101 Things We Take For Granted
"The more often we see the things around us - even the beautiful and wonderful things - the more they become invisible to us."
—GK Chesterton
Imagine time traveling 3000 years ago to show off your toilet paper to your ancestors or 300 years to show off your central air. Even 30 years ago, the cell phone and the internet were lightyears behind! Our ancestors would look at us with their jaws on the floor. Many of us might shrug it off and say, "Yeah, but it's too rough, loud, or slow."
But when we zoom out, we realize that for the first time in history, we live in a world of abundance. We have so much food we're statistically more over-nourished than undernourished, we own so much stuff that 11% of us use a storage unit, and the average person owns 148 articles of clothing per person (only 6% have worn all of them). In other words, we've got it really good.
Why We Take Things For Granted: Lifestyle Creep & The Diderot Effect
But it's not always easy to see this. We've turned incredible experiences into everyday features of living. The reason for this is due to our hardwired brains. The evolutionary cycle of happiness followed by dissatisfaction served us well in our journey, yet our surroundings have undergone profound changes, making it challenging for our brains to adapt. Had we been perpetually content in the past, our survival might have been at stake, as this restlessness is deeply ingrained in our cognitive makeup. It's not something we can simply wish away, nor would we want to. One generation creates something, we're born into it, grow up with it, and build on it through innovation. If we're spending all of this time appreciating things then we're not noting the areas for improvement and stalling progress.
The downside of hedonic adaptation, or the hedonic treadmill, is that we become habituated to even the most incredible things in our lives. This can lead to lifestyle creep, also known as the Diderot Effect.
Lifestyle creep has long existed, but it was popularized by the 18th-century French philosopher Denis Diderot. Diderot initially faced financial troubles when he was unable to pay for his daughter's dowry. An unexpected lifeline came from Empress Catherine the Great of Russia, who provided financial relief by purchasing his library and hiring him as her personal librarian. This windfall led Diderot to acquire a fancy scarlet robe, which he liked. However, the robe clashed with his less-fancy belongings, setting off a chain reaction of purchases known as the Diderot Effect: the tendency to acquire new possessions that triggers a series of additional purchases as individuals seek to align their belongings with the perceived status or aesthetics of the first item.
Thanks to these factors, we habituate to the latest manmade marvel, and in no time we find ourselves complaining about inconveniences like long flights, deliveries taking more than a day, and web pages that take more than a second to load. In other words, we have first-world problems.
How To Hop Off The Treadmill
As a way to step back, I created a list of 100 things we take for granted. They're simple man-made things that we'd likely be lost without. Each one of these might elicit a sharp response in the negative so recognize when that happens and transition to a state of gratitude instead of reflexive frustration or anger. Look on the bright side, look to the benefit, and have a better relationship with it. If we always find the downside of the next mind-blowing thing that we’ll take for granted ("they can send a man to the moon but they can't...") then we're not living a life that is rooted in enjoyment.
I’ve written about 100 simple pleasures in life. These are my favorite things in life that aren’t manmade. Today I’m going to write about 100 manmade things in life. The list is basic to us but think, "What would life be like without it?" or "What would my ancestors think if they saw this for the first time?" View these with gratitude and awe.
101 Things We Take For Granted
Plumbing. Bathing in rivers, using outhouses, and hauling usable water from wells wasn’t happening too long ago with only 14% of America having indoor plumbing in 1900.
Roads. Reliable, and necessary to travel anywhere, and the one you touch connects your foot, bicycle, or automobile to the entire continent that you are on.
The scientific method. That thing that you hated learning about in grade school is the reason for every study that exists.
Democracy. The best form of government, until the next election.
Books. Beginning as clay tablets in Mesopotamia 5,000 years ago, mass-marketed thanks to Gutenberg, weighing down our backpacks in school and rediscovering the world as an adult.
The ability to regulate our temperature by hitting a few buttons. Basically a superhero power.
