Imagine if you were to wake up tomorrow finding yourself not in the present day, but in the year 1955–right in the middle of one of the most nostalgic decades of the 20th century. The 1950s in America were a time of cultural development scarcely comparable to any other in the last century of the nation’s history, with such advances as widespread television and rock’n’roll music captivating the entire country. A time of peace and prosperity enabled the middle class to enjoy far more leisure, which helped the entertainment industry grow exponentially beginning in this decade, a trend that has not slowed since.

What would be different were we to travel back 69 years in the past? Most noticeably, technology would appear dramatically primitive as compared to the sophisticated computer chips that now power much of our everyday lives. For some perspective, the first commercially-available hard drive was introduced by IBM in 1956; it was quite the impressive contraption, standing 5 feet high and 6 wide, with a whopping storage capacity of 3.5 megabytes! Nowadays, handheld devices carry literally millions of times this amount of data–at a tiny percentage of the cost.

Those living at this point in time could not have dreamed about the technological advancements that would come about in the following half-century; yet for us, who now greatly depend upon said technology, travelling back to 1955 would indeed be a very difficult adjustment. For me personally, my hobby of choice–filmmaking and video editing–would have faced such barriers to entry in 1955 that, without massive amounts of money, such endeavors would be impossible. This, perhaps, would be the most disappointing thing to me if I were to suddenly find myself seven decades in the past.

It is important to consider, however, that technology has brought both great benefits and equally great downfalls to society. Along with the astronomical increase in efficiency, capability, and connectivity that the technology of the last seven decades has brought us, similarly impactful negative effects have also come about as a direct result of the same advancements. Most prevalent among these are the addictive qualities of portable computers and mobile phones–hooking billions of adults and even children–as well as the rapid progression of society during the 2020s toward artificial intelligence and an automated society. Though with every development there are benefits and drawbacks, the boom of technology leading in the direction of diminishing human necessity and interaction in society would be something that, if I were brought back to a simpler time, I would not miss at all.🔹