Blast from the past

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Christina Wall has traveled back in time, to a place where there is no television, no Internet and no e-mail. In this pre-1950 land, there are no frozen dinners, no nonstick skillets and no fast food franchises. She can’t use a dishwasher, clothes dryer or microwave; she has no access to ATMs, DVDs or CDs.

Wall, 32, an Eastern Michigan University graduate student, didn’t leave her westside Ann Arbor home for another plane in the space-time continuum. She simply went a month – through March 2 – without using any technology created since 1950. It’s part of her master’s degree project on the impact of technology in modern life.

When she had a headache? Uncoated aspirin instead of ibuprofen. When she needed to contact a friend? Snail mail or an antique rotary phone. When it snowed? Sledding instead of reality TV. Her project is a completely original conception, said Professor Denise Pilato, who teaches in EMU’s College of Technology.

“In some ways it’s an experiment,” she said. “And being that it’s an experiment, there are a lot of surprises for her.”

Perhaps most surprising is that there have been so many happy ones. For example, Wall estimates she saved up to $400 last month because it feels more “real” to spend cash than to use a debit card.

And she has found her day has more hours.

“It’s amazing,” she said. “I literally feel I like I have 40 hours in a day. I realize how much time was sucked up with TV, and more specifically the Internet and e-mail.”

The classically trained pianist found she had time to practice 45 minutes daily, to read books, to sit down to breakfast and to reconnect with friends.

Neighbor Margaret Steneck, a retired University of Michigan history professor, has taken great interest in the project. “It’s not just what was available in 1950, but what would someone living in her house, in her socioeconomic range, be able to afford and have available to them,” she said.

For example, television had been invented by 1950, but it wasn’t commonplace. And certain types of cosmetics – lipstick and hair conditioners – were around but don’t appear to have been commonly used by most women, according to Wall’s research.

Wall’s friends, family and students had to readjust as well. To the ire of some of her students, Wall, a graduate student instructor at EMU, was not available via e-mail and did not post her lectures online. Students had to phone Wall or go to her office to talk to her.

“It was interesting and it was sad,” she said. “You can just see how addicted students are now, and that they have the expectation things are going to be spoon-fed to them. … Now, they feel like they can’t have a normal conversation. And by losing that skill, they become fearful of them. I feel like part of the reason to do this is we’re in this spiral that’s not good.”

She hasn’t decided yet how her life will be changed when she is done, but it will definitely be changed, she said. She’s considering doing more work on the idea and pursuing a Ph.D.

Wall admits she has “cheated” by using a video camera to record some of her experiences. She hopes to make a documentary when she’s done.

Wall graduates in April, so she’ll soon start writing up her project. But on what? Typewriter or computer?

“I haven’t decided yet,” she said with a laugh.