Technology and the myth of enough free time

In my parents’ kitchen in Phoenix is a framed, printed advertisement from 1919. A woman stands next to her daughter who is dressed in her wedding gown. Both are smiling, the bride appearing fully overjoyed at the receipt of her mother’s gift: a Hoosier kitchen cabinet, which the ad claims will help “retain your youthful energy and girlish appearance.”

The advertisement goes on: “(I)n Hoosier homes, daughters know the miles of needless steps and hours of wasted time that this scientific kitchen helper saves. They honor it for the service it has rendered the ‘little Mother’ who has been able…