Leaving aside the major life changing household miracles (electric washing machines, clothes dryers, central air and heat, cellular phones, color television, and desktop computers) these are the top five things invented during my lifetime that have impacted me the most (listed in no particular order):a. The remote control – remember when you had to get off the couch to change tv channels and risk bodily injury from other viewers? Now you can just click and duck.
b. The hair dryer – remember when you had to attempt sleeping on rollers because your hair wasn't dry yet? I say attempt because I never actually managed it. Now you can wash your hair any time – day or night, winter or summer - without risking catching pneumonia from going outside with a wet head. I doubt many ever died from washing their hair during inclement weather but my grandmother believed it was a distinct possibility.
c. Flash (thumb) drives – Remember floppy disks? Remember trying to format CDs so you could use them to store computer data? Sometimes it took hours. Flash drives are incredible. You can store enormous amounts of information on these little lipstick-sized electronic units – more information than boxes of floppies could contain– more information than stored in a row of filing cabinets.
d. The VCR and now the DVD Recorder – remember the generations of little girls who never saw Cinderella because the networks always aired it on Sunday night during church services? Remember scheduling your college classes so you could still see your favorite soap opera? The VCR freed people to watch movies and tv programs when they wanted, instead of when the networks scheduled them.
f. Mr. Coffee and the slew of programmable electric coffee makers – the ease of having hot, fresh coffee waiting for you when you get up in the morning is a luxury I wouldn't want to give up.
What's been invented during your lifetime that's impacted your lifestyle? Cable tv? Garage door openers? On-line shopping? Contact lens? ATMs? What?
Rhonda
aka The Southern Half of Evelyn David
Very mundane, but my pick is the Ipod. I have musical ADD so I love to be able to scroll around and find exactly the song that fits my mood. I never liked walking with a discman or a walkman; too heavy, too cumbersome. But my little Ipod is portable and unobtrusive. That's what I love. Maggie
ReplyDeleteHey, guys, the TV was invented during my lifetime! My dad built our first one from a Heath Kit and my sis and I helped him. We had the first TV in he neighborhood and our living room was crowded with neighbors to watch wrestling and roller derby. We had a huge antenna on the roof which we had to help adjust from time to time.
ReplyDeleteMarilyn