The speed of modern life - and advice from the Victorians

Overwork, information overload, environmental pollution. They could be described as the worries of our time, but in fact, they were the exact same concerns the Victorians had. As the industrial revolution birthed new technological tools like the rotary printing press, the telegraph and steam locomotive, the pace of life steadily increased for the Victorians, as did the psychological conditions that came with that modernity. Those stresses were the subject of five years' work by Professor Sally Shuttleworth and her post-doctoral fellows at Oxford University. The work has been turned into a spectacular sound and light show, which will be on display in Dunedin on Sunday night.