To think the 70s/80s/90s were better?

Not so sure about that. Women’s rights have come a LONG way since then. For instance, it wasn't until 1990 that married women could file tax independently of their husbands.

Fun fact: Maggie Thatcher couldn't file her own return and was listed on her husband's.

See also how the country has changed for the better with regards to acceptance, inclusion and equality for other folks from minority groups (eg LGBTQ, Asians, Blacks, etc).

The 'good ol days' weren't good for everyone.

Born in 79. Parents split in 87 so by the time they divorced in 91 the children act came in thank god or I would have been stuck living with my dad.

Being a teen in the 90's was great. Waiting to hear what was number 1, totp, tfi and getting network rail into london to go to gigs all the time. Much less brand pressure than now apart from Levi's and converse and puma trainers. You could get tickets to Glastonbury easily too.

The Labour landslide in 97 felt full of optimism like things could change for the better.

I was born in 1987 too and I find it sort of mind-blowing when I hear people of our age doing this kind of nostalgia for what a simpler time it was, pace of life slower, everyone less materialistic, etc etc. I so vividly remember when people were saying all the things that people say about children/young people today about us - that we were a spoilt generation, had far too much stuff, spent too much time in front of screens, life was too busy, too many of our mothers worked, our parents were over-protective etc etc - and I find it fascinating to watch that being erased and replaced with the exact same contrasts being drawn with a new generation except that now we're the ones from the simple but noble past and they're the ones left helpless by modern life.

YABU, and looking back through rose tinted glasses, or, in case of 70s, 80s and 1/2 of 90s, through lack of knowledge, or only the experience of a child.

tbh, the unions' grip on the country, the strikes, the rubbish piled in the streets, the power cuts, the not being able to get bread, or sugar etc etc weren't that much fun. Inflation running at up to 75%. Sex discrimination. No seatbelts. No paramedics. No safeguarding training or policies (or believing people) is not a time I think many of us would want to go back to.

There are positives and negatives of most decades / eras, but, generally, life improves decade upon decade.

I was born in the early 60’s.

I remember the 70’s as a decade of no money at all. Food was awful, and the Yorkshire Ripper was at large. I don’t remember much fun or freedom. Just blackouts and shortages.

I was a young adult in the 80’s. Thatcher aside who was an evil witch, the music and being a student in Manchester at the time of Joy Division, The Smiths, and The Hacienda was fantastic. Mainstream fashions were vile but ‘alternative’ fashion was great. No money though, and out student Union gave all our subs to The Miners Strike. Really high youth unemployment too.

I think this is just nostalgia speaking. Everyone romanticises the decades when they were young or the ones immediately before.

I was born in the early 70s and grew up in the 80s and 90s so they were "my" decades. But tbh while there was a lot of fun to be had there some pretty miserable bits too. In the 70s the economy was in the toilet: millions out of work and even for the wealthier people standards of living were much lower. The 80s had terrible unemployment, Thatcher and massive social division.

I think people always romanticise earlier periods and nowadays these decades are presented by the media with this rose-tinted lens (TV shows about pop from one decade or another etc). I think if you look t them objectively they weren't particularly special tbh.

I was born early 70s and was a teenager in the 80s. I look back on the 80s as a wonderful, happy and really fun time. Life was not without problems, I grew up in a single parent family, on a rough council estate, we didn’t have much money, but my mum worked hard and life was generally good. I had much less than I have now, but everything seemed better somehow, the pubs, family parties, school discos, Christmas Day, Saturday morning TV, the music. My kids have so much more than I had and everything at their fingertips in many ways, but I feel they are missing out somehow and that their life would be more fulfilled if it was more simple. I am possibly wearing my rose tinted specs but I really do feel life was better then.

@A580Hojas It happens, but considerably less and it’s at least illegal. I would much rather be Black and queer in 2021 than 1971, as would all the Black and/or queer people I know who were actually around in 1971. The things they went through were horrific.

There's such a thing about knowing too much about how everyone else is doing. A small social circle is healthier. Comparison is the thief of joy.

And yes we didn't have sat nav or online shopping or Uber Eats, Friends Reuinted or a mobile phone in the 70s/80s/90s. But everything mostly still functioned absolutely fine.

I was in boarding school in the 80's. My biggest fear was a nuclear bomb meaning that I would die slowly and painfully without being able to find my family 😭 so there were definitely legitimate fears. However discos were great fun and plentiful with any sense of fashion and make up optional. We would have never dreamed of looking as beautifully polished as my teenagers look going out these days. So there was a freedom in that.

I lived in London in the 90's where IRA bombs were a daily threat but it was still a safe city (or safer than many). Though Maybe I was just lucky in my experiences. I do remember growing up in a rural town seeing real poverty of a type you just do not see today.

A Plus was no internet so no recording, no one keeping tabs on where you were.

I'm going with YANBU OP.

Also, everyone thinks the decades they were born in and around are the best, so it's kinda biased viewpoint,

I liked the 80's. They were more anonymous and gritty.
You could have actual adventures.

YANBU. 70s/80s/90s were definitely better.

As for the 80s... I never knew how much the Miners Strikes affected my family until recently, it wasn't talked about. But apparently it was a massive contributing factor in my grandmother dying in her 50s, as the wife and mother of miners. (She died before I was born, and my father was living in London)

Yes, they were better, so much less pressure to have 'stuff' & do 'stuff'.
Life was more about living not performing for general society.

There were bad bits too, as there always are, but I feel so sorry for my son having to grow up in this hate filled me me me society.

I think the main difference is people heard less of the bad stuff. Now with 24hr news, social media etc we know the good, the bad and the ugly immediately.

I'm very glad my student year stupidly was not immortalised. Facebook launched during my university days, but we had to wait to we got home to upload stuff, so it we censored it when sober.

Life was good in 80s and 90s- ok, maybe not perfect but we had pauses in our days and nights and not this constant non stop 24/7 society we live in today. The closest we came to rediscovering that was in lockdown.

I'm very thankful to have been
Born in '69. I definitely think it was the 'sweet spot'

I was also born in 1987 and wish I’d been a teenager in the 80’s tbh- I love 80’s music, films and TV shows and I just think I would have been happier. I always joke with people that I was born in the wrong decade.

I started work in 1972 in London. I worked for a company with an excellent management training programme, with rapid promotions (and pay rises). We had great bands playing in local pubs every night, it only cost 50p to get into the Marquee club. We could buy wine for 50p a bottle. But, we had massive inflation, think 25%+ in one year, mortgage rates at over 10%, we had the 3 day week. We had power cuts, the winter of discontent. Mortgages were very controlled through just a small number of building societies. Cars were crap, the Allegro, the Princess, the Maxi, and if you wanted to buy one you had to wait months. You could only get s phone from the Post Office, a choice of just 2 or 3 colours, only one style. Everyone got excited when the Trimphone was launched. Most beds had sheets and blankets. The Continental Quilt (duvet) was just coming in. A lot of houses had no central heating. Despite all that. I loved the 70s, but I was young, living in a vibrant(if filthy) city, met my partner, had some good friends, and generally had a great time.