So apparently today or last week it was supposed to be screen time off week. Where we turn off our screen based devices such as: video games, televisions, computers, tablets, and so on. I would like to know: if screen time has never been invented what do you think the world will be like today? Would we be the same or more primitive?
What would the world today be like without screen based devices?
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Driftless
Donor
Some of the impact is not as obvious either. Virtually all business accounting is done via computer in some form. And in almost all cases, data is keyed or scanned in and the results are viewed and verified on screen - even in the smallest businesses.
The alternatives are tracking transactions via paper invoices, receipts, etc and reporting via the old paper spreadsheets , or computerized information processed via punch cards (geehhhh)
The alternatives are tracking transactions via paper invoices, receipts, etc and reporting via the old paper spreadsheets , or computerized information processed via punch cards (geehhhh)
Tallest Skil
Banned
Obviously more primitive. There’s only so much that can be done with punch cards and blinkenlights.
Going with the assumption that TV isn't hugely important for technological development before mid-century; no electronic screens means no radar or sonar displays, which is pretty big for WWII; and no screens must have some impact on the moves to build successively larger computers in the postwar era.
But then when No TV does kick in as an important thing, we have huge social-cultural ramifications beginning in the fifties.
Thing is, vacuum tube tech is the enabler of those early screens. You need Edison-era PoDs to so much as delay electronic displays, let alone prevent their introduction.
But then when No TV does kick in as an important thing, we have huge social-cultural ramifications beginning in the fifties.
Thing is, vacuum tube tech is the enabler of those early screens. You need Edison-era PoDs to so much as delay electronic displays, let alone prevent their introduction.
older computer used punch cards so some more advance variation of this would be possible. keyboard input and printer output sort of thing.
media would be still be based on Radio and newspapers for people at large and tickertape for more specialised information.
The electronic game industry would be the result of a century of really cool pinball, pachinko and assorted game-of-skills machine research.
You can get to the OP's hypothetical without completely losing the cathode-ray tube, I think. If you butterfly away the development of LCD and subsequent technologies, you're left with a screen technology that just not practical for portable devices like computers, phones, and tablets.
That would enable you to get rid of the modern conception of "screen time" without eliminating television, which would obviously have much larger implications on our culture and society
That would enable you to get rid of the modern conception of "screen time" without eliminating television, which would obviously have much larger implications on our culture and society
Driftless
Donor
Thinking of a few currently available graphic display technologies in everday use.
*GPS - Theoretically, you could could still create and launch Global Positioning Satellites and gather and share GPS data in table format for surveying, navigation, etc, but how to put it to visual use? 2-D Plotter?
* Security systems - no video, but alarm based response, 1950's style
* Severe Weather Warnings - no video and Radar data becomes tabular collections of continually changing information to be ciphered through. Even if you could cipher out that dangerous conditions were anticipated for specific areas, how would you share that detail in timely fashion? I live in the US Midwest - the weather can change pretty drastically in a few minutes - I routinely check the local weather radar to help plan ahead.
Video vs Film - You can capture the same scene with both, but the delivery of video images has become realtime vs the significant delay of developing and shipping film to theaters. That's both a cultural and technological chasm. Also, think viral video of a surprise news event vs planning to have a reporter on site to cover the story.
*GPS - Theoretically, you could could still create and launch Global Positioning Satellites and gather and share GPS data in table format for surveying, navigation, etc, but how to put it to visual use? 2-D Plotter?
* Security systems - no video, but alarm based response, 1950's style
* Severe Weather Warnings - no video and Radar data becomes tabular collections of continually changing information to be ciphered through. Even if you could cipher out that dangerous conditions were anticipated for specific areas, how would you share that detail in timely fashion? I live in the US Midwest - the weather can change pretty drastically in a few minutes - I routinely check the local weather radar to help plan ahead.
Video vs Film - You can capture the same scene with both, but the delivery of video images has become realtime vs the significant delay of developing and shipping film to theaters. That's both a cultural and technological chasm. Also, think viral video of a surprise news event vs planning to have a reporter on site to cover the story.
Alternatively, have LCDs progress no further than calculators and wristwatches.
Dan Reilly The Great
Banned
I don't think its possible to completely eliminate some form of "screen" technology without drastically reducing technological development. Simply printing out all computer output on paper is just too damned inefficient. You would at least see sine form of lighted electronic display like combinations of light bulbs or LEDs, maybe even something that utilises the light from vacuum tubes as a form of display.
I think you'd need to butterfly away electricity or something. Even a "Babbage" like machine would probably evolve some kind of electrical display.
I think you'd need to butterfly away electricity or something. Even a "Babbage" like machine would probably evolve some kind of electrical display.
even without LED display, you could have a purely mechanical based one like dials and flip display:
