The 30 year experiment:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/electricdreams/about.shtml
The Sullivan-Barnes family from Reading are a thoroughly modern family who own the latest in 21st century gadgetry. In a unique experiment they were stripped of all their modern tech and their own home was taken back in time so that they could live with the technology of earlier decades. The family lived a year per day starting in 1970 right up to the year 2000.
The experiment was designed to show just how much technology has changed the British home and the British family. How would a modern family cope with one black and white television set, one shared dial telephone in the hallway and no central heating in 1970?
Would the lack of multiple screens and technology-free bedrooms encourage them to spend more time together or just result in very bored children? How would they fare without the labour-saving domestic technology we now take for granted?
As the rate of technological change sped up during the 1980s and the 1990s the family saw first hand just how much the way we use our homes, family life and attitudes to childhood has changed.
The Sullivan- Barnes Family
Dad, Adam is an accountant he's keen to rediscover the gadgets of his childhood and adolescence but what is the reality of living with the cars and games he thought were so cool now that he's a grown up?Mum Georgie juggles a busy family life with a demanding job in NHS management, she hopes that a spell in the 1970s will show the kids a simpler low-tech life that will bring them together as a family but will life as a 1970s mother without the labour saving gadgetry she's used to, takes its toll?
Adam and Georgie have four children between them, Hamish 13, Ellie and Steffi both 12 and toddler Jude. They are used to a vast amount of tech, they've got their own mobile phones, laptops, games consoles and their home has multiple screens. Will they get used to tech-free bedrooms and embrace life outside the home or will they miss their 21st Century electronic distractions.
The Technical Support Team
The family were helped by their very own Technical Support Team – three experts who worked to make the family’s experience as authentic as possible. They sourced retro-tech from the time, delivering it to the family’s doorstep in the year that it would have been available to them. Gia Milinovich is a technology writer with a lifelong passion for computing, comedian and gadget geek Tom Wrigglesworth was in charge of all audio-visual and communications devices and Dr Ben Highmore is a sociologist who specialises in the history of domestic technology. Together they were on hand to answer any queries the family had and to fix things when they go wrong – which they frequently did.The 1970s
The family experienced the technological wilderness that was the 1970s when domestic technology such as the Teasmade and cumbersome black and white television sets were luxury items and still made in Britain. But it was a trying time for British industry; industrial unrest impacted on the home; power cuts were a regular feature of everyday life. By modern standards the home was virtually free of high-tech distractions.The 1980s
This was the decade when computers came into the average home – early in the decade Britain led the way in the production of home computers. Microwave ovens, video recorders and compact discs were all supposed to make our lives easier. Technology began to shrink in size and was geared more toward leisure and entertainment. But prices were still high and gadgets weren’t as user-friendly as they are today.The 1990s
A whirlwind of technological progress and the communication revolution hit the British Home big time, Britain was introduced to a virtual world with the arrival of the World Wide Web and mobile telephones meant we stopped phoning buildings and started calling people. Electronic goods were mainly made outside the UK and ever-decreasing prices meant that gadgets and constant upgrades infiltrated every area of the home.Time Tunnel
Now, here's your chance to explore the gadgets and gizmos of the Electric Dreams era.
Take a trip through our Time Tunnel and reminisce about the 70s, 80s and 90s. Delve deep into our catalogue of nostalgia and remember the hissing Teasmades, beeping Tamagotchis and fizzing Soda Streams. Were these inventions simply flashy gimmicks or revolutions in technology? And could you imagine a world without mobile phones, home stereos or space hoppers? See what other people have to say and tell us what you think! You can rate them too; did they change your world or were they just a bit pointless? Then you can test your knowledge of nostalgic trivia and watch rare clips from the archives.
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