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People were nostalgic about the 'good old days' 50 years, 500 years, 5000 years ago. Many who are young now, will fall into same the trap up the line. Plus ca change.
C'mon, many things are worse. The loss of manufacturing jobs in favor of a service based economy with low wages and no pensions, the high cost of medical care, the loss of privacy, road rage and general lack of civility, customer service phone lines with endless menus and hold times, the decline of small business in favor of big box stores, kids graduating college with $200,000 in debt, and the fact we are headed into the automation age wholly unprepared. Young people have much reason for concern and worry, and I don't think free music makes up for that.
It's not a competition btw, you can say many things were worse while also acknowledging many things were better. Life is rarely black and white.
Well said! The one thing I'd add to that as a single guy is dating. Way worse now if you're looking for a committed relationship leading to marriage. "Ghosting" and general rudeness are the way things are now. I wish I could have met my soulmate in the 90's, but I didn't. Additionally, social media is ruining Millennials and the next generation. One more thing loosely related to social media is people being glued to their phones, even when they're supposed to be spending quality time with a mate or a friend. I detest that.
Well said! The one thing I'd add to that as a single guy is dating. Way worse now if you're looking for a committed relationship leading to marriage. "Ghosting" and general rudeness are the way things are now. I wish I could have met my soulmate in the 90's, but I didn't. Additionally, social media is ruining Millennials and the next generation. One more thing loosely related to social media is people being glued to their phones, even when they're supposed to be spending quality time with a mate or a friend. I detest that.
Amen to what you've said and I'm 80 soon. Been thru a good life with one marriage and lots of bf's...and none of this crazy technology....some is fine and I have one computer but omg, my grandkids!!!! Driverless cars, robots delivering my packages....grunt.....
I don't like how many people seem really checked out of the world around them in favor of staring at screens. For me, there is something about a jigsaw puzzle or a paper book, a sheer sensory joy in engaging with something tangible. I will never switch to an e-reader, for instance.
Yet someone way up thread mentioned people arguing on social media and no one backing down. Here's the thing about that... I recall a visit to see my grandparents (who are not screen people) before Grandma died. She and Grandpa got into an argument about some bit of Robert Redford trivia. It was very clear that Grandpa was used to being simply presumed right. Because he was louder, more stubborn, argued more belligerently, because he was The Man. Finally Grandma just lapsed into resentful silence, as he got the last word, "Nnnnnhhhhh, I don't think so...." in. I pulled out my cell phone, and Googled it. Grandma was right. I loved, in that moment, being able to vindicate her. One small victory in what was probably many decades of just giving up and letting him be right.
To some extent, if an easy answer isn't readily available, especially with very subjective questions, people will just believe whatever they want. In a past without social media and other internet formats to say our pieces, it would be the loudest, most stubborn, or most authoritative voice that prevailed, and everyone else would give up and shut up, even if they didn't agree...letting him believe he was right and had won. (When in reality, everyone else was just tired of arguing.) Now, more voices insist upon being heard. Some folks don't like that. I'm not sure if it's a bad thing, at least, not entirely.
Everyone thinks their own youth were the best years in civilization. Everyone thinks the music of their youth (teens to 20s) were the best decade for music. Everyone also complains about today's youth, regardless of what decade it is. Everyone further thinks that today's youth are stupid, spoiled, and entitled, regardless of what decade it is.
The point is, everyone thinks their own youth was the best and today's youth suck. OP is the same.
Well said! The one thing I'd add to that as a single guy is dating. Way worse now if you're looking for a committed relationship leading to marriage. "Ghosting" and general rudeness are the way things are now. I wish I could have met my soulmate in the 90's, but I didn't. Additionally, social media is ruining Millennials and the next generation. One more thing loosely related to social media is people being glued to their phones, even when they're supposed to be spending quality time with a mate or a friend. I detest that.
We "ghosted" as a matter of routine in the 80s. You went on a date, then wondered IF he'd call. If time went by and he didn't, that was your answer. Nobody expected to be advised in writing that the association was not to be continued.
Well said! The one thing I'd add to that as a single guy is dating. Way worse now if you're looking for a committed relationship leading to marriage. "Ghosting" and general rudeness are the way things are now. I wish I could have met my soulmate in the 90's, but I didn't. Additionally, social media is ruining Millennials and the next generation. One more thing loosely related to social media is people being glued to their phones, even when they're supposed to be spending quality time with a mate or a friend. I detest that.
ALL of this could have been said 60 years ago, subbing TV and that darned crazy rock 'n roll that rotted your mind and taught people to act like apes instead of human beings, for all the "social media" references.
Yet here we are. Moving forward, just like the previous 2.5 million years.
Technology in medical care is driving up costs and making us broke, but improvements in life expectancy have slowed to a crawl. It turns out if we really want to improve health, a lot of relatively cheap, low tech things would make it a lot better, and we wouldn't need so much d*mn "quality" health care in the first place:
Well, we really do have a lot of crappy, low paying jobs these days. However, I will say that people speak as if everyone got a pension back in the good 'ol days, and that's not anywhere near true. I think pension coverage peaked at around 50% of the work force, and for most, the pensions were pretty modest. Not everyone was willing or able to stay 30 or more years to get a good pension. And many employers would jerk people around with long vesting periods (i.e. 20 years) and lay people off right before they became eligible. ERISA legislation in 1973-74 was designed to combat this, which made pensions more expensive, which led to employers getting rid of them altogether.
We "ghosted" as a matter of routine in the 80s. You went on a date, then wondered IF he'd call. If time went by and he didn't, that was your answer. Nobody expected to be advised in writing that the association was not to be continued.
Sometimes nostalgia really IS misplaced.
I honestly don’t think it was the case like it is today. I dated from high school in the 70’s through the decades, and there was nothing in the 80’s as brutal as the modern dating scene and most especially online dating. It was a rare thing then, now it’s commonplace to be rude in the dating game. I think it’s easier to look for people to date, it was much harder to especially older people to find people in our dating pool before online dating, but the crap you have to go through is comparable to nothing from my past.
ALL of this could have been said 60 years ago, subbing TV and that darned crazy rock 'n roll that rotted your mind and taught people to act like apes instead of human beings, for all the "social media" references.
Yet here we are. Moving forward, just like the previous 2.5 million years.
No one is saying those days were better, if that is what you believe than you haven’t read the posts thoroughly.
I do think an opinion about Rick n till was just that, opinion. Kids graduating $200,000 in debt and the fact small business has declined significantly replaced by big box stores is not opinion. I suppose it’s posdible some might hold an opinion that it’s better now that kids have more debt, but I highly doubt it. Why do you feel my pointing out aspects of the economy that have gotten worse is somehow a knock on current generations?
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