Technical Progress in Housing Environment and Its Influence on Performing Household Chores

Abstract

Technological conveniences became permanent elements of people's lives. Various appliances help out with daily chores and shape the standards of our lives. They are accessible thanks to well-developed and efficient manufacturing. The basic role of those diverse technological products is to reduce both physical and mental effort involved in people's work and, consequently improve the comfort of life. Using those numerous appliances requires, among others, special knowledge and training, which may cause various stressful situations. The presentation focuses on the following problems: comparison of the technological advancements in former and contemporary households, the role of the appliances in performing household chores, changes in the routine activities disappearance of some chores and appearance of new ones, the influence of a higher standard of living on labour and time input, elimination of various appliances as a result of changes in commodity market, reduction in the ability of using modern appliances especially among the elderly and the disabled and the consequences of using new technologies and information technology in households.