No… you just spend too much time on the internet. And yes, that includes comparing everything to 1950s America. Of course, there are ebbs and flows, and things get worse for some people or groups of people sometimes. But on net, if you compare the present to the past over any substantial period of time, based on metrics that people generally find important like health, safety, free time, and freedom to choose how to live their lives, the present is wildly better than the past.
Taking 1950s America for example, since it is such a popular example, 1/3 of homes didn’t have indoor plumbing. We don’t even have to go back to medieval times and talk about how you probably wouldn’t be a princess - we can just compare to the supposed golden age of one of the richest societies the world has ever seen, and you have a one in three chance of having to poop in a hole outside every day and heating your bathwater in a stock pot on the stove.
SOME things were better in the past. Most were not. Just because someone can you can name a few examples of things that were better doesnt make them right.
I agree. I think that there are some things that were better in the past - mostly the defaults we had set in diets, exercise, and social interaction. Since we now have the option to be sedentary, eat processed food, and stay isolated, this can lead to a great deal of unnecessary unhappiness unless you make a conscious choice to do otherwise. And this choice can feel difficult to make, because so many other people have normalized an unhealthy way of life. But still, it is a choice, and any individual can choose to live differently if they want to.
“Things were better in the past”
No… you just spend too much time on the internet. And yes, that includes comparing everything to 1950s America. Of course, there are ebbs and flows, and things get worse for some people or groups of people sometimes. But on net, if you compare the present to the past over any substantial period of time, based on metrics that people generally find important like health, safety, free time, and freedom to choose how to live their lives, the present is wildly better than the past.
Taking 1950s America for example, since it is such a popular example, 1/3 of homes didn’t have indoor plumbing. We don’t even have to go back to medieval times and talk about how you probably wouldn’t be a princess - we can just compare to the supposed golden age of one of the richest societies the world has ever seen, and you have a one in three chance of having to poop in a hole outside every day and heating your bathwater in a stock pot on the stove.
SOME things were better in the past. Most were not. Just because someone can you can name a few examples of things that were better doesnt make them right.
I agree. I think that there are some things that were better in the past - mostly the defaults we had set in diets, exercise, and social interaction. Since we now have the option to be sedentary, eat processed food, and stay isolated, this can lead to a great deal of unnecessary unhappiness unless you make a conscious choice to do otherwise. And this choice can feel difficult to make, because so many other people have normalized an unhealthy way of life. But still, it is a choice, and any individual can choose to live differently if they want to.