"The number of air-conditioners worldwide is predicted to soar from 1.6 billion units today to 5.6 billion units by midcentury..."

"If left unchecked, by 2050 air-conditioners would use as much electricity as China does for all activities today. Greenhouse gas emissions released by coal and natural gas plants when generating electricity to power those air-conditioners would nearly double, from 1.25 billion tons in 2016 to 2.28 billion tons in 2050, the report says. Those emissions would contribute to global warming, which could further heighten the demand for air-conditioning. Right now air-conditioning is concentrated in a handful of countries, mainly in the United States and Japan, and increasingly in China. While 90 percent of American households have air-conditioning, 'When we look in fact at the hot countries in the world, in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, where about 2.8 billion people live, only about 8 percent of the population owns an air-conditioner'.... As incomes in those countries rise, however, more people are installing air-conditioners in their homes.... Some of the spread is simply being driven by a desire for comfort in parts of the world that have always been hot. But other factors are at play.  For example, as household wealth increases, so does the presence of household appliances like refrigerators and televisions, the report notes. These appliances generate heat, making homes warmer."

From "The World Wants Air-Conditioning. That Could Warm the World." (NYT).

I would add that television affects the mind and, I would think, spreads ideas about how well people can live and what kind of comfort is to be expected.

Here's a WaPo article I blogged in 2010: "In the heat wave, the case against air conditioning." The reason to reject air conditioning was global warming, but beneficial side effects were noted:

In a world without air conditioning, a warmer, more flexible, more relaxed workplace helps make summer a time to slow down again. Three-digit temperatures prompt siestas. Code-orange days mean offices are closed. Shorter summer business hours and month-long closings -- common in pre-air-conditioned America -- return. Business suits are out, for both sexes. ...

Congress [would be] forced to adjourn to avoid Washington's torturous summers, and "the nation [would enjoy] a respite from the promulgation of more laws, the depredations of lobbyists, the hatching of new schemes for Federal expansion and, of course, the cost of maintaining a government running at full blast."...

Saying goodbye to A.C. means saying hello to the world. With more people spending more time outdoors -- particularly in the late afternoon and evening, when temperatures fall more quickly outside than they do inside -- neighborhoods see a boom in spontaneous summertime socializing.

Rather than cowering alone in chilly home-entertainment rooms, neighbors get to know one another. Because there are more people outside, streets in high-crime areas become safer....

Children -- and others -- take to bikes and scooters, because of the cooling effect of air movement. Calls for more summer school and even year-round school cease....