The Roaring Twenties During the 1920s, Americans were introduced to many new products including ready-made exact size clothing, electric phonographs, electric vacuum cleaners, and radios (The Consumer Economy and Mass Entertainment). As soldiers returned from WWI, they brought new ideas, began to challenge society’s traditions and pushed for women’s independence. The soldiers had seen a new and different world in Europe and wanted to bring those traditions to America (Jarmul). The large sacrifices of the wartime era were no longer a part of everyday life (“The Decade That Roared”). The 1920s were a time of great change in America, especially with the introduction of new products like the automobile and new appliances, along with medical breakthroughs such as the discovery of insulin. A major way the society of America was changed was through the automobile industry. The automobile was the first major product that …show more content…
By 1930, two-thirds of homes had electricity and half had telephones. The increase in the availability of electricity lead to more and more households purchasing appliances like vacuums, refrigerators, and washing machines. Instead of lessening a woman’s workload, as one might expect, these appliances lead to increased workloads because society began to expect higher levels of cleanliness (Mintz and McNeil). With the invention of the radio, American society was changed even more. Newspapers, films, and radio stories allowed people across America to follow sporting events, trials, disasters, actors, and other subjects (Jarmul). Many families used the radio as a time of bonding, and people across America could share the same jokes. Labor-saving devices decreased the amount of housework that needed to be done, resulting in families having more free time to spend with each other and listen to the radio (“The Decade that