Apathy Curve: From Console to Pocket

<body><script type="text/javascript"> function setAttributeOnload(object, attribute, val) { if(window.addEventListener) { window.addEventListener('load', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }, false); } else { window.attachEvent('onload', function(){ object[attribute] = val; }); } } </script> <div id="navbar-iframe-container"></div> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://apis.google.com/js/platform.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript"> gapi.load("gapi.iframes:gapi.iframes.style.bubble", function() { if (gapi.iframes && gapi.iframes.getContext) { gapi.iframes.getContext().openChild({ url: 'https://www.blogger.com/navbar.g?targetBlogID\x3d9924031\x26blogName\x3dApathy+Curve\x26publishMode\x3dPUBLISH_MODE_BLOGSPOT\x26navbarType\x3dBLUE\x26layoutType\x3dCLASSIC\x26searchRoot\x3dhttps://apathycurve.blogspot.com/search\x26blogLocale\x3den\x26v\x3d2\x26homepageUrl\x3dhttp://apathycurve.blogspot.com/\x26vt\x3d-8459845989649682690', where: document.getElementById("navbar-iframe-container"), id: "navbar-iframe", messageHandlersFilter: gapi.iframes.CROSS_ORIGIN_IFRAMES_FILTER, messageHandlers: { 'blogger-ping': function() {} } }); } }); </script>

Thursday, March 05, 2020

From Console to Pocket

The photo is from a 1945 store promotional for Viewtone's first television. It had a screen size of 7 inches -- only 1 inch larger than my iPhone XS, and of course the iPhone has a much, much higher resolution. You can see behind her a sign which says the price is "approximately 100" dollars. That piqued my curiosity, so I did a little math.

The median household income in 1945 is listed as $2,379.00. The $100 price tag of the television is about four percent of the total household income. The 2019 median household income was $48,516. Four percent of that is $1,940 -- about double the retail price of an iPhone XS. Effectively, for half the money you can now put the console TV in your pocket, along with your alarm clock, radio, camera... and a UNIVAC. An age of wonders, indeed.

0 Comments: