# Does modern technology make life more convenient? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 24, 2013, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-modern-technology-make-life-more-convenient/651240 "2013-02-24T11:39:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-modern-technology-make-life-more-convenient/651240/21 "2013-02-24T19:08:50Z")
Depends on the technology. The computer, internet etc has made my work and genealogy more convenient. Household appliances have made daily life much easier. The car or the idea of everyone having their own at the expense of every other type has made things less convenient. Hours spent in traffic, millions spent on cars, insurance, auto infrastructure, suburbization of the country so if you want to go anywhere you pretty much have to drive, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-modern-technology-make-life-more-convenient/651240/22 "2013-02-24T21:13:39Z")
> [@Cumberdale](#): > > The car or the idea of everyone having their own at the expense of every other type has made things less convenient. Hours spent in traffic, millions spent on cars, insurance, auto infrastructure, suburbization of the country so if you want to go anywhere you pretty much have to drive, etc. Not every first-world country has this problem, though. Doesn’t USA have some cities where travel by mass transit is an actual option, too? ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-modern-technology-make-life-more-convenient/651240/23 "2013-02-24T21:59:59Z")
> [@Cumberdale](#): > > Hours spent in traffic, millions spent on cars, insurance, auto infrastructure, suburbization of the country so if you want to go anywhere you pretty much have to drive, etc. My grandparents grew up without cars. Travel wasn’t an option at all when they were young. They pretty much never went anywhere they couldn’t walk. A train trip was rare and expensive, and only went one route. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-modern-technology-make-life-more-convenient/651240/24 "2013-02-24T22:06:23Z")
> [@Cumberdale](#): > > The car or the idea of everyone having their own at the expense of every other type has made things less convenient. Hours spent in traffic, millions spent on cars, insurance, auto infrastructure, suburbization of the country so if you want to go anywhere you pretty much have to drive, etc. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-modern-technology-make-life-more-convenient/651240/25 "2013-02-24T22:57:28Z")
\*In general, life is better than it ever has been, and if you think that, in the past, there was some golden age of pleasure and plenty to which you would, if you were able, transport yourself, let me say one single word: “dentistry” \* - PJ O’Rourke, _[All the Trouble in the World](http://www.groveatlantic.com/grove/bin/wc.dll?groveproc%7Egenauth%7E568%7E1466%7EEXCERPT)_ ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-modern-technology-make-life-more-convenient/651240/26 "2013-02-24T23:15:12Z")
> [@Cumberdale](#): > > Depends on the technology. > > The computer, internet etc has made my work and genealogy more convenient. Household appliances have made daily life much easier. > > The car or the idea of everyone having their own at the expense of every other type has made things less convenient. Hours spent in traffic, millions spent on cars, insurance, auto infrastructure, suburbization of the country so if you want to go anywhere you pretty much have to drive, etc. I suggest that you read _Traffic_, by Tom Vanderbilt. Long story short–traffic congestion has been a problem since the Roman Empire. Furthermore, the car is a vast improvement over what came before. > [@](#): > > In New York in 1900, the population of 100,000 horses produced 2.5 million pounds of horse manure per day, which all had to be swept up and disposed of. Read more: [http://www.fee.org/the\_freeman/detail/the-great-horse-manure-crisis-of-1894#ixzz2LrST6zlw](http://www.fee.org/the_freeman/detail/the-great-horse-manure-crisis-of-1894#ixzz2LrST6zlw) ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-modern-technology-make-life-more-convenient/651240/27 "2013-02-24T23:29:17Z")
> [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](#): > > Not every first-world country has this problem, though. Doesn’t USA have some cities where travel by mass transit is an actual option, too? True. I don’t own a car. I get around fine using Chicago’s transit system and my feet most of the time. For me, owning a car would be really inconvenient as a congested neighborhood dweller. It would just be a huge unnecessary expense and pain in the butt for me. On the other hand, I wouldn’t be nearly as content to be a non-owner if I didn’t have an iGo membership with which I can just grab a car whenever I want/need to. I’m baffled by those who don’t know how to drive or let their license expire. To be clear, though, I live in a very densely populated neighborhood, and live very close to both train and bus routes that run all night. A little west or much further south of me, and the neighborhoods spread out considerably, and transit options thin out as well, with many train lines and buses that don’t run all night (bad for a lot of us night workers). For a large population of Chicago, cars are still a necessity. While bikes are touted as an alternative, until there are a lot more bike lanes and car drivers who know how to treat them, I’m way too chicken to use a bike in this town. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-modern-technology-make-life-more-convenient/651240/28 "2013-02-24T23:29:19Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > Meeting people to do stuff used to be such a hassle. This is the one perk of modern technology that my kids just don’t grok. They can imagine a life without internet, or television, or video games, or even a stove and laundry - we go camping a lot, after all. But they cannot understand what a PITA it used to be to meet someone at a carnival, or even the mall. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Raging\_Bull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@Raging\_Bull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raging_Bull)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2013, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-modern-technology-make-life-more-convenient/651240/29 "2013-02-24T23:39:07Z")
