Although I was not formally trained as an historian, I enjoy observing social trends. It strikes me that we are straddling the 20th and 21st Centuries at this moment.
I believe that history has shown that the dawning of a new century rarely if ever corresponds to a neat January 1 date on a calendar.
A few examples from my cluttered mind:
- The 16th Century did not begin on January 1, 1500 (or 1501). We all know it began on that fateful day, October 12, 1492, when Columbus landed on a locale he named San Salvador in what is now The Bahamas. This set forth a fresh century of exploration in “The New World.”
- The 18th Century kicked off around 1712, when a steam engine was installed the Dudley Castle coal mine. Thomas Newcomen invented it and it set off a series of advancements that came to be known as “The Industrial Revolution.”
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The 19th Century started on a hot and humid day in Philadelphia — July 4, 1776. A new form of society was declared. This led to events in France in 1789 and thereafter to the rise of Napoleon. Coincidentally, Eli Whitney patented the cotton gin (short for engine) in 1794.
- Unfortunately, the 20th Century was born in the bloody trenches of France and Belgium during World War I. I guess a formal starting date would be June 28. Either June 28, 1914 (the date Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated in Serbia) or June 28, 1919 (the day the Treaty of Versailles was signed). The Great War and its aftermath set forth a series of events which would drive the train of history and perpetuate the bloodiest century mankind has ever known.
- The 21st Century is an easy one — September 11, 2001. Everything changed that day. Welcome to the new century.
Although big events drive the turn of the centuries, society evolves gradually over the course of the subsequent years. I call this phenomenon décalage de siècle, or “century lag.”
Right now we are in a century lag between the 20th and 21st Centuries. Don’t fret. Society will eventually catch up. It always does.
Here are some examples of lag de siècle:
Money. Cash is on its way out. Remember all the science fiction films in which people paid for things with “credits” instead of cash? Well, we are all starting to move toward an expanded use of credit and debit cards to cover daily transactions. Many of us now pay our bills on line and have our “paychecks” electronically deposited.
I used to joke that I kept cash in my pocket for only two reasons: parking and to give to my kids. Now, parking meters take credit cards. I suspect that we will soon be giving debit cards to our kids that have parental controls, such as strict financial limits. However, for the immediate future we are walking around with vestigial paper bills and coins in our pockets.
Workplace. Time was, everyone went to work in one place — usually a brick-and-mortar building structure. Not necessarily any more. Increasing numbers of workers are “telecommuting” out of their homes. Managers now keep track of their employees’ work by monitoring their computers and phone calls. Advances in computer networking and telecommunications have made this possible.
Offices which formerly depended on fat paper files and metal filing cabinets are quickly being replaced by “paperless” environments where all documents are immediately scanned and available on the worker’s computer screen. My profession, the law, is still stuck in the 20th Century. The rules of evidence have not yet sufficiently evolved to abandon proof in the form of paper documentation.
The concept of “mail” has obviously changed as well. Now, a great many of the things that we used to put into typed correspondence and sealed envelopes are sent more efficiently via email and fax.
Driving. While it is true that driving automobiles has always been a continually evolving process, recent advances in technology have sling-shotted this activity forward in nearly unimaginable ways. Our cars now talk to us to tell us about problems and to inform us how to get to a specific location or to find services such as gas stations or restaurants. Ordinary cars are equipped with backup alarms and cameras. There are now devices available that sense when objects are in drivers’ “blind spots”, and even assist the driver in parallel parking efforts.
Our phones are in our cars and they are wireless. Many of us get our radio transmissions from satellites hovering geosynchronous orbit above the earth. Here’s an overlap from a prior category — we don’t use cash anymore to pay tolls. Our cars “talk” to computerized toll stations and money is debited from specialized “E-Z Pass” accounts.
Self-expression. “Dear Diary, I’m closing you now and putting you on the shelf forever.” Hardly anyone puts pen to paper these days to chronicle their life events. Instead (as I am doing at this moment), we blog it out. Social networking has supplanted its introverted cousin. Constant stimulation communication is available in myriad forms. Twitter is available to all to record our thoughts (deep and otherwise) 140 characters at a time. Perhaps, most significant is the change in custom among younger people — self-revelation is the norm rather than the exception.
Social mores. That’s mores (pronounced “mo-rays”, not mores like ‘smores) meaning customs or conventions. We are looking at each other differently than we have in the past. Happily, those with a sexual orientation different than “normal” are no longer stigmatized to the same extent. Children in school are learning to be tolerant of LGBT individuals. The same can be said for race, religion and other formerly differentiating characteristics. Special education students are now routinely “mainstreamed” into regular ed classrooms.
The election of President Obama was a tremendous step forward in this regard. This is not to say that all of our problems are behind us. We still have a long way to go.
Another example of changing societal “norms” is the increasing prevalence and acceptance of mixed-race families. From our personal experience here at Kay Nou, we can state that people have been unbelievably accepting. Moreover, we are not alone. Recently we attended an event at a school in our “lily white” suburb. Seated nearby to us in the auditorium were two other mixed-race families. As Caucasian people become “the minority” in America over the course of the next century, mixed-race or blended families as well as heritage-rich individuals will become the new “norm.”
Communications. Cell phones. Smart phones. PDAs. Laptops computers. The internet. Email. Text messaging. And you know there are many, many other new forms of communication to come in the 21st Century.
Exciting times. I’m glad I knew life in the 20th Century. When I am in my senior years, it will be fun to compare modern advances to “the old days.”
— The Major