Is life harder or easier TODAY than 20-30-40 years ago? (1980s, Washington)

[Six Foot Three]

Originally Posted by LRUA

....you had a stereo ....a cassette deck ....

I know CD's are superior but i still miss my cassettes as it was cool back in the 80's when i was 21 and had my first car (72 Chevy Nova) to have my cassette holder with all my Twisted Sister, Ratt, Quiet Riot Power Rock tapes or Tears For Fears, AHA, Simple Minds New Wave tapes and jamming out while cruising around.

6/3

[njkate]

Originally Posted by delusianne

I think life is far uglier and meaner today - I feel bad for young folks.

I as well!! Never had to pass through metal detectors going to school....

[RAZZEL]

I would not say that life was better 20-30-40 years ago. We now have more modern conveniences to try to help make life easier.

I was happier back then.(30 YRS)... Life was simpler. Time did not rush by. A day seemed to last and we were able to enjoy the "day".
A year was a "long time".
People seemed to be more at peace and tolerated things better back then.

Today, everyone is in such a rush. The days fly by. The year is over and gone before we know it. We are one day closer to death.

[Fat Freddy]

Originally Posted by RAZZEL

The year is over and gone before we know it. We are one day closer to death.

I have been getting one day closer to death every day since I was born, but I am happier and more content than I have ever been.

[summer22]

I miss how people would sit on their front porches... and the football games and playing catch in the street or on the grass in front of the house. The cool thing was, if you were a neighbor, everyone was welcome for a chat, or to toss a ball around.

Schools weren't on lockdown, even 10 years ago.

So, its the fears that have gotten worse.

But... as far as technology... tolerance... emotional awareness... wellness... being a global society... those things have come SO far and it would be hard to live life without them.

[laysayfair]

I just turned 50 and for me things keep getting better and better. My mom who just passed away at 80 said she couldn't believe how much better things had gotten over the years. That she never would have dreamed it possible that life could be so good. My father used to talk about his dad having to take his hunting rifle and the dogs and go out in the woods at night to try and get a racoon or opossum so his family could have something to eat. He couldn't believe how much the world had changed for the better. I just wish he'd been around for the fall of the Berlin Wall! When I was in elementary school we had bomb shelters in the school basement because the Soviets and Americans were going to have a nuclear war any day. I grew up worried and depressed about this and was such an anxious little kid.
There's lots of things I don't like but it is a big, wide, beautiful country with wonderful people in it and I am so happy to be part of it today and now!

[skytrekker]

American society has evolved or perhaps declined into a corporate nightmare of dog eat dog competition, mistrust, jealousy, and economic uncertainty. As bad as things where 30 years ago- American society is a far tougher place to survive.

Best place to be if young and out of college? Western Europe. Best place to retire; parts of Latin America, Western Europe (France, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark)

[KevK]

Spare me the "good old days"!! Life is far easier today and better too. Let me tell you about life in the 1960s:

1. Houses were small. Boys bunked in one room, girls in another. Kitchen and dining room were one in the same. Floor furnaces meant uneven heat in the winter- the further from the furnace you were, the colder it felt because the houses were largely not insulated either. The house we have now- 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths and a 2 car garage. Oh and your air conditioner in those days was a cold bath and a fan in the window.
2. Cars sucked. Oh yes, they were built good and big but the most common reason for missing work or being late was the car that was broken down or just simply would not start in cold weather. And if you ran into something, you just died! No shoulder belts, no airbags and a hostile interior assured your death upon impact (few people wore the lap belts). And a "2 car family"?? Not in my neighbourhood! If mom (most did not work outside the home then) had to use the car, she took dad to work or he caught the bus.
3. TV sucked. It had some good shows- ones I even watch today like "Leave It To Beaver" but it was one set in a household and was black and white and full of tubes (ours was a Curtis Mathis). And if you got 3 channels you were lucky and they all went off the air at midnight. Coloured TV was unheard of for most of the 60s (when the term "coloured TV" came out some people thought that meant blacks would be on TV- which was also unheard of in the 1960s).
4. School was hard. Back when I was in school, you worked your math by hand and used a slide rule. There were not calculators, computers and stuff like that. If your folks were not weathly enough to own a set of encyclopedias and a typewriter, you spent your Saturday or after school in the library to do your papers.
5. Communications. My kids were amazed when I showed them a dial telephone set. They had never seen one. They were the norm back then. Long distance to Aunt Mary? Maybe a few times a year because in today's dollars it would be about $3 a minute. Now it is virtually free. Back then when your best friend moved away, you knew that you would never see him again and probably never talk to him again. Airlines for the masses- no way! Only the rich got to fly. For the rest it was a multi day drive on a 2 lane highway through dozens of little towns. Now you can fly anywhere for about $125 if you get a fare deal ($250 round trip). And like my daughter told me when I went to my 30th high school reunion- she said she will probably not got to hers because she has the ability to stay in touch with her friends throughout life.

