This essay examines how technological innovation shaped virtually every dimension of life throughout the twentieth century. Beginning with the automobile, the airplane, and the spread of electricity, the paper traces how new technologies transformed warfare, agriculture, the workplace, and entertainment. It discusses the dual nature of progress — highlighting both the remarkable conveniences technology provided and the unintended consequences, such as industrial farming, mass waste, and weapons of mass destruction. Drawing on historical examples and scholarly sources, the essay argues that technology did not merely improve existing systems but fundamentally reframed how people live, work, travel, and spend their leisure time.
Technology has determined the outcomes of events in the twentieth century. It framed those events from the very turn of the century, and it changed the way people lived, worked, and played throughout the era.
Beginning at the turn of the twentieth century, technology and innovation changed just about everything in American — and worldwide — life, from how people commute to how people spend their time on the job, at home, and in society. When people think of technology, they often think of computers, which certainly have changed the way people work. However, there has been much more innovation that has truly changed the way we live and work. Consider the invention of the first commercial automobile and the assembly line by Henry Ford in 1908, the harnessing of air power in 1903, and the resulting growth of rocketry and jet propulsion that led to humanity's first steps on the moon in 1969.
At the turn of the twentieth century, electricity was still not commonplace, telephones were still an oddity, and automobiles were seen as a threat to horses and the "normal" way of life in America. Today, technologies like these are commonplace — we cannot imagine our lives without them — and countless other innovations that we take for granted, such as satellites that run our phones, radios, and music players, and space travel that seems no longer special but routine. Yet all of these technologies evolved in the twentieth century, and they framed its defining events, from making cross-country travel a common occurrence to creating some of the most threatening technologies on earth, such as weapons of mass destruction, the atomic bomb, and the weapons that helped win both World Wars. Three scholars write: "Two world wars and countless other military conflicts killed millions around the globe, but the century was also an age of impressive innovation in every field of human endeavor, some of the most far-reaching in medicine, science and computer technology" (Best, Hanhimäki, Maiolo, and Schulze 483).
In World War I, the airplane was new technology, and it changed the way the war was fought. By World War II, the airplane had become one of the most important elements of armed conflict — from the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 to the ending of the war through the dropping of atomic bombs on Japan. Technologies like radar, sonar, rocketry, and jet propulsion helped win the war as well, and then went on to become more advanced, helping create global travel opportunities that had not been conceived of before the war.
Technology therefore changed the way we fight wars, win wars, and view wars, even as it simultaneously changed the way we travel and think about travel. Travel before the automobile and airplane was a long, tedious affair; now it is far simpler and available to nearly everyone.
Technology changed warfare and travel, but it has also profoundly impacted work. The computer has changed the way people work — not only by making many different types of work more effective and detailed, but by creating entire areas of employment and industry that did not exist even fifty years ago, such as the semiconductor and personal computer industries, along with all the components of technology, from portable music players to cell phones and beyond. All of these tools have created a far different workplace than existed one hundred years ago. We can communicate around the globe in an instant, work from home using computers and phone lines, and even use wireless devices on the go while traveling.
More importantly, computers and other technologies have allowed most factory work to be modernized. Many tedious and repetitive jobs have been eliminated or replaced by robotic procedures, and the fabric of employment has fundamentally changed as a result.
"Technology modernized farming but hurt small independent farmers"
"Plastics and toxic waste emerged as major unintended problems"
"Television and media technology transformed leisure at home"
Technological advances have changed the very face of life in just about every way, from the clothing people wear to the way they travel, work, live, and play. Homes, cars, jobs, and entertainment are all far different than they were one hundred years ago, and they continue to influence the way the world lives. Clearly, technology will continue to change lives in the future, in ways that people today cannot yet imagine.
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