Lawn mowers. Allowing men everywhere to stare at their freshly cut lawns with their hands on their hips for generations.
Photographs. Can you imagine telling someone a thousand years ago that you touch a button and save a moment forever? Time travel for our memories.
Backpacks, suitcases, and baskets. Pivotal for rucking in the military, long vacations, or putting all of your eggs into them.
Windshield wipers. Making rain bearable since 1903.
Math. The language of the universe and the key to understanding everything from subatomic particles to galaxies.
The alphabet. Twenty-six letters to create 600,000 words in the dictionary, allowing the best books to be written or that embarrassing DeadJournal you wish you never started.
Shoes. Allowing humans to continue to push the border of exploration, or just collecting expensive pairs.
Fences. One of the pivotal reasons for civilization in the West…and good neighbors.
Sharp knives. The trade-off of weaker jaws is worth it.
Speakers. Communal listening on steroids.
Glasses. Instantly improved vision? Yes, please.
The spray pump on spray bottles.
The ability to instantly change water temperature on a dial. This would be one of my 3 wishes if I lived in another time.
Bikes. Transportation, awesome childhood memories, and masochistic bike races.
Beer you can trust (and enjoy). Long gone are the days of beer that lacked variety, good taste, and reliable ingredients (and ABV).
Paper. Critical for record keeping, passports and birth certificates, books, loans, and the Declaration of Independence. How many generations behind would we be without this invention?
The washing machine and dryer. These pictures of 1916 clothes washing look brutal.
Food storage containers. Allowing leftovers, packable lunches, and work potluck lunches.. (My favorite non-toxic ones here.)
Velcro. The humble hook and loop, inspired by nature.
Water filters. Allowing space travel, submarine use, and humans to not drink pharmaceuticals and heavy metals. So important that I sometimes can’t believe they’re not in every home.
Helmets. Preventing injury (or worse) in battles, on bike rides, and in low-speed scooter crashes.
Batteries. The ability to charge something is mind-bending. Taking energy with you didn't exist until the invention of the battery in 1800 but now we can't live without it.
Drones. Unmanned war, futuristic delivery, and beautiful images.
Can openers and bottle openers. The unsung heroes of picnics, war, and last night's meal.
Online shopping. Need it? Want it? Click it.
Keyboard shortcuts. More efficiency and less repetitive stress injuries.
Trash cans and trash trucks. Picture any post-apocalyptical scene to imagine life without these.
Hinges. I don’t even know what one level down from these is.
Borders. Protecting us, making travel more alluring, and giving us sports teams to root for.
Coffee. Wars have been fought over these powerful beans. Today 74% of the world drinks it daily.
The weather forecast. The incredible ability to pretty accurately predict the future.
Computer mouse. So simple, so beautiful, so powerful.
Metal springs. Physics 101 for pens, machines, and slinkys.
Flight. The difference in time between the Wright brother’s flight and the moon landing was only 66 years. Today you can literally take a flight to any corner of the globe where just a few generations ago that was a dream.
The assembly line. Thanks, Henry.
Stadiums. A game changer for sports, concerns, and inhumane Roman practices.
Cement. The second most used material in the world (behind only water).
Cardboard boxes. Organized moving, efficient and lightweight deliveries, and a vehicle for imaginative play.
Locks. Starting simple in ancient Egypt, advanced usage for houses, cars, and computer passcodes.
Mirrors. First invented in 6000 BCE and now critical for way more than making sure you didn’t miss a spot shaving including telescopes, microscopes, rearview looking in cars, and dentists ensuring you didn’t slack off.
Ball bearings. Small spheres quietly revolutionizing aerospace, computer hardware, power tools, medical devices, and those fidget spinners.
Kitchen timers. Annoyingly necessary with fewer house fires as a bonus.
Sprinklers. From kid fun to allowing a reliable local food supply.
