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Pre-Modern Era
The pre-modern era took place in the early 1900's. This was around the time when technology was beginning to take off and become more advanced. America started to change drastically at this time. Individuals were starting to move towards suburbs, purchase goods instead of making them, education was becoming more crucial and sought after, and the change of daily at-home life. -
Vacuum Cleaner
Prior to the vacuum cleaner, families would have to use a broom to sweep out the entire house. They could now save a lot of time/energy and have more time to do other chores and everything else. -
Air Conditioning
Air conditioning units were a big step into a more advanced house. For 1,900 years, there were only fans to cool down homes. Fans have always been an ideal quick fix to cooling down, but never living comfortably without being too hot. Air conditioning is something I do not think I could live without in my life. This was a huge advancement for the country and it could have led to spending more time in our homes. -
Radio Broadcasting
The beginning of radio broadcasting meant a much easier access to news, weather, and other important things that people needed to know. This would open up time in a day that people would spend reading newspapers. -
Automobiles
When the automobile came around in the early 1900's there were only around 8,000 manufactured cars and 10 miles worth of paved concrete roads in the United States. The growth of authomobiles in the country meant that more people were moving from the country and into the suburbs. This would change transportation to places, and this would also lead to the change of home styles. Living nearer towards the city would require different aspects than homes in the country. -
Dishwasher
The first electric dishwasher came in 1913 and changed family life significantly. The dishwasher allowed for families to put their dishes in this after a meal and do other things while the dishes were cleaning. This would create less chores and would allow the family to do things besides dishes. -
Electric Refrigerator
The Kelvinator was the initial refrigerator that was invented. This would allow families to store their food at any desired temperature they wanted. This would allow food to stay fresh longer, cool food off, and drink cold drinks. There was also more storage for food with the invention of the refrigerator. -
Mass Production
This is not technically an invention, but I think it was one of the biggest economic changes in the pre-modern era. Instead of spending all day to make bread and soap, factories began to mass-produce most things. Women at home could put more attention to their children, like education. It then led to economic booming because of the great prices for the products at the time. -
Washing Machine
If you ask me, this was one of the biggest inventions of the pre-modern era. Imagine what houses were like after the invention of washing machines. This would eliminate hand washing clothes for good. That could sometimes take hours to get them very clean. I know with the amount of laundry I go through in a week, it would take forever to hand wash it. This would create hours of free time in households. -
Garbage Disposal
John W. Hammes was the inventor of the first garbage disposal. He did it because he constantly saw his wife stressed out and busy with cleaning up after dinner. He made it broke down food particles and made it much easier to clean the kitchen. Made it much faster too, which is exactly what he wanted to do. -
Clothes Dryer
Approximately 8 years after the washing machine came out, its sidekick came out in 1938. Now, after washing clothes, you no longer had to hang dry your clothes and wait for hours. Now you could throw them all straight from the washer to the dryer and only wait about an hour or two and then the laundry was done. Back then, the wife always did these duties. Now, it would take much less time for them, and leave time for everything else just like the other inventions. -
Credit Cards
The first credit card to ever come out was a paper credit card. The plastic did not come into play for another 10 or so years. It basically worked just like a credit card we have today. You could accumulate charges throughout the month but then just pay it off at the end of the month. This would be helpful for families in financial management and it would change the way they paid for things on an everyday basis. -
Answering Machine
This was created to allow callers to leave a message for an individual that they could listen to at a later time. If someone was not home to answer the phone, someone could leave a message and just expect a call back later. This would allow them to receive information even if they can not get to the phone. This would be helpful for families because it just helped make things much simpler. -
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Modern Era
The pre-modern era brought a lot of new inventions that changed households and families entirely. Most of the main inventions were invented by then, the initial start of most basic machinery. Going into the modern era, there are a lot of advancements to the basic machinery now. This was the time period where households really took the next step with inventions. Now is the time when Internet, cell phones, and technology advancements begin to take off. -
Smoke Detector
A smoke detector would make households much more safe. Whenever a lot of smoke was released into the house, then the alarm would go off and warn the family in the house. This just keeps the family life going smoothly and allows everyone to be safer. Perhaps lower death rates. -
E-Mail
In 1971 E-Mail was invented. The purpose was to have a electronic version of communication with other people. You could email anything you can think of. It was also used for work purposes which changed the ways businesses functioned. This could allow maybe a husband to work from home and then be able to do more of the housework as well. It was a vital invention that allowed more openness and made life much easier for families and everyone else. -
Personal Computer
The personal computer was a way to give individuals more access to the world from their home. It allowed you to look anything up; recipes, instructions, and just anything you could think of. It would be a great way to get tips on how to manage households better. This was a vital piece to managing families because it could make them better in the long run. -
Sewing Machine
