When was life in America basically 'modern'? (WW2, war, 1990s)

[Trimac20]

Here's one definition of modern:


Of or relating to the present or recent times as opposed to the remote past.


It is, of course, partly subjective, but I'll define the modern lifestyle as having these features:

1. Electricity. This is easy enough to figure out, we just have to look at when electricity was 'discovered' or rather utilised, and when the majority of households had it. These dates, we'll say, were about 1880 and 1935 or so respectively in the US.

2. Appliances. This like refrigerators, vacuum cleaners, washing machines. Of course you need electricity to powers these, so mostly electrical appliances. I'd say most of the common appliances were common by the 1940s.

3. Globalised Media: Largely electronic-based, so again relating to electricity (a trend here). I'd say the 'modern era' thus began with the wireless radio, which was common in most homes by the late 1930s, and the television which became more common than not by the early 1960s. The later modern period was characterised by computers, which became mainstream by the late 1980s.

4. Automated transportation: Probably by the early 20th century, first with rail/streetcars, then automobiles. Now both co-exist, of course. The later modern period was characterised by the wide availability of air travel.

5. Modern way of thinking/talking, pluralism, liberalism: I'd say judging by movies, novels.etc people started 'talking' like they do earlier than we think. The quaint way of speaking, 'thou' and 'ye' seemed to have died off well back in the 1800s, so I'd say as early as the First World War people talked pretty 'plain', especially in America.

[Chango]

I would say the 1920's.

[markg91359]

I would say the 1930's, lol.

By the 1930's you had:

1. Widespread use of automobiles.
2. Radio not only existed, but was being used by the President to communicate with citizens (FDR's famous fireside chats).
3. With the advent of the DC-3 airliner, commercial aviation actually became a viable and profitable industry.
4. FDR's presidential programs created social security, public assistance, minimum wage and maximum hour laws, and recognized the right of collective bargaining for workers.

[Escort Rider]

It's all so relative as to be nearly meaningless, as it depends on what things one wants to include. Markg91359 (above) makes a very rational case for the 1930's, yet life at that time seems very, very quaint to us now. If you step up to the 1950's, which is my choice, you can add the following elements to Markg's list:

1. The atomic age had begun, and with it the fear of total destruction.
2. Commercial use of jet aircraft was beginning (by the late 50's anyway).
3. Television (and that is a biggie).
4. Direct dialing of local telephone numbers as opposed to having the give the operator the number.

Of course the comment I made about the 1930's seeming quaint can be repeated for the 1950's also, and the younger people are the quainter it seems to them. The main things still lacking in the 1950's would be:

1. Cell phones.
2. Personal computers.
3. The internet.
4. Space travel.

So there's the argument against my choice of the 1950's.

[ovcatto]

The wheel was modern at one time. Like the definition supplied points out, modern is today as opposed to yesterday.

[belmont22]

Originally Posted by Escort Rider

Of course the comment I made about the 1930's seeming quaint can be repeated for the 1950's also, and the younger people are the quainter it seems to them. The main things still lacking in the 1950's would be:

1. Cell phones.
2. Personal computers.
3. The internet.
4. Space travel.

So there's the argument against my choice of the 1950's.

If you're talking about those things, even the 1990s aren't fully modern lol.

[Josseppie]

I would say the modern era started after world war 2 in the 1950's. When I look at shows from back then or about back then like Mad Men they seem to be immersed in the same things we are just not as advanced where if you go back to shows from before ww2 they were a lot less advanced.

[BIMBAM]

WW2 was the turning point for America, when its place in the world changed dramatically and its economy and way of life cemented into the current form following the Depression and war time austerity. Everything people associate with modern America are products of post-war prosperity.

[slowlane3]

In 1930, on 13% of US farms had electricity - and farms accounted for a huge proportion of the population. By the early 1940s only 33% of US farms had electricity, according to Wessels Living History Farm, Inc. .

All middle-class people I know had television by the mid-1950s (black and white pictures, only 3 national networks, with aerial devices required on the roof of your house). In the mid-1960s came "instant-on" TV's, and more local "educational channels", and the purchase price of Color TV's came down to affordable levels, then eventually there were remote-controls.

[MassVt]

I would lean towards the WW2 years, and the subsequent growth of the military-industrial complex in the 1950s; the isolation of America during the Depression had ended, and more and more Americans began living in areas that they were not natives of....