Boats. Fishing and cruises are great but 80% of consumer goods are transported on them as well.
Soap. Created in Mesopotamia, widely available around 1,000 A.D., and unheard of for most of time.
Microwaves. Cooking our food in a fraction of the time transformed our impatience from minutes to seconds.
Radar. Incoming missiles, storms, or flocks of geese are no longer surprises.
Scotch tape. Sealing envelopes and fixing rips, the transparent hero of our everyday tasks.
MRI Machines. Revolutionalizing healthcare in multiple ways including diagnosing cancer and strokes while the patient is still alive.
Toilet paper. Enough said.
Smoke detectors. Silent sentinels that alert us to danger and crispy bacon.
Remote controls. From TV to air conditioning, a tiny device that puts control at your fingertips.
Refrigeration. At one time, cold food was for royalty.
Nail clippers. Taming unruly nails and keeping fingers and toes neat.
Sunscreen. Wrangling a kid like a pig to get the sunscreen on is worth the fight for a longer day at the beach.
Voice-to-text speech. Maybe my favorite feature on my phone.
BBQ grills. Turning outdoor gatherings into sizzling feasts.
Baby monitors. Separation never felt so safe.
Garbage disposals. These spinning blades prevent 150 billion pounds of food waste annually.
Swimming goggles. Snorkeling and summers at the pool wouldn’t be the same.
Headphones. Your personal concert hall.
Toothpaste. A big step up from chewing sticks and leaves.
Hangers. Only patented in the 19th century, now essential in every closet.
The pepper grinder. Simple manual labor for instant freshness.
Fire hydrants. Improving safety while taking up a parking spot.
Fans. For computers, car heating and cooling systems, and improving my sleep.
Modern medicine. 100 years ago, we didn't have antibiotics; 1000 years ago, we believed in leeches and bloodletting.
Air travel. The ability to experience variety: food, music, accents, without the need to wage war
Basic medical equipment. The days without wheelchairs, crutches, commodes, and
Elevators. Arguably the reason we have the modern-day city in skyscrapers.
Adhesive. Used in everything from Bandaids to labels to appliances to cars to diapers.
Tampons. I just don't know how women do it at all...
Pressure cookers. Letting you step away from the kitchen without (much) fear of the house burning down.
Screwdrivers. Versatile, affordable, and easy to use. Righty tighty.
Supermarkets. Butcher + produce + seafood + pharmacy + bakery.
GPS. Guiding the directionally challenged and forcing us to forget how to get around.
Razor blades. Imagine how much work those first blades took to make.
“On this day” photo reminders. Effortlessly looking back at memories.
Baby gates. The poor version of babysitters, allowing you to brush your teeth without fear of a baby escapee.
Sleep masks. My favorite sleep tool.
Power tools. Fewer overuse injuries and more time saved.
Birth control. Yes.
Dunes. Preventing your favorite beach locations from becoming extinct.
Graphs, tables, and charts. Their invention was initially greeted with a lot of pushback, but now they help mounds of data become beautiful.
Talk therapy. The invaluable and science-driven practice of psychotherapy provides a safe space to address mental and emotional challenges. Saving many lives, improving many more.
Live music. From over-the-top concerns to the simple acoustic set at an outdoor bar.
Competitive challenges like races. Some of my favorite moments. I'm still not sure if I'm more excited about the start line or the finish line.
Trucks that fix potholes. Genius. Can we get some more of these?
Third-party testing. Unassumingly ensuring the quality and safety of countless products, from food to supplements to electronics.
Blood tests. Worth the prick.
Cash registers and kiosks. From clunky to sleek with a side of tipflation.
Stanchions. The line organizer things that corral humans, avoiding those side-glancing, passive-aggressive stares as you internally scream, "I'm next!"
Rumble strips. I'm pretty sure these highway speed strips saved more than just my life.
Caulk. Making things look nicer while preventing water damage.
Butter. Makes almost everything better.
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