Technology and Daily Life

Scientific advances transformed ordinary existence. Electric lighting extended productive hours. Refrigeration changed diet patterns. Synthetic dyes brightened clothing. Photography democratized memory. Cinema created new realities. Science wasn't abstract but lived daily.

Medical advances increased life expectancy dramatically. Childhood vaccination became routine. Antiseptic childbirth reduced maternal mortality. X-rays revealed internal injuries. Aspirin eased common pains. Death retreated, though unevenly across classes.

Communication technologies shrank distances. The telephone connected voices across cities. The telegraph linked continents in minutes. Radio's first transmissions promised wireless futures. Information traveled faster than ever, creating new temporalities.

Transportation improvements enabled new mobilities. The automobile liberated individual movement. The airplane promised future freedoms. The Metro rationalized urban circulation. Speed became modern virtue, distance mere inconvenience.

Yet technologies distributed unequally. Electric lights illuminated boulevards while working-class quarters remained dark. Telephones connected businesses while workers queued at public phones. Medical advances helped those affording doctors while poor relied on charity. Progress had geography and class.