Life’s as good as you know it Grow up never knowing modern technology- fine Grow up knowing modern technology-fine ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-modern-technology-make-life-more-convenient/651240/30 "2013-02-25T01:31:38Z")
As someone who’s been around for more than a little while, it’s pretty amazing to see and appreciate the new technologies that make things so much easier. In fact, one of my favorite things to do is read about stuff on the near horizon, even if a lot of it is something I’ll probably never take the time to learn how to do. ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-modern-technology-make-life-more-convenient/651240/31 "2013-02-25T01:40:14Z")
My Grandfather was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1912. Here was a place where running water and electricity were new and modern at his birth. At 10 or 12, his sister worked as an operator at the local Telephone exchange. Flight, in any controlled form, was less than 10 years old at his birth. The Spirit of St. Louis crossed the Atlantic when he was 15. He saw wars, commercial flight, space flight, MRI’s, Cataract Surgery, just some amazing stuff in his life. I got him an Internet computer, and he could dial in, and pull up my wedding photos from the bookmarks…but he never really _understood_ it. Email was a mystery. He’d seen so much, but technology outstripped his ability to grasp it. I’m a smart cookie, but I wonder if some thing like that will happen to me. (What do you mean you can’t drive the gene sequencer? You just THINK and it happens…_sigh_ here, I’ll do it for you.) ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-modern-technology-make-life-more-convenient/651240/32 "2013-02-25T02:20:14Z")
> [@SeaDragonTattoo](#): > > True. I don’t own a car. I get around fine using Chicago’s transit system and my feet most of the time. For me, owning a car would be really inconvenient as a congested neighborhood dweller. It would just be a huge unnecessary expense and pain in the butt for me. On the other hand, I wouldn’t be nearly as content to be a non-owner if I didn’t have an iGo membership with which I can just grab a car whenever I want/need to. I’m baffled by those who don’t know how to drive or let their license expire. For about 15 years, I didn’t have a car here in Chicago, and even now they’re mostly toys (various vintage and sports cars). What people forget is we don’t just have mass transit - we’ve got cabs, almost everywhere. In areas where the trains and bus routes start to get spotty coverage, I’d just take a cab. It seems pricey, but what I spent on trains, buses, and cabs isn’t close to what I spent (and spend now) running a car. I also don’t mind walking - I walked from Lincoln Park to the Loop every day for the commute, year round, as it was only 3 miles. Btw, I did let my license expire back then and I still have it - the picture, typical DL quality from 26 years ago, is hilarious. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-modern-technology-make-life-more-convenient/651240/33 "2013-02-25T03:19:30Z")
> [@Unintentionally\_Blank](#): > > My Grandfather was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1912. Here was a place where running water and electricity were new and modern at his birth. At 10 or 12, his sister worked as an operator at the local Telephone exchange. Flight, in any controlled form, was less than 10 years old at his birth. The Spirit of St. Louis crossed the Atlantic when he was 15. He saw wars, commercial flight, space flight, MRI’s, Cataract Surgery, just some amazing stuff in his life. > > I got him an Internet computer, and he could dial in, and pull up my wedding photos from the bookmarks…but he never really _understood_ it. Email was a mystery. He’d seen so much, but technology outstripped his ability to grasp it. > > I’m a smart cookie, but I wonder if some thing like that will happen to me. (What do you mean you can’t drive the gene sequencer? You just THINK and it happens…_sigh_ here, I’ll do it for you.) I think it’ll happen to most of us. And I think it’s pretty much always been that way. Having trouble keeping up with cutting edge technology doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy that which you _can_ learn, though. I’m just stumbling along these days but it’s still great fun to see the new capabilities of things. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-modern-technology-make-life-more-convenient/651240/34 "2013-02-25T03:40:27Z")
Get a copy of _The Path to Power_ by Robert A. Caro. It’s the first book of a multi-volume biography of Lyndon Johnson. But Caro is a great writer and he offers digressions on other subjects. In this book, Caro writes a chapter called “The Sad Irons” in which he describes what life was like for a farmer before electricity reached rural America. Anyone who idealizes the “good old days” needs to read this. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-modern-technology-make-life-more-convenient/651240/35 "2013-02-25T03:51:31Z")
