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Electricity as a modern convenience
Modern conveniences are labor-saving devices, services, and substances that make a task easier or more efficient to perform than a traditional method. Because of the historical use of the term, and the differences in lifestyles around the world, the term is a relative term based upon the conveniences previously available to a person or group. For instance, an American definition of "modern convenience" is likely different from that of an individual living in a developing country.
Contents
- Electricity as a modern convenience
- Late 19th century
- 20th century
- 21st century
- Religious groups
- Anabaptists
- Orthodox and Conservative Judaism
- Consequences
- Health care
- Technological advancement in underdeveloped countries
- Negative effects
- Meat consumption
- Processed food and food preparation
- Other
- References
Most of the time, the term "modern conveniences" is used to express personal lifestyle and home life.
Late 19th century
Household
In 1889, architect and author Louis. H. Gibson defined modern conveniences as "those arrangements and appliances which make it possible for people to live comfortably in a larger house, without seriously increasing the cares which they had in a smaller one". The supposition is that at that time if a family lived in a smaller home, they would have less furniture, appliances and other goods to take care of, and as a result the family's lifestyle and housekeeping would be relatively easy. If, on the other hand, a family moved into a larger home the increase area and furnishings would be much more difficult to manage without labor-saving devices.
Examples of modern conveniences at that time included:
20th century
The homes of the 20th century are much bigger than the homes of our family members from the 19th century, both in terms of square footage and number of rooms. Homes built at the beginning of the 21st century have 2-3 times more rooms than homes at the turn of the 20th century. In terms of square footage, new homes built in 2000 are 50% larger than a home built in the 1960s.
The 20th century also enjoyed a proliferation of home appliances like washing machines, dryers, dishwashers, microwave ovens, frost-free refrigerators, water heaters, air conditioning, vacuum cleaners, and irons. Electricity and innovative electronics products including stereo equipment, color television, answering machine, and video cassette recorders also facilitated modern life.
21st century
Comparison of modern conveniences in new housing construction
In his 2011 book America's Ticking Bankruptcy Bomb: How the Looming Debt Crisis Threatens the American Dream—and How We Can Turn the Tide Before It's Too Late, Peter Ferrara says that the residential access to modern convenience is markedly different in the 21st century compared to the beginning of the 20th century:
Upcoming technological advancements David Kirkpatrick, author of The Facebook Effect (2010), wrote in an article called Tech Targets the Third World projects that technological advancements in education and health care, mobile computing and broadband will empower the poor and provide economic opportunities that they would not otherwise have access. These technologies are relatively easy and cost-effective to implement because of technological advancements that have driven down the costs and because developing countries do not have expensive and outdated legacy systems to manage emerging technology.
Religious groups
Religious groups that shun modern conveniences include Anabaptists (and their direct descendants, the Amish, Hutterites, and Mennonites) and Judaism.
Anabaptists
Key beliefs that determine an Anabaptist community's position on use of modern conveniences are:
Orthodox and Conservative Judaism
For Orthodox and Conservative Jews, Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and is a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night. On Shabbat, Jews recall the Biblical Creation account in Genesis, describing God creating the Heavens and the Earth in six days and resting on the seventh. It also recalls the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, when God commanded the Israelite nation to observe the seventh day and keep it holy. Shabbat is considered a festive day, when a Jew is freed from the regular labors of everyday life, can contemplate the spiritual aspects of life, and can spend time with family.
Orthodox and some Conservative authorities rule that there are 39 prohibited activities of work (referred to as "melakhot"), such as turning electric devices on or off, driving cars, and more, during the Shabbat, as listed in Mishnah Tractate Shabbat.
Consequences
There are many ramifications of the development of modern conveniences for individuals and their families over the past 150 or more years. The many labor-saving devices have kept pace with growing houses and furnishings and allow for greater leisure. There are also some negative effects, some of which are also as the result of advancements in chemical technology in the food that we eat or products that we use. In these cases there are also conflicting opinions about the extent to which some of the products are harmful. Here are a few examples of positive and negative effects of modern conveniences.
Health care
Some of the major improvements over the past century has been in improved health care. For example, modern medicine has made leaps in preventing infectious diseases in part due to improved water and sewage treatment. This is obvious in the marked rises in life expectancy.
Technological advancement in underdeveloped countries
Some of the most dramatic technological benefits are seen in underdeveloped countries. For instance, cabling for landline telephone service is expensive and requires a lot of time to complete, especially in the most remote areas. Introduction of cellphone service, on the other hand, is much cheaper and dramatically improves individual's ability to be economically productive, often in microbusinesses. It is estimated that 80% of the world's population is now located within range of cellular towers, 1.5 billion cellular phones are in use in developing countries and, in India alone, 5 million customers sign up for cellular service each week. The Four Asian Tigers—i.e., Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, and South Korea—are a few of the countries that have leveraged technology to become a presence in the global community.
Another example, led by Nicholas Negroponte of MIT's Media Lab in rural Asia, Latin America, and Africa, provides $100 laptop computers to underdeveloped countries.Negative effects
In 1905, the Journal of the American Medical Association published an article titled "Nervous Strain" about how "modern conveniences" make our lives busier and with less direct contact than the preceding generations. As an example, the author compared having a calming cup of tea with a person to the more distant practice of placing a telephone call. Labor-saving devices meant that people now spent more time sitting, breathed machine-generated smoke, and ate food, especially meat, fat and sugars, in greater abundance, changing peoples' diets. These activities were speculated to result in high blood pressure, obesity, and "nervous strain".
Meat consumption
Because of the enormous productivity growth in intensive agriculture and meat industry, meat has become a major part of the diet in most developed countries and is on the rise in developing countries. Red meat consumption has been linked to colon cancer; besides, growth hormone and antibiotics treatment of cattle and poultry has raised serious concerns about the adverse effects of those substances in industrially produced meat.