Technology In The 1920's

Although technology from the 1910’s might seem historical now, people seeing the first telephones and radios would say otherwise. The technology sounded as though there were no downsides, but a different perspective always tells a different story. The lavish mansions housing phones and radios only affordable to the rich also held a remarkably contrasting class. Servants dealt with a dramatic change when new technology was introduced; their jobs were now at stake because of its ever-growing popularity. Domestic servants were severely impacted by technology because the new inventions would result in the loss of their jobs and home(s).

Although a majority of technological advancements in the 1910’s to 1920’s were based on destruction

Occasionally people were born into domestic work and never left for fear that the false sense of security they had would disappear. Before the decline of domestic service began, houses had up to thirty servants at one time. If they were extremely rich, employers could house and pay up to three hundred servants, though most found this unnecessary. Servants had a variety of tasks, each one requiring perfection; if there was a noticeable mistake, a servant’s job would be in jeopardy. Tasks ranged from dressing the master to cooking supper to polishing silverware. Often these tasks were grueling and demanded hours of nonstop work. When servants were needed, bells would be rung, no matter what time of day; employers disregarded servants’ mealtimes

Inventions were split into two categories: World War I defenses and home improvement. The latter of these started and ended an era; domestic service was slowly being pushed out of the spotlight. The new technology was all the rage: vacuums, air conditioning, plastic, and the radio were only a few of the inventions that made people’s lives seem better. Adjusting to the changes brought with installing and using these new products was not an easy thing to do. Electricity did not consist of just flipping a switch and listening to the radio. A radio had to be set up with perfectly angled antennas and someone had to set up the wires on the inside too. This took time and would also take a servant away from their original tasks for the day, in order to fix up a luxury they couldn’t even enjoy. Some helpful tools were the vacuum and air conditioning, but downsides followed shortly. For example, a vacuum had to be plugged in. Old-fashioned households did not use electrical sockets, and so the servants could not use a vacuum. Air conditioning (meaning heating, ventilation, and air conditioning, not just cooling down the house) was nice for maintaining a comfortable temperature in a house. Although most parts of the home were kept cool in the summer and hot in the winter, the attic, where servants slept, was not one of the conditioned areas. Girls would freeze instead of sleep, and if one complained, out