Modern Necessities
Dec. 26th, 2006 07:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebThe Pew Research Center has published a study on necessities, comparing how Americans have rated several modern conveniences over the last ten years. What interests me is what people do who do not think these things are necessities. Some of them have these things anyway, of course, but they must have some idea of what they would do if they did not have these things.
car - Now 89% think it's a necessity; ten years ago, 91%. This difference is not statistically significant. I am wondering whether 10% of the population lives in New York or some other place with decent mass transportation. Or perhaps they have motorcycles. Hmm.
I have lived without a car for several years. It only works for me when I live on a bus route. I took a bus, walked, or biked to work. I have taken my laundry on a bus, and done grocery shopping on foot (aerobic!) and via a bus. I never had to shop or do laundry for anyone besides myself. It was difficult to get home from parties (after the buses quit running), and now my friends live even further away. I did still rent a car occasionally for weekend trips.
Some people in my town do try to walk or bicycle everywhere, but they are by far the exception. I get the idea you almost have to be an activist to do this. You certainly need to be in good physical shape!
clothes washer - Now 90% think it's a necessity; ten years ago, 86%. This difference is statistically significant, but still tiny. Here I am really stymied. I feel quite sure that 10% of the population is not cleaning their clothes in rivers or even in washtubs. I don't even really know how to wash clothes properly without a washing machine of some kind. Maybe people think they don't need to own them because they can go to laundromats?
clothes dryer - 83% now, 62% ten years ago. I actually don't have a dryer right now, I hang my laundry on a clothes rack inside or a clothes line outside. On a breezy day with no rain, a load can sometimes be dry by the time the next load is washed; certainly the thin things are ready. People say that drying your clothes outside makes them smell wonderful, but I find it makes them smell like wet dogs. Perhaps most people love the smell of wet dogs. In some neighborhoods it is illegal to hang your laundry outside. Even in the olden days there were odd laws like that school teachers had to hang their dainty underthings hidden inside a pillowcase.
Inside it can take twenty-four hours to dry a load of clothing, longer if it's winter and you don't have a fan going. You do get some humidity in the house, which is nice in winter, but you have to be careful about setting your drying rack too close to a wall or anything else you don't want growing mold.
By putting vinegar in the rinse cycle, you can keep things from getting totally stiff, and you don't have to deal with static electricity. Still, I really wish I had a dryer. Quick drying. Soft clothes.
home air conditioning - 70% now, 51% ten years ago. This is partly because more people live in the south now. I have lived in the humid south (just north of Houston) without air conditioning for ten weeks at a time (at summer camp). It takes a while to get used to it. For me, that included learning to sleep on my back, which for some reason felt the coolest. You also need shade and a breeze. If you have to be out from under shade, you need a head covering. If you have to be inside, proper design will let you open windows to allow a cross breeze in. Ceiling fans are also wonderful.
It's much more difficult to live without home air conditioning where I live now: a city where it's just as hot but only half as humid. There's a lot less shade and more concrete outside, so being outside is much more uncomfortable that it is in the woods. Then all the commercial buildings are heavily air conditioned, so you can never get used to the heat if you have an indoor job.
microwave - 68% now, 32% ten years ago. I think some people don't even know how to cook without a microwave anymore. Most things you heat in the microwave can be heated on the stove or in a toaster oven just as easily, but it might require an extra dish.
TV set - 64% now, 59% ten years ago. Traditional thinking is that without a television, you read more and play more. Maybe you have dinner at the table as a family.
I don't have a TV, but I have replaced it with a computer monitor big enough to watch movies on and with the internet.
car air conditioning - 59% now, 41% ten years ago. Of course if you don't need a car, you don't need car air conditioning. That said, it's possible that where I live now, car air conditioning is more important than home air conditioning. One reason is the greenhouse effect. Most houses do not get over 110 degrees on a regular basis. Another reason is that you're often driving to a place where you have to arrive presentable such as work or job interviews.
The alternative is driving with your windows open, which doesn't work so great if you're sitting in traffic. It's also good to have those reflective windshield shades for when you're not in the car to keep interior temperatures down in the summer. And you can wear gloves so you don't burn yourself on your steering wheel or metal seatbelt buckle. It is illegal to darken your windows too much because then the police can't see if you're drinking or wearing your seatbelt or whatever.
home computer - 51% now, 26% ten years ago. The alternative is a combination of libraries, telephones, answering machines, reference books, stationary with stamps, and probably other stuff I'm forgetting.
Nowadays, for a lot of people the real alternative is their work computer.
cell phone - 49% now, not even on the list ten years ago. The alternative is a regular phone and possibly also an answering machine, e-mail, camera, little black book, pager, pay phones and quarters, and who knows what else I'm forgetting. I would have one myself except they're expensive and, although better than before, have worse reception than regular phones. I can't stand when your voice goes in and out and you have to repeat yourself all the time.
