Granted, these were TV shows, but it captures a feeling of the era. Popular programs today run more along the lines of Dawson's Creek , with not a single happy family with both parents living together, and therefore no picture-perfect family dinners. Instead, everyone runs around with their own activities, grabs a bite to eat at their own convenience, and struggles to balance teenage life with schoolwork and everything else. We currently have access to more labor-saving devices than ever before. Machines bake bread for those who have no time to knead their own and let it rise.
Microwave ovens make cooking and reheating food easier and faster than ever.
Tired working mothers hire housekeepers to clean their houses for them. With such innovations, one would think that everyone would have an abundance of free time to be spent doing absolutely nothing. But reality doesn't work that way. Our free time is frittered away, bit by bit, with hardly a second thought. Each person encounters more information each minute than ever before.