With this invention, hand sewing is a thing of the past. Imagine the quality of clothing that could be made with a sewing machine. Imagine how much quicker it would be to make shirts and heavier clothing items. This would allow families to do things they love more rather than spending hours fixing/making clothing. -
Internet
Think about the world today; everything humans do revolves around the internet. Imagine the time where internet was invented and how it drastically changed the family life forever. If you needed to learn something, you no longer had to make a long trip to the library, you could just look it up on the internet and get whatever answers you needed. Internet changed how families functioned and allowed them more freedom and accessibility to anything they could ever want. -
Cell Phone
Motorola was the first company to create a handheld phone that you could carry anywhere. You could spend up to 30 minutes of being on the phone and could store a handful of phone numbers, but it was not too popular among homes right away because of the price of them. Families could make a call in minutes rather than driving to the city for a payphone which takes probably 30 minutes to an hour. Families could easier manage their lives and it was simpler and more convenient. -
WiFi
AT&T was the first company to create WiFi and they were meant for more business systems. WiFi did nothing but make the already great Internet, even better. You could access internet from many different locations rather than just on your home computer. This would free up even more time and allow more time to do things that needed to be done. -
Robotic Vacuum
It was a huge time whenever vacuum cleaners were invented, but imagine if robotic vacuums began to take over in most houses. In my parents home, they bought a Roomba and it is absolutely amazing who much time they save now on cleaning the house. Instead of spending an hour through the day to get the vacuum out, vacuum the whole house, and then put it away, they could just have the house vacuumed for them. My dad has it scheduled to run at certain times in the week and it saves them so much time. -
Video Game Consoles/Online Gaming
The biggest product of the 21st century if you ask me. As an avid gamer, I feel very comfortable to talk about the effects of gaming. Imagine being able to de-stress or talk to friends from around the world over a mic while just playing video games. It can be very beneficial for kids, but if it is not limited by parents it can be bad. It can help kids tremendously, but can also take away their social interaction. Kids become less healthy because they are not physically active anymore. -
Bluetooth Technology
Bluetooth meant the ability to connect your devices to stereo's, speakers, or headphones without any cords. This would be helpful while driving or something so you could talk over you're radio instead of using one of your hands to hold the phone. This was good for last minutes changes or updates you needed to tell someone, and allowed for safer traveling in families. -
Birth Control
The patches are what was released in 2002. I am not sure on the pill and the other methods, but the patch allowed women to stick it on their skin and it released estrogen into their body which prevented them from getting pregnant. Birth control was something that greatly affected families because it would allow parents to decide if and when they were going to have kids. -
Skype
In 2003, communication would begin to change forever. Skype was invented and people no longer had to leave their homes to see friends and family. Imagine being able to just get on your computer and talk to people from as close as your neighbors, to across the world. You could do it with just a few clicks. This would affect families because once again, the social interaction would disappear. It would all be through technology and people would forget how to be social in person. -
Facebook
Here comes social media. There was already other social media such as myspace, but Facebook is where it really started to take off. People created profiles and friended people they knew. It allowed people to stay in touch and constantly know what is going on in each others lives with just a few clicks on a mouse or phone. In turn it leads to less social interaction, people don't go visit each other, they check in on Facebook. It would interfere with families work and has become an issue as well. -
YouTube
YouTube was the invention that finally made video sharing possible. You can find anything on YouTube. Feature films, funny videos, instructional videos, anything you can think of. This would change family life because they could all watch videos together. Maybe dad is working on the car and does not know how to do something, he can pull up YouTube and watch a 30 second video to learn. The possibilities are endless and I think YouTube and Google have helped families management tremendously. -
Google Maps
Imagine the upgrade from paper maps and finding exactly where you are, to electronic maps that tracked exactly where you were and told you exactly how to get to your destination. It would allow families to get places faster and more conveniently without errors. This was a huge invention of families managing their time. -
iPhone
Household management today has started to heavily rely on smartphones, especially iPhone's. The iPhone was not the household management invention that was life changing, it was what it could do with the others that were invented. They connected to the smart devices that I have listed on this timeline. You can do so many things through iPhone apps that make life so much easier. Grocery lists, cooking, cleaning, finance, everything. You could let your iPhone practically keep track of your life. -
Camera Phones
Ahhh, the ease of being able to take a photo now. Camera's used to be HUGE. It would be such a pain to carry them around. Imagine being able to just whip out your phone and take a photo of your kid to keep that memory forever. The ease of it was almost too amazing. Especially now with phones taking just as good as photos as cameras. I take lots of beautiful photos with my iPhone 7+. This would allow families to capture more memories and be able to do things naturally without staging for photos. -
Smart Appliances
Think back to how huge it was when washers, driers, and air conditionings were. Imagine being able to control that while from the living room on the couch, or from work, or anywhere other than your home. It is crazy to think about how it began to where it is now, you hardly have to do anything that involves manual labor anymore because you can do it all while sitting on your butt. Imagine this, the kids would no longer have chores.
