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If you believe the internet memes, the desk was not invented until 1980. Ditto the car, the burbs, the commute... Pictures of my great grandpa's accounting fi
by VLM 11y ago
If you believe the internet memes, the desk was not invented until 1980. Ditto the car, the burbs, the commute...
Pictures of my great grandpa's accounting firm open office compared to a typical 2016 open office from 1920 (yes I'm old, a sterotypical HN reader's G-Grampa would be in the 50s) are pretty enlightening WRT just how little of an effect the magical post-1980 desk has on obesity.
Now what happened in the 80s ... well, not the magical fat generating desk. HFCS? Hmm. What a coincidence.
Another pictorial example of a consistent social class for decades is the local masonic lodge has an annual pix of the lodge leaders and members going back to the civil war. Yes a hallway lined with over a hundred annual photographs. Even among the semi-wealthy who sat at desks all day, nobody was fat until post 1980s pix. I'm the first in four generations not to be a Mason.
If you're into genealogy its very interesting to pull group family reunion photos from the last century or so. Same people, same genetics, same social class, same lifestyle, same geography, suddenly in the 80s people start getting real fat, across the board, across occupational classes, across lifestyles. Even the jocks got fat (note that jock fat is a staggering doubling of body fat from 4% to 8%, they're both skinny compared to the general population AND twice as fat as they were)
- CPLX 11y agoIt's anecdotal observation of course, but my memory is that the 80's were the era where suddenly people became afraid of high fat diets. Hence a corresponding increase in sugar and simple carbs.
- monknomo 11y agoCould it be we all quit smoking in the 80's?
- pessimizer 11y agoPeople didn't just start getting fat in the 80s. Where is that coming from?
- duderific 11y agoHere is a chart that supports exactly that: https://lanekenworthy.net/2012/05/31/why-the-surge-in-obesity/ https://lanekenworthy.net/2012/05/31/why-the-surge-in-obesit... The hockey stick starts exactly at 1980.