Photo Courtesy of The Other 98% (http://other98.com)
Last Saturday, January 11, 2013, Upworthy posted a “Happy Friday” greeting to us fans. The post included the following question:
If someone from the 1950’s suddenly appeared today, what would be the most difficult thing to explain to them about life today?
I was intrigued! I imagined some person having been awakened after a prolonged slumber in a life-preservation pod or something out of a Sci-Fi flick. I envisioned taking this person around a house, a city, our country! Here are things that would likely take quite a bit of explaining, not necessarily in any order of importance or degree of difficulty:
- The smart devices that are almost literally attached to us–iPhone, iPad, Laptop, etc. How does a small gadget possess so much information! And we can make calls without an operator intervening!
- Microwave ovens and other programmable household appliances
- Remote control on our TVs. A Colored TV. How about Hi Def and the flat screen?
- Medical breakthroughs like wiping out small pox, AIDS and its cure, cure for childhood ALL
- The Republicans This might take forever to explain.
- An African-American US President
- A Female Secretary of State, Female members of the Senate and Congress, Female Law Enforcement Officers, or members of the Military
- Indiscriminate shootings in schools, theaters, malls, etc. juxtaposed against the NRA and their success story in building a successful business for themselves by sponsoring successful laws over the last 30 years to water down controls, all in the name of the Second Amendment.
- Hurricane Sandy, The Tsunamis, The Earthquake in Japan, Katrina
- Angry Birds and why they’re so addicting.
- We have landed and walked on the moon! Now, we’re exploring Mars and other planets. Pluto is no longer a planet!
- Quentin Tarantino films (and why I’m a fan!)
- Organic food – most everything back then is what we would consider organic today. How to explain our mass production of meat, vegetables, grain, and inhumane treatment of animals?
- Online shopping -all at your fingertips
- Reality TV. Even I don’t get it.
- The prices of everything! Gas, Eggs, Milk, Cars, Clothes, Houses
- Disposable diapers for the very young and very old
- Micro-Financing, Kickstarter, Crowdsourcing
- Apartheid, Myanmar, The Arab Spring
- The Death of the U.S.S.R. and the birth of many nations.
- Google, Facebook, Twitter
- The Fiscal Cliff, The Debt Ceiling, The Bank Bailouts
- YouTube
- Same-Sex Marriage, LBGT
- Cigarettes do cause cancer and marijuana has medicinal uses!
I’m sure I’ve missed quite a number but I I’ll stop at 25. This list may go on forever! Will this person become hopeful/relieved/excited or despondent/disillusioned/disgusted so much that they would crawl back to their pod to sleep for eternity?
Do you have others that may prove daunting to explain? Do share!
Likeitiz 
Your list covers a lot… the technology will wow them for sure. 😉
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A great list indeed. What made me curious was if there was a way to exchange being in the 1950’s to that being in the present. I love these new stuff but If I’m to choose, the simpler past has so much to offer that we already lost in this generation. My parents we born in the 1950’s and when I look at their past pictures and how life was…I get envious. Even at their old age, they show something this generation will have hard time finding, a simple, gadget free life.
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May I add to the list: what blogging is. I enjoyed this post. Have a great day!
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Great post, and a great way to start my morning. It’ll give me plenty to ponder over coffee. Thanks again for the hug!
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Thanks! Glad to make your morning coffee more enjoyable!
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A very comprehensive list. A lot of it makes me realize that I don’t really understand it all.
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Yes, Aunty. A lot of it does make me wonder.
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You have made a very profound list over unimaginable things that we have achieved since the 50’s. What would be hardest to get a grip on would probably be the wireless community and the importance it has become in our society. The moon landing is big, but of course Jules Verne wrote about it already in the 1865… The most provocative might be what you write about the achievements of women. What for me is probably more provocative today is that we haven’t gotten much further in those 60 something years… A really fun list.
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Yes, I’m sure reaching the moon was quite the aspiration back in the 50’s. But to actually have achieved it (the astronauts who went are now dying of old age!), is quite the accomplishment. I have a whole slew of other good and bad things we have accomplished. Like I said, would this person be impressed or disappointed?
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I think you about have it covered there – from a UK perspective I would add motorways (none in the 1950s), the Channel tunnel (unimaginable) and budget airlines (wonderful)!
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I did not realize they were not around then.
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Angry Birds -yes that would take some explaining!
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Such a fun list!
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