So no thank you, I will take today.

[KevK]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

While us oldsters have lived through a bit, we haven't lived through recent times as kids, so I'm not sure how much validity our thoughts have.

I would say that the 1990s were about the easiest times. Prices hadn't really started spiraling out of control, there wasn't as much military action overall, jobs were easy to come by and new gee-gahs abounded. The whole nutso fear within the country about terrorists hadn't started.

The fifties had little money except in certain industries and/or unions.
The sixties and seventies had the draft and Vietnam. That could ruin your day pretty quickly. Then there was the energy crisis and the real start of both environmental concern and the enviro-cults.
The 80s were a strange time. Overspending the soviets and a quiet war in Afghanistan ended the cold war by bankrupting the USSR. (Hmmm, wonder what China is doing to US right about now...)
The past eight years have been an unmitigated disaster in so many ways. Job losses, loss of manufacturing capability, lack of agrarian stability, an idiotic and costly invasion of Iraq, the lack of finding Bin Laden, the tightening control of government, the insane increases in taxes and fees on municipal levels in many areas, the list goes on and on.

The key difference now is that all the previous decades were decades when we expanded in some fashion. We went to the moon on technology that is far less complicated than an average cellphone! Now we look forward and don't see as much promise in the future. Technology has become more of our keeper than an enabler. Environmental regulations make any great or massive projects unlikely, and the U.S. is beginning to see the effects of worldwide economic competition. IMO, the person who has had the most lasting effect on our situation is Dr. Strangelove... err Dr. Kissinger. I personally think he sold us down the river and made us think he was doing us a favor.

There is no "average" person that would be an indicator of whether the times are good or bad. For many people, gains made over the years have brought them into wealth and plenty. Others are foundering on the rocks of financial disaster. I think the sheer numbers of people in that second group will continue to grow in the near future.

While I don't feel sorry for kids growing up today, I know I would not want to be one of them unless it was in an isolated rural society.

I want to tell you something about the economy. People talk of "recession" and we may well be facing a "recession" but try unemployment topping 10%, inflation rates topping 10% and interest rates of 21%! Try- like I saw my folks do - waiting in 2 hour long lines to get what little gasoline could be had. People love to ***** but at least we CAN BUY gas even if it is a bit high in price. And we have a whole generation here that has NEVER seen hard times. The last big recession was in 1982- 26 years ago!

[KevK]

Originally Posted by hdwell

This was very much what I remember about those days. In many ways life was simpler then.. I don't know that i would want to go back to those days. Some things I wish we had today from them was more civility and a higher moral ground. We do have a lot of nice things now that we didn't then and more plastic money. I know the young folks can hardly believe that credit cards were not given out to just anyone like today. That kept people from making fewer purchases. Oh I remember people taking bankrupcy. The stigma was horrible; it was worse than getting a divorce. Truly there was less money, but less debt as people knew how to budget themselves and make the dollars go futher.

Somethings i recall about the 60s

Homes built mostly with 3 bedrooms 1 to 1 1/2 baths
single carports few with garages
attic fans in place of central AC
no dishwahser in kitchen
wood parquet floors, asphalt tile in kitchen


1 car per family. If you had 2 you were doing good.
Stay at home mom
only child was rare- many families had 3, 4, 5, 6 children and shared one bath
time spent playing ball in the city parks
Church on sunday
sunday dinner after church at home. Almost nothing opened sundays including most restaurants.
walk to and from school (ok there was schools that need transp to and from)
No atvs, 4X4s, etc.

You are right about Sundays. People went to church because there was nothing else to do. Really nothing was open Sunday. They did not have "malls" and the stores downtown were all closed Sunday as were 95% of the eating places- even the ones that were opened 24/7 the rest of the week!