated'' by using a video camera to record some of her experiences. She hopes to make a documentary when she's done.
Wall graduates in April, so she'll soon start writing up her project. But on what? Typewriter or computer?
"I haven't decided yet,'' she said with a laugh.
To read more about Wall's project, go to http://retrochicky.blogspot.com. Of course, it hasn't been updated since January since Wall can't access her computer or use the Internet, but you can read about her research and preparations.
***
Examples of modern conveniences that were not invented or not widely available before 1950:
— Four-wheel drive. The vehicle credited with being the first four-wheel drive internal combustion engine car was built shortly after 1900. But four-wheel and all-wheel drive didn't become commonplace among consumer-driven road vehicles until well after 1950.
— Garbage disposals first came onto the market in 1938, but because many cities forbade putting food waste into sewage systems, they weren't widely used until years later.
— Disposable diapers were invented in 1950 but not widely available; cloth diapers were standard.
— Voicemail. Its inventor, Gordon Matthews, applied for a patent in 1979. The first answering machine was invented in 1935 and was three feet tall, but the machines were not widely used until decades later.
— Smoke alarms. The battery-powered household devices were first designed in the late 1960s.
Sources: Christina Wall, Wikipedia, EnchantedLearning.com, About.com, Fcc.gov.
(Tracy Davis is a reporter for the Ann Arbor (Mich.) News. She can be contacted at tdavis(at)annarbornews.com.)
Not for commercial use. For educational and discussion purposes only.
Popular Science only beat her by a copule years
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/computerselec/43c1d4d03cb84010vgnvcm1000004eecbccdrcrd.html
Back in the 1950's airline travel was a luxury and people used to get dressed up to go to the airport.
There were no malls. Stores were closed on Sunday.
Contrary to what many people here think, my moniker is based on my love of radio, not the rock group (tho they're great). I listen to a lot of radio shows online. There's http://radio.macinmind.com/ and the BBCs radio 7 which plays a lot of old British radio shows, as well as new productions, and www.radiospirits.com, just to name a few sources of good listening.
That's what I have thought. Pretty soon it will be politically incorrect to make any reference to them at all. Old photographs will have to be photoshopped to put bermuda shorts and an Izod on Sitting Bull.
There were drive-in restaurants, even drive-in movies!
I would've had a tough time. I need ATMs because I'm never off work when the banks are open, and can only shop on Sundays, usually.
Mail JimRob a stack of punch cards for your input. He'll batch process those on the FreeRepublic mainframe and send you a printout on some 11x17 fan fold paper.
Maybe you would not need to work such long hours.
Color film was only for special shots. My Dad had two cameras. One had b&w, the other held color and would go many months before the roll was used up and developed.
Hey, before email, people were addicted to the phone.
THAT would be an even better project. No phone, no car, no appliances, no electricity, no gas. Just give her an axe, a bow and some arrows, a knife, and a log cabin.
"Antique rotary phone." Oh, the horror of it! So hard to use.
We had cable TV in the 1960's in my small town in central IL. Color TV, too - 'bout 1967 or so. The midnight signoffs went on for some time. I remember them going on up into the 70's.
Banks are open 9 - 4, even then most people worked 9 - 5 but I imagine stay at home wives did a lot of that stuff.
You've never heard of the Baby Boom, I take it. :)
Small market and independent stations did it into the '80s.
You mean students actually have to go to class and oh, let me guess...take notes with a, a...writing instrument of some kind? Shocking!
LOL...
She looks rather like Condoleeza Rice- plays piano, too.
My job didn't exist in the 50s in it's current form. I would have worked AT a bank, actually, so it would've worked out.
I did mine that way; I'm sure many of us here did. As I said to a much younger colleague, "When I was in graduate school, 'cut and paste' involved scissors, paste, and the entire living room floor of your apartment."
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