I recall reading somewhere or other that domestic appliances designed to save time and ease burdens had the effect of raising the bar of what was considered clean or neat. The effect being (wish I could dig up a cite) that time spent on house cleaning was the same in 1970 as it was in 1870, just 1970 houses were much cleaner. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-modern-technology-make-life-more-convenient/651240/36 "2013-02-25T04:52:13Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > I suggest that you read _Traffic_, by Tom Vanderbilt. Long story short–traffic congestion has been a problem since the Roman Empire. > > Furthermore, the car is a vast improvement over what came before… True, I’ve only seen a car shit in the street once. It campervan that’s septic tank apparently burst while going down the road. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-modern-technology-make-life-more-convenient/651240/37 "2013-02-25T04:53:20Z")
I think it varies by technology and circumstance. In my experience living and working with different levels of technology… Living without running water is really no biggie, if you can get water delivered to your house. There is nothing you can do with a sink that you can’t do basically as well with a bucket. The only part I can think of that really sucks is washing clothes, but even that’s no a huge deal. That said, life without running water sucks a lot if you have to walk five miles to get to water. And if you do have water, you really start missing having hot water. Hot water is awesome. It doesn’t really make life much happier, but it’s much more comfortable. Life without a car is great if you don’t regularly need to get places you can only reach by car. You get lots of sunshine, fresh air, meet the neighbors and stay a little active. But once the people around you start getting cars, you’re eventually going to hate life without one as the community changes. I think we’d all be happier if we didn’t have to drive anywhere, but that’s not realistic for a modern society. Electricity is a mixed bag. It’s not actually as big of a deal as you’d think it’d be, but there are little things (like a fan in the summer), that you do miss on a daily basis. That said, not having electricity makes it very easy to build your social life, and very easy to your full eight hours of sleep. And it’s amazing how much better life is when you are never, ever tired. It’s like being a different person. Cell phones are universally awesome. The internet, IMHO, less so. The absolute best years of my life were when I had limited internet access. It’s amazing how productive you can be when you are so undistracted. I think the internet is good for looking things up and sharing resources, but wasting time on forums and the like probably doesn’t make you happier. Kitchen and household technology is also a mixed bag. One one hand, it frees up a lot of time, especially for women. On the other hand, there was a time (and still are places) when even middle class families could afford household help, and there was a whole economy around that. Now, a lot more women are expected to do it all themselves. In the end, I don’t think life with low technology is actually all that awesomely different than the high tech life. Ultimately, what we all focus on most is our family, our work, and our spiritual or ethical life. Technology is mostly an aside to what really fuels us. That said, now and then a bit of technology is truly transformative to a person’s life. But usually it’s not the major factor in how happy you are. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-modern-technology-make-life-more-convenient/651240/38 "2013-02-25T05:04:55Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > True, I’ve only seen a car shit in the street once. > > It campervan that’s septic tank apparently burst while going down the road. [That really happens?](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0ek-nHq5lc) 😛 ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-modern-technology-make-life-more-convenient/651240/39 "2013-02-25T05:36:45Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > True, I’ve only seen a car shit in the street once. > > It campervan that’s septic tank apparently burst while going down the road. There was a coachbuilt 1954 Rolls-Royce Silver Wraith that was ordered with a toilet under one of the rear passenger [seats](http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/wysiwyg/image/P1010108.jpg). Because who wouldn’t want their RR limo to smell like a bathroom? :rolleyes: Overall, tech makes life convenient for the people brought up with it, or close to. We had a devil of a time getting my grandmother to get rid of her ringer washing machine, since for her it was no trouble. We also never sold her on the benefits of microwave radiation or the electric mixer. About the only upgrade she was happy with was the clothes dryer, and then only in winter. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-modern-technology-make-life-more-convenient/651240/40 "2013-02-25T08:42:18Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I recall reading somewhere or other that domestic appliances designed to save time and ease burdens had the effect of raising the bar of what was considered clean or neat. The effect being (wish I could dig up a cite) that time spent on house cleaning was the same in 1970 as it was in 1870, just 1970 houses were much cleaner. I’ve also heard electric lights blamed for that - houses were dirtier in the past, it was just hard to see. And on top of that, there was the pre-feminist ideal of a wife just staying at home tending to domestic tasks; as what used to be called “women’s work” got easier and simpler, housewives ended up creating makework just to keep themselves from going crazy with boredom. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-modern-technology-make-life-more-convenient/651240.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-modern-technology-make-life-more-convenient/651240.md?page=3)