Discussing our childhoods with a cousin, we both had the experience of Life magazine. For me it was a new perspective on the world. Before another cousin passed on a few old copies of Life in the late 40's, I hadn't seen many pictures. Newspapers at that time didn't print many photographs, certainly nothing in color. What pictures I did see were mostly advertising illustrations.
There were, of course, the newsreels at the movies, but we didn't go to them very often, usually just to Disney movies maybe four or five times a year.
The same cousin who provided the issues of Life also passed on a few National Geographics. Both magazines were a revelation, in their different ways. For one, my definition of decolletage is linked to Sophia Loren.
Since the 1950's we've become a much more visual culture, between the internet, cellphones, and streaming video. I don't know what the change means for other aspects of society, though likely today's childen will never have the same feelings as I did in viewing Ms. Loren (whose wikipedia entry images doesn't include any low necklines.)
