Question

Five fears the Victorians had regarding technology during the Industrial Revolution

Answer 1

Answer:

The five fears that Victorians had regarding technology during the Industrial Revolution were:

1. Victorians feared that modern technology will lead people towards isolation.
2. They feared that modern technology will challenge their religious beliefs.
3. They feared that it will hamper the well-being of our bodies.
4. There was a fear of changes in Social structure.
5. They feared that new technology will make women lazy, unskilled, and neglected towards their families.

Explanation:

The fear of advancement in technology is an age-old emotion. Victorians, too, feared this advancement in technology during the Industrial Revolution.

The fears that Victorians had regarding technology includes:

• Isolation: In 1906, a cartoonist illustrated the effects of wireless telegraphy. In the illustration, a lady and a man were sitting in Hyde Park under a tree next to each other, barely talking to each other. The meaning of this illustration was to say that wireless telegraphy possessed the threat of making people isolated.
• Challenge to religious belief: Victorians were people of religious belief. When Charles Darwin theorized about origin of species, Victorians religious beliefs were threatened. Victorians believed that God created everything. Thus, Victorians believed that technological advancement will threaten or challenge their religious beliefs.
• Health: When technologies were advancing, during Victorian Era, people blamed technology for increased eyesight problems. The rise in mass print rendered people with difficulty in eye sight. Thus it made Victorians fearful of technologies.
• Changes in Social Structure: With the advancement in technology and easy access to it, people of high social status feared that people with low social status would come near them. So, it made them fearful.
• Women: With new technologies to help women in household, Victorians feared that this technology will make women lazy and unskilled. And they will become neglected towards their families, as they were supposed to be labourious.