One thing that surprised me: a higher percentage of Hispanics than blacks or whites find cell phones to be a necessity. The explanation given is that they are more likely to have cell phones instead of regular phones, although people in this survey all have regular phones. (One day those guys doing the surveys are going to have to find a better way to sample than choosing random landline phone numbers, eh?)
dishwasher - 35% now versus 13% ten years ago. I'm surprised this number is still so low. All apartments have dishwashers. I think some people don't even know how to wash dishes by hand. Probably I don't either, because I keep reading that you're supposed to fill your sink with water and I don't do that. I put soap on a scrubby sponge and scrub, then rinse with hot water from the tap.
I've never had a good dishwasher. I've had either no dishwasher at all or crappy dishwashers that either didn't work at all or only worked if everything was thoroughly rinsed first. But now that you can get quiet and effective dishwashers at a reasonable price, I want one. Of course the remodeling that would be required to fit one into my house would make that a bit expensive.
Meanwhile, I don't mind not having a dishwasher unless I let the dishes go for several days or have a party or other reason why I'm dirtying up a bunch of dishes. You're never supposed to run a load until the dishwasher gets full, but I re-use certain dishes so often that it might take a while. So I might feel I need to get extras of things I use a lot like my small nonstick pan, spatulas, and saucepan.
cable or satellite TV - 33% now, 17% ten years ago. We have cable, but only for our computers. I'm substituting Netflix for multiple channels.
high-speed internet - 29% now, not even on the list ten years ago. Obviously if you don't need a computer at home, you don't need high-speed internet. People with dial-up connections probably do their high-speed work at work and libraries. Or learn to get up and do little tasks while waiting for stuff.
Websites and things are so much huger than they were ten years ago that the "need" for this is actually greater than before.
**
Obviously, none of these things are necessities--you only need food, water, shelter, and perhaps friends and challenges. But most people get the food, water, and shelter by having a job, and many of these things are needed for jobs. Many people need a car to get to work because they live in the middle of nowhere with no mass transit or even people to carpool with, and the jobs are in town. People who use their cars at work may also need car air conditioning to be able to leave a decent impression with their clients. Some people use computers and internet at home for work. And probably some people with jobs in popular culture need TVs.
**
For more blogs on personal finance, see the Carnival of Personal Finance.
car - Now 89% think it's a necessity; ten years ago, 91%. This difference is not statistically significant. I am wondering whether 10% of the population lives in New York or some other place with decent mass transportation. Or perhaps they have motorcycles. Hmm.
I have lived without a car for several years. It only works for me when I live on a bus route. I took a bus, walked, or biked to work. I have taken my laundry on a bus, and done grocery shopping on foot (aerobic!) and via a bus. I never had to shop or do laundry for anyone besides myself. It was difficult to get home from parties (after the buses quit running), and now my friends live even further away. I did still rent a car occasionally for weekend trips.
Some people in my town do try to walk or bicycle everywhere, but they are by far the exception. I get the idea you almost have to be an activist to do this. You certainly need to be in good physical shape!
clothes washer - Now 90% think it's a necessity; ten years ago, 86%. This difference is statistically significant, but still tiny. Here I am really stymied. I feel quite sure that 10% of the population is not cleaning their clothes in rivers or even in washtubs. I don't even really know how to wash clothes properly without a washing machine of some kind. Maybe people think they don't need to own them because they can go to laundromats?
clothes dryer - 83% now, 62% ten years ago. I actually don't have a dryer right now, I hang my laundry on a clothes rack inside or a clothes line outside. On a breezy day with no rain, a load can sometimes be dry by the time the next load is washed; certainly the thin things are ready. People say that drying your clothes outside makes them smell wonderful, but I find it makes them smell like wet dogs. Perhaps most people love the smell of wet dogs. In some neighborhoods it is illegal to hang your laundry outside. Even in the olden days there were odd laws like that school teachers had to hang their dainty underthings hidden inside a pillowcase.
Inside it can take twenty-four hours to dry a load of clothing, longer if it's winter and you don't have a fan going. You do get some humidity in the house, which is nice in winter, but you have to be careful about setting your drying rack too close to a wall or anything else you don't want growing mold.
By putting vinegar in the rinse cycle, you can keep things from getting totally stiff, and you don't have to deal with static electricity. Still, I really wish I had a dryer. Quick drying. Soft clothes.
home air conditioning - 70% now, 51% ten years ago. This is partly because more people live in the south now. I have lived in the humid south (just north of Houston) without air conditioning for ten weeks at a time (at summer camp). It takes a while to get used to it. For me, that included learning to sleep on my back, which for some reason felt the coolest. You also need shade and a breeze. If you have to be out from under shade, you need a head covering. If you have to be inside, proper design will let you open windows to allow a cross breeze in. Ceiling fans are also wonderful.
