The_1920s__New_Life-Changing_Technology_in_the_United_States

The 1920s was a revolutionary time where new inventions came into place to help improve and change the daily lives of American citizens. The automobile, the radio, and electricity were key inventions in the 1920s that helped spark the improvement of the daily lives of the people living in the United States. As the automobile helped create and broaden the expansion of transportation, the radio helped with the expansion of communication. Meanwhile, electricity helped supply a newest form of energy to help light up lamps and other products and inventions that required electricity to work; without Americans needing to depend on oil and coal, products that were former energy sources. Truly, the 1920s, with the invention of the automobile, the radio, and electricity helped forever change the way Americans lived their lives. The automobile changed the United States immensely, as seen in today, the change is clearly evident on how it helped changed Americans daily lives. It allowed Americans to change landscapes into paved roads for the automobiles and citizens to walk on and it helped citizens go out in all types of weather. Also, because of the automobile, architect styles changed and houses now had integrated garages, carports and driveways, resulting in smaller lawns. The automobile also helped spark the rapid construction of gasoline stations, repair shops, public garages, motels, tourist camps and shopping centers; helping create new jobs in America. As a result, the Holland Tunnel was also created; it was a highway tunnel under the Hudson River that helped connect the island of Manhattan in New York City with Jersey City. Now allowing citizens to drive through the tunnel with their automobiles, instead of having to take a boat and pay more money to go across each city. It was also less time consuming and the car helped Americans save time, so they could enjoy to do many more leisure activities. In addition to creating new jobs for American residents and help save them time, it helped liberate the isolated family and families could now travel to the city for shopping and entertainment. Families could now effortlessly go on vacation to new places and destinations and women and the young were becoming more independent due to the increase of mobility. Now with the invention of the automobile, people could live miles away from their jobs. Cities now were also able to spread in different directions and California and Texas drew people to go live there because there was oil to be found there. Since oil, helped power automobiles, there was a big profit to be made from oil. The automobile was also a symbol of wealth and success, that in the 1920s a woman stated that she would rather "starve" than "give up the car". By the 1920s, 80% of cars were registered in the United States. That was 1 out of every 5 people. The automobile was possible because of the Model T, invented by Ford. His model was what actually help sell cars to ordinary people by making them more affordable because his design involved long-lasting and cheap materials for the automobile. His magnificent use of the assembly line, to make automobiles faster was also why everyone could enjoy an automobile and help change the lives of the American. However, with the invention of the automobile, there came along another great invention, which was called, the radio. The radio was the most powerful communication in the 1920s than major magazines and newspapers. The radio was what added "radio audience", "air waves", and "tune in" to everyday speak in the ever-changing United States. The radio also helped change the daily lives of Americans because radio dance parties were very common and it was a way in which it helped the citizens of the United States to get informed on important broadcasts, important messages and important speeches regarding World War I. The radio was also a great form of leisure. Listeners of the radio would often tune in for the news, entertainment, and even advertisements. It helped Americans share national experience of hearing the news as it happened and it was useful because it seemed as if the world was opening up to the United States and its people that lived in it. It also helped create jobs because of the need for radio announcers. Musicians being broadcast live in the radio could not help but get dressed in their finest attire during their performances, even if there was not a live audience. The radio was another great invention in the 1920s because of the way it informed the American citizens with important news and nice music, too. Nevertheless, even if the invention of the automobile and the radio was life-changing for the residents living in America in the 1920s, it must be proven fact that Electricity was, by far, the most important invention in the 1920s and perhaps of all of mankind. Electricity transformed the nation. Because of electricity, it was now possible to distribute electric power efficiently over long distances and it could be transmitted to the suburbs. Central cities were now not the only ones with electricity. Electricity also helped power most of the United States and the latest products that were being released in the country, like the fridge and toaster. Electricity helped change women's daily lives because they could now enjoy the community and more leisure activities because electricity helped a woman save time in cooking and other household needs. Electricity is what helped shape our modern world today, and without it, we would still be living in the “stone age”. In retrospect, the 1920s was truly a time that helped shape American society and the lives of its citizens because of the new technologies that happened to have been invented. The automobile, the radio, and electricity had a great life-changing impact in the United States because of the way it made citizens lives easier and faster to do things. Without these inventions that were invented in the 1920s, we would not be able to enjoy a lot of leisure activities, we would always be stuck in one place because we cannot travel, and we would not be able to enjoy computer, cellphones, and other electricity powered devices that we currently enjoy today. We would still be stuck with limited communication and we would have never been able to develop a deeper understanding of what goes on in the world instead of just our own. Bibliography: http://w2uc.union.edu/RADIO_web.htm