Image below is at this link, but no backup data or commentary. Still, the info seems about right.
Some observations:
1) Obviously, new technology is getting adopted across the US population at a much higher rate than in the past. It's interesting that it took 25 years from the initial market debut for 80% of American households to get something as basic as a refrigerator.
2) Many people say that the income gap between the rich and the poor is growing. This chart may not refute that, but it sure doesn't look, across a span of several decades, as though poor people in America are having to wait as long as they used to to live as well as the wealthy.
3) Look at the things that are new advances. Sure, I love our microwave and our color TV and having a cel phone. But there's no way I could call these things "life changing" in the same way as having electricity or a telephone was. Maybe the Internet (and all the stuff that comes with it) comes close.
4) It's interesting to see the impact of the Great Depression and WW-II. I'm sure without the TVA, electrification rates and other things depending on electricity would have slumped during the depression. Autos were hit hard: The % of American households with cars peaked at 60% in about 1928 and didn't reach that level again until about 1951.
5) The last item added to the chart was "the internet," which came into homes starting in 1991. It's been 17 years since then, which is quite a dry spell. I can't think of anything that's just hit the shelves or in development that really qualifies as "new", most are just refinements of stuff already here (hybrid cars are still cars. HDTV is still color TV. High-speed internet is still internet). What will be the next "new thing?"
No particular ER point to this post, just sharing.
Some observations:
1) Obviously, new technology is getting adopted across the US population at a much higher rate than in the past. It's interesting that it took 25 years from the initial market debut for 80% of American households to get something as basic as a refrigerator.
2) Many people say that the income gap between the rich and the poor is growing. This chart may not refute that, but it sure doesn't look, across a span of several decades, as though poor people in America are having to wait as long as they used to to live as well as the wealthy.
3) Look at the things that are new advances. Sure, I love our microwave and our color TV and having a cel phone. But there's no way I could call these things "life changing" in the same way as having electricity or a telephone was. Maybe the Internet (and all the stuff that comes with it) comes close.
4) It's interesting to see the impact of the Great Depression and WW-II. I'm sure without the TVA, electrification rates and other things depending on electricity would have slumped during the depression. Autos were hit hard: The % of American households with cars peaked at 60% in about 1928 and didn't reach that level again until about 1951.
5) The last item added to the chart was "the internet," which came into homes starting in 1991. It's been 17 years since then, which is quite a dry spell. I can't think of anything that's just hit the shelves or in development that really qualifies as "new", most are just refinements of stuff already here (hybrid cars are still cars. HDTV is still color TV. High-speed internet is still internet). What will be the next "new thing?"
No particular ER point to this post, just sharing.