Was life better in the past than it is today?

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What I am noticing is that people today are more depressed and stressed. I see some people post on social media about how bad they think their life is and some want to end their life. I've been watching videos on Youtube from the 80s and 90s and people seemed a lot happier then. Everyone seemed chilled and laid back. They waved and smiled at the camera. If you film a stranger today, then he or she will more likely get mad at you and try to break your camera. I was a little kid in the 90s, but from what I remember, those were happy times. What has changed in the last 20 years or so that has made people more depressed? Is it the rise of social media? Is it that wages have remained stagnant? Is it smart phones? I have heard a lot of talk that we are living in bad times right now. They are saying that everybody today is struggling with something. Suicides have increased over the last 20 years according to the CDC. If life is this bad for a lot of people then how can we change it? Suicides weren't as prevalent 30 or 40 years ago. Today, millions of people are prescribed antidepressants. Many people also are dying from drug overdoses. We have a serious problem within our culture. Something needs to change or it is only going to get worse.

Some things were worse in the past than it is now. In fact a lot of things were worse, especially if you were female, a minority, or disabled. Of course, that was mostly stuff long before the 1980's and 90's. The cold war in the 80s and Y2K in the 90s made things a little scary. In fact, I lived in complete fear and anxiety of the world ending because of Y2K and other things. I knew I was being ridiculous but I couldn't really help it. My anxiety was terrible back then. It continued to be terrible up until maybe after 2008, when I was finally settled into my own apartment and living my own life and had more control over it.

Also in the late 80's we all started hearing about AIDS and there was still a lot of misconceptions about it. My mom still thought only gay men could get it. I was scared I could get it if my brother used my toothbrush or from going to the dentist. Looking back it's embarrassing how ignorant we were. Some of us still are.

And of course the 90's brought us a whole new crop of terrifying deadly diseases that media wouldn't shut up about. Flesh eating bacteria, Lyme disease, West Nile virus, Ebola, E. Coli. Every week it seemed there was some "new" disease. Of course it got even worse in the early 2000's. And yet most people weren't and still aren't living in fear of getting heart disease or diabetes or even cancer. Although hearing that didn't really make me any less afraid of Ebola or flesh-eating bacteria. It just made me more afraid of heart disease and cancer and...

I'd much rather be living now. People still hates Germans in the 80s and 90s. Things were tougher for LGBTQ people. I was called a R++++d by my regular class mates and my mum was an autism hater. I hated being chastised for things I couldn't control like talking about my favourite things all the time. I've attempted suicide twice when I was 14 by drinking old Vick's Vaporizer oil. I'm glad I didn't succeed.

[quote= Things were tougher for LGBTQ people. [/quote]
Very true. My gay sister passed away in 2010, and it's a source of sadness for me that she didn't live to see so many of the vast changes in social attitudes toward the LGBT community, and the legalization of gay marriage.

Compared to when?

You might just be looking at the past through the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia.

It depends of location, circumstances, and the people you had to interact with.

Humans tend to remember only the good things and forget the bad things. Also when we were younger we had less responsibilities so life was simpler.


In the 60s through 80s we had fear of imminent nuclear annihilation.

One of my best friends is in his 70s and when I asked him "are things really worse now than they were when you were young?" he answered "yes, definitely. People don't talk to each other face to face anymore; they don't have meaningful connections, which is one of the most important parts of life; they're all like zombies glued to the screen" which can sound like his own bias, but I definitely think there's a truth to it.
Our external world has far outrun our brain's ability to adapt and this has resulted in all sorts of mental illness.
Our phones are like dopamine machines and the lizard part of our brains is having a field day; we are constantly both drugged the f up and also simultaneously suffering from withdrawal.

I think for the most part things are better. I can't imagine not having the net or TV for entertainment,not having heat at the flick of a switch, not having hot running water, not having modern medicine etc etc

When I grew up people with mental illness were routinely institutionalized.

When I was growing up, people with mental illnesses were routinely institutionalized, and they left you the hell alone!

The world has always been a horrible place. So long as humans existed, the world as been terrible without escape.

American society is infinitely better, and it has only been getting better. As much as I'm enamored with mid-century Americana, there's no question that it was a much more repressive - possibly oppressive - time. There will always be people who fight change and there will always be moments of social and political upset, but progress always progresses, and the social and technological advancements we've made have enriched us as people and will continue to do so.

Don't you sense a bit of irony that you're making such a statement on an internet message board?

Not everyone's experience is the same, I'm by no means implying mine is definitive, but technology has done more to bring people together than keep them apart. Mine was the last generation to grow up in a pre-internet era; I can clearly pinpoint when my proper social development began, and that was when I got the internet. As a barely verbal autistic introvert, internet message boards and chat rooms were my savior and my gateway into real-world interactions. Do people think people on their phones are just watching cat videos all the time? Today on my phone I received a text from an old friend informing me about a possible job opening; I was chatting with one of my closest friends who now lives five hours away; I was using social media to check out local shows I wanna go to; I also use social media to retain daily connections with friends and relatives, whether I'm talking with any of them at the click of a button or seeing photos and videos of my nephews on the other side of the country. Instagram alone has become my #1 networking tool as an artist. I met a girlfriend on the internet and we maintained our long-distance relationship (with IRL visits) with those pesky zombie phones.

Point is, of course the oldest generations aren't going to understand our technological progress; they're probably the same people who thought that television would destroy society in exactly the same way. Like I said, I'm by no means saying my own experience is the "right" perspective, but I've never seen any evidence for the Luddite "phone zombie" dystopia people like to claim. Technology has only brought me closer to people.

I see the irony, but I never claimed to personally be exempt from the "zombies staring at the screen" category. And I bet I could use all the time I spend on this forum more productively. But whatever, I'm not going to argue strongly either way; nothing is black and white. It's not either the internet is good or its bad; there are pros and cons and obviously those of us who simply cannot make connections in real life are inclined to side with the age of the internet. I personally have had far more meaningful connections in the real world, but that's just my personal experience and it's no more valid than yours.

I will agree with you though that the internet has completely changed the game for artists. I'm a full time artist and am able to support myself fully, so I appreciate the internet for that and many other reasons.

But the statistics do show a mad increase (pardon the pun) in mental illness and I am tempted to draw a parallel between that and what I mentioned in my previous comment - our external world has far outrun our brain's ability to adapt. But then again, change is always difficult, so just because something is difficult doesn't mean its a bad thing.

yes.

I love my life now. I never had a bad life, except for some bullying as a young kid. There was a long period of time when I was in a rut, but that isn't my life anymore.

I like the fact that if I forget something, I can always print it out later.

Without the Internet, I would have had to go all the way home to physically get what I had forgotten.