Reem Hilu, "Digitizing Domesticity in the 1980s: The Intimate Life of Computers" (U Minnesota Press, 2024)
Dec 10, 2024
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Reem Hilu, Assistant Professor of Film and Media Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, discusses her book on the intimate life of computers in the 1980s. She highlights how home computers were designed to strengthen family bonds and the often-overlooked influence of women's culture on personal computing. Hilu introduces the concept of 'companionate computing,’ revealing how technology addressed emotional needs in domestic life. The conversation also touches on feminist media history and the challenges of transforming academic research into a compelling narrative.
The podcast emphasizes the underrepresented role of women's culture and feminist critique in shaping the evolution of personal computing during the 1980s.
The concept of 'companionate computing' illustrates how early home technologies redefined family dynamics and facilitated new forms of interpersonal relationships within domestic spaces.
Deep dives
The Intersection of Gender and Technology in Media
The exploration of gender's influence on technology's development is central to understanding computing's domestic role. The discussion highlights how historical narratives often exclude women's experiences and perspectives in the evolution of digital media. In the 1980s, early computing technologies, such as interactive dolls, began integrating into domestic spaces, challenging the notion that technology is a male-centric domain. This emphasis on gender in technological storytelling reveals the need for a more inclusive history that recognizes how women's cultural practices have shaped the technology landscape.
Historicizing Computing's Domestic Role
Understanding the pre-domestic history of computers provides context for their later integration into family life. Early computing developed in defense-related environments before dramatically shifting towards consumer usage in homes during the late 1970s and 1980s. The anxiety surrounding this transition often portrayed computers as disruptive forces that might diminish familial connections, with cultural narratives framing technology as a male hobby that could detract from traditional domestic roles. However, the eventual acceptance of computers into homes signifies a complex negotiation of gender roles, illustrating how family dynamics adapted alongside emerging technologies.
Companionate Computing: Shaping Relationships
The concept of 'companionate computing' denotes the role of technology in facilitating interpersonal relationships within domestic settings. This view contrasts with the more generic notion of personal computing by emphasizing how technology influences family dynamics, thereby reshaping interactions among family members. Software from the 1980s designed for romantic couples, for instance, inadvertently reflected the evolving ideas of intimacy and relationships of that era. This suggests that while these technologies may not directly determine social bonds, they provide opportunities for new forms of interaction and connection.
Digitizing Domesticity in the 1980s: The Intimate Life of Computers (U Minnesota Press, 2024) shows how the widespread introduction of home computers in the 1980s was purposefully geared toward helping sustain heteronormative middle-class families by shaping relationships between users. Moving beyond the story of male-dominated computer culture, this book emphasizes the neglected history of the influence of women’s culture and feminist critique on the development of personal computing despite women’s underrepresentation in the industry.
Proposing the notion of “companionate computing,” Reem Hilu reimagines the spread of computers into American homes as the history of an interpersonal, romantic, and familial medium. She details the integration of computing into family relationships—from helping couples have better sex and offering thoughtful simulations of masculine seduction to animating cute robot companions and giving voice to dolls that could talk to lonely children—underscoring how these computer applications directly responded to the companionate needs of their users as a way to ease growing pressures on home life.
The Intimate Life of Computers is a vital contribution to feminist media history, highlighting how the emergence of personal computing dovetailed with changing gender roles and other social and cultural shifts. Eschewing the emphasis on technologies and institutions typically foregrounded in personal-computer histories, Hilu uncovers the surprising ways that domesticity and family life guided the earlier stages of our all-pervasive digital culture.
Peter C. Kunze is an assistant professor of communication at Tulane University.