this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2026
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
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- The entire showerthought must be in the title
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- If your topic is in a grey area, please phrase it to emphasize the fascinating aspects, not the dramatic aspects. You can do this by avoiding overly politicized terms such as "capitalism" and "communism". If you must make comparisons, you can say something is different without saying something is better/worse.
- A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
- Posts must be original/unique
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No technology has ever resulted in lighter workloads for the average person. Different, and sometimes less strenuous, but never less time consuming.
Washing machine.
Also, lighter work loads and less time consuming are different arguments - unless you mean no technology has ever resulted in neither, which is a rather bold statement.
Counterpoint: The cotton gin. It was supposed to make slavery obsolete, but actually reinvigorated the practice of slavery by making slaves able to do more work.
Before washing machines, people would hand off washing to professionals. Now the expectation is that the person who can afford it must wash things themselves. More time spent on that.
Uh, maybe for rich people...
Let me introduce you to the washboard and the bucket.
Lol. Who washed the cloths?
The professionals, who obviously could wash clothes just by staring at them.
Quite the jutsu.
Pretty sure every piece of technology past the wheel can be considered to save humans time with their tasks.
No the tasks increase to fill the saved time.
Better technology frees more time for other tasks. Whether that's work or leisure depends on the individual. Everyone has the same 24 hours a day independent of how you use them. Most people don't just sit and do nothing. To even suggest that things like an electric stove, washing machine, lawnmower or a bicycle aren't saving people real time on tasks they'd have to do either way is ridiculous.
Seems like we still must work the same amount regardless of how much we'd "like" to do other things though. What you're talking about happened, but happened a long time ago.
In most cases people get paid by the hour. The wage is compensation for your time, not effort. If a new technology comes along that increases your work productivity you'll still end up working the same hours because that's what you're being paid for. I'd say that there's still a real difference between spending 8 hours a day swinging an axe compared to running a chainsaw. Same amount of time is spent working but the effort needed goes down while productivity increases.
However, this isn't always the case. I work in construction and it's not untypical that someone has a fixed price for completing a job. There you are not compensated for your time per se but effort. If you're quick you do get to "go home early." However this doesn't lead to people working less either - quite the opposite. They get greedy, hoard too much work, rush it, the quality suffers and they tend to get really stressed out and easily irritated.
In olden times before washing machines people were expected to change into clean (washed) underclothes daily, and an apron got washed when dirty, but their main clothing went a long time between cleanings. Even longer than the clothes on the chair, like months.
Similarly, expectations of manicured pool-table lawns with the advent of lawnmowers.
Better stoves/ovens I'll totally grant you. I have enough trouble adjusting from my old "runs hot" oven to my new "runs cold" oven, I can't imagine trying to bake a cake in a wood or coal oven.
And the horse that preceded the bicycle took more maintenance, not less.
Why constantly add more tasks? There’s only finite amount of maintenance on a house or things that need to get done.
human innovativeness ensures there's always new things that people want to do.
I thought we were talking about capitalism. I misread the comments.
Dish washer, laundry washer, laundry drier, lawn mower, a vehicle, there’s thousands dude.
All things that save time at home, not at work.
Do people not do laundry for work? Mow lawns? Drive? Anything you could use for personal use can also help with work… what about a restaurant? No washing machines there apparently….
Do you have any specific examples that are solely “home saving” pieces of technology? Or do other peoples jobs not exist past your desk?
This is a good point, and it's often much longer workhours. People used to have to stop when it got dark, because candles and oil lamps were too expensive, but not with electric lights. Mules refuse to work more than about six hours a day, but trucks will keep going as long as you refuel them.
not even a neo-luddite. a good old fashioned luddite