The introduction of new technology often comes with the promise of making our lives easier. If only we could, "Just set it and forget it." In reality, the more productive technology makes us, the more is expected of us. An excerpt from a book I am reading called, "The Great Reset" addresses this sentiment;"Ironically, some of the amazing new labor-saving inventions and innovations of this period actually added to the burden of work in the home, mostly for the women of the time. Geographer Roger Miller examines the effect of the vacuum cleaner on women's work in the home. "In short, standards became more stringent as the means for meeting them became generally available," he writes. "Thus the ability to wash clothes more efficiently did not mean that the wash would be done in less time; it meant that the same clothes could be washed more frequently. The Hoover brought the rug out of the attic, where it was stored between social events, and put it down more permanently to be trampled and vacuumed every week. Women had to rationalize their schedules with those of the new machines they tended."1
Technology affords us abilities which can make vast improvements in our lives but it also complicates it and raises expectations for what we should accomplish. For women this can be felt doubly at times. Now we not only get to vacuum on a regular basis, but we can do so while responding to work emails on our Blackberries.
1. Florida, Richard L. 2010. The great reset: how new ways of living and working drive post-crash prosperity. New York: Harper, 23.
