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.
Seen any Sambo's restaurants around lately?
Her clothes and hairstyle don't fit the time period.
Worse. You don't punch the cards yourself, you print your input on a coding sheet - ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. And if you forget and use a symbol not on the keyboard you have to correct the sheet and wait another day to get the corrected card deck. And when JimRob put the deck in the card reader, Heaven help you if you put anything in the wrong region of a card - do not pass Go, do not collect $200.
Indeed. I would starve!!!
The project is for pre-50's stuff. In the mid 50's I can even recall going to McDonalds. On E St in San Bernardino Cal.
Since she has a live-in boyfriend (Alex), which wasn't something most people did before 1950, she'd better find something quick!
(Shot of jets flying between the clouds)
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
(Strike up the National Anthem with many patriotic pictures)
...And this concludes our broadcast day...
Goodnight.
There was diaper service that would deliver fresh diapers and take away the soiled ones.
Disagree. It could pinpoint parts of mod-tech that are essentially worthless. E.G. IMHO, TV wrecks lives mentally and physically. I made a great effort and have banned it from my home.
Keep the computer. Use it better.
Cell Phone?
High Fructose Corn Syrup: Permeates our food chain. Bad. Average American up 20 lbs(!) from 1950's. Heart disease. High Cholesterol.
My guess: as much as 30% of mod tech might be crap and probably harmful. 30% is probably of some benefit 40% of it is interesting, but hardly vital.
Modern Education: A kid finishing high school in 1950 was ready to be a citizen. A 22 year-old college graduate of today tends to be a worthless toad with no life skills, who cannot find his way to the state capital with a map, because (a) they cannot use a map and (b) do not know the name of the state capital.
Go to your public library. Get a Reader's Digest from 1950. Go to Wal-Mart, buy last month's. Read'em both. Note the difference. The 1950's Reader's Digest was aimed at the then 8th grade reading level. Stop some local HS kid in the mall and have him read it to you. He won't be able to. Sorry.
Shopping Malls: A disaster for America.
It's a silly project lacking in any real scholarly merit.
Agree. Has no scholarly merit. Is very interesting. But that is the difference between a 1950's Masters's Thesis, and 2007.
Not a single PRINT source. Interesting.
Seperate rooms & beds; headaches; abstinence.
She has to keep whistling Yankee Doodle while he claps the beat.
Holding an acorn between her knees....
We sang that song in one of our ILA programs. It was one of the harder songs for me to memorize for some reason.
I haven't read the details, but that sounds like fun!
I think 1967 was the year we bought our first color TV. If I remember correctly, it was an RCA. The first shows I saw in color was Lost in Space and Family Affair. I can not remember what size it was but I now have a 62" TV with surround sound. Since hubby died, I am giving all the sound equipment to our daughter. They watch a lot of movies and I don't.
Because men were not discontinued till the 1990's.
When did they come out with Saran Wrap, anyway?
Good point.
Not so good point: infantile paralysis (polio). Every parent with young children pre-Salk sweated out every summer in fear of their kids coming down with polio.
Believe me. It wasn't fun.
LOL,
I had an old Sony, 27" console (oak) that the tube died on. It's actually a part of the family room furniture; has a lamp, candlesticks and pictures on top of it. So I went out and found a Samsung 30" HDTV "SlimFit" CRT.
Took the old Sony guts out of the cabinet and with a little modification to the cabinet (had to cut out the original speaker boxes) the new TV slid right in. I still have to dress it out (trim around the TV) to make it look natural, but I have an HDTV console.
And with all that freed up space inside the back of the cabinet, I'm toying with the idea of putting in a Linux powered MythTV DVR.
My hometown didn't get McDonalds till the late 1980s. Of course it is a much smaller town than San Bernadino CA (~8000 people in the late 80s). I guess it depended on where you lived at the time since it was so early in Mickey D's expansion.
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