It's much more difficult to live without home air conditioning where I live now: a city where it's just as hot but only half as humid. There's a lot less shade and more concrete outside, so being outside is much more uncomfortable that it is in the woods. Then all the commercial buildings are heavily air conditioned, so you can never get used to the heat if you have an indoor job.
microwave - 68% now, 32% ten years ago. I think some people don't even know how to cook without a microwave anymore. Most things you heat in the microwave can be heated on the stove or in a toaster oven just as easily, but it might require an extra dish.
TV set - 64% now, 59% ten years ago. Traditional thinking is that without a television, you read more and play more. Maybe you have dinner at the table as a family.
I don't have a TV, but I have replaced it with a computer monitor big enough to watch movies on and with the internet.
car air conditioning - 59% now, 41% ten years ago. Of course if you don't need a car, you don't need car air conditioning. That said, it's possible that where I live now, car air conditioning is more important than home air conditioning. One reason is the greenhouse effect. Most houses do not get over 110 degrees on a regular basis. Another reason is that you're often driving to a place where you have to arrive presentable such as work or job interviews.
The alternative is driving with your windows open, which doesn't work so great if you're sitting in traffic. It's also good to have those reflective windshield shades for when you're not in the car to keep interior temperatures down in the summer. And you can wear gloves so you don't burn yourself on your steering wheel or metal seatbelt buckle. It is illegal to darken your windows too much because then the police can't see if you're drinking or wearing your seatbelt or whatever.
home computer - 51% now, 26% ten years ago. The alternative is a combination of libraries, telephones, answering machines, reference books, stationary with stamps, and probably other stuff I'm forgetting.
Nowadays, for a lot of people the real alternative is their work computer.
cell phone - 49% now, not even on the list ten years ago. The alternative is a regular phone and possibly also an answering machine, e-mail, camera, little black book, pager, pay phones and quarters, and who knows what else I'm forgetting. I would have one myself except they're expensive and, although better than before, have worse reception than regular phones. I can't stand when your voice goes in and out and you have to repeat yourself all the time.
One thing that surprised me: a higher percentage of Hispanics than blacks or whites find cell phones to be a necessity. The explanation given is that they are more likely to have cell phones instead of regular phones, although people in this survey all have regular phones. (One day those guys doing the surveys are going to have to find a better way to sample than choosing random landline phone numbers, eh?)
dishwasher - 35% now versus 13% ten years ago. I'm surprised this number is still so low. All apartments have dishwashers. I think some people don't even know how to wash dishes by hand. Probably I don't either, because I keep reading that you're supposed to fill your sink with water and I don't do that. I put soap on a scrubby sponge and scrub, then rinse with hot water from the tap.
I've never had a good dishwasher. I've had either no dishwasher at all or crappy dishwashers that either didn't work at all or only worked if everything was thoroughly rinsed first. But now that you can get quiet and effective dishwashers at a reasonable price, I want one. Of course the remodeling that would be required to fit one into my house would make that a bit expensive.
Meanwhile, I don't mind not having a dishwasher unless I let the dishes go for several days or have a party or other reason why I'm dirtying up a bunch of dishes. You're never supposed to run a load until the dishwasher gets full, but I re-use certain dishes so often that it might take a while. So I might feel I need to get extras of things I use a lot like my small nonstick pan, spatulas, and saucepan.
cable or satellite TV - 33% now, 17% ten years ago. We have cable, but only for our computers. I'm substituting Netflix for multiple channels.
high-speed internet - 29% now, not even on the list ten years ago. Obviously if you don't need a computer at home, you don't need high-speed internet. People with dial-up connections probably do their high-speed work at work and libraries. Or learn to get up and do little tasks while waiting for stuff.
Websites and things are so much huger than they were ten years ago that the "need" for this is actually greater than before.
**
Obviously, none of these things are necessities--you only need food, water, shelter, and perhaps friends and challenges. But most people get the food, water, and shelter by having a job, and many of these things are needed for jobs. Many people need a car to get to work because they live in the middle of nowhere with no mass transit or even people to carpool with, and the jobs are in town. People who use their cars at work may also need car air conditioning to be able to leave a decent impression with their clients. Some people use computers and internet at home for work. And probably some people with jobs in popular culture need TVs.
**
For more blogs on personal finance, see the Carnival of Personal Finance.
Superb Post
on 2007-01-16 05:26 am (UTC)what is it with girls fighting?
on 2007-03-13 05:18 am (UTC)What is it with girls fighting?
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