Most western countries are the same. I live in Scotland, and quite near where James Watt was born. That doesn't mean that I grew up around steam engines, or tha

Most western countries are the same. I live in Scotland, and quite near where James Watt was born. That doesn't mean that I grew up around steam engines, or that I have been exposed to steam engines through my life. Like most places, the interconnectedness of global trade, plus the sheer complexity of modern devices, means that most people have no exposure to manufacturing. At one time, the town where I live was a full of Victorian manufacturing, with factories clogging up every street. Few of those factories survive today. Both my grandfathers worked in a local factory, which manufactured ball bearings and other machined items. In their time, it employed a couple thousand people on a huge site. Today, the company still exists, and still manufactures products, but with far far fewer people (well less than 100 I think). So the general population's exposure to manufacturing is far lower, as even where factories still exist far far less labour is required so that general cultural exposure is low.