To think the past is being misrepresented on here?

I was in primary school in the 80s and it was definitely more chilled then it is now. No pressure of times tables tests, SATs etc. Maybe it was just my school. I don't remember much of the work from primary, just lots of singing and country dancing.

My state secondary in the 90s was not strict like our local one now. Children would smoke on the school grounds and teachers turned a blind eye, loads of truancy that wasn't dealt with, lapse school uniform rules (everyone tucked their ties in their shirts, most wore trainers etc).

Yeah, I agree in general OP. To some extent it's mixed of course but I do tend to feel people's descriptions are inaccurate.

I find especially some of the lifestyle stuff odd. Sometimes I think it's people who are actually pretty young, who don't realize the significant gap between consumer and lifestyle goods between them and now, which is pretty massive. It is absolutely true that housing in particular is a problem now, but even there, people don't seem to realize how common it used to be for single people to live in rooming houses, or at home, or really awful places that wouldn't be acceptable today.

The idea that life is so much harder and therefore mental and physical health is the result seems nuts to me. More people have far more supports and coddling than they have ever had and there have been really huge social issues in the past century, existential fears, war, economic downturns.

School is a little more mixed IMO, in some ways I think the problem there is some parts - the wrong parts - have become much more serious and stressful, while having a lot of laxity in areas that should be more strict.

I'm in my mid-60s.

I recall living in a coldwater flat with an inside toilet and one Belfast sink in the scullery. I shared a bedroom with my parents. Dad boarded up the fireplace in the bedroom because we couldn't afford two coal fires.

I had one pair of shoes which had to last until I grew out of them.

Dad was a coalminer and any time he was late home for work, I was in terror that he'd had an accident. (We had no phone.) No car either.

We had a garden, but the distant view wasn't of hills but of a pit bing/slagheap. (Think of the heap that caused the disaster at Aberfan.)

We finally got a house with a bathroom when I was 12. That was also when we got our first fridge. We got our phone when I was 17.

Dad had an accident down the pit. Luckily, it wasn't fatal but left him with problems. My great uncle had pneumoconiosis from mining. My great-grandfather was killed in a mining disaster.

My mother and her sisters were put into service to let their brothers get apprenticeships in the dockyard. One died of asbestosis in his 50s. (1971.) The other also had asbestosis, but made it to 70. His compensation claim died with him. That would have been about 1985.

The one big advantage that I had was that I was able to attend university and I had a grant. I recall being told that I wouldn't have been able to go if I'd had siblings.

Growing up, I was unusual at my school because my parents owned their house. Of the other children, about half lived on a council estate and half lived in old terraced houses with no bathrooms and toilets in the yard.
We had no central heating, so in winter there was ice on the inside of the windows in the morning.
Most families didn't have a car and I didn't know any family that had two.
In nearby towns the main occupation was coal mining. The sound of men coughing from the coal dust is something you never forget. Also most people seemed to smoke and smoking was acceptable anywhere (except church).
My primary school was a very good one, children did well. I remember there were 46 children in my class. The teachers had no problem keeping discipline. I travelled to school by bus on my own from age 7. From age 5 I walked to Sunday School alone every week. Everyone did.
I was born early 60s in a fairly affluent northern town.

My kids' childhood is pretty similar to my own, although I think their school is a bit nicer. I didn't walk home alone until about age 10. My mum took me to activities, dropped me places and generally knew where I was. We definitely had tests, SATs etc.

My parents had a fairly different childhood to me. My mum walked to school alone from 5 and had stories of no heating so chilblains etc. My dad grew up in a slightly wealthier family than my mum, so less of these stories. They still both did O Levels and A Levels. My aunt sat the grammar school test but it had been scrapped by the time my mum was old enough.

I don't think yabu at all

There are some things I would say are harder now
Home buying
The cost of essentials, petrol, car, mortgage, rent etc
Life stability - council homes and NHS provisions have significantly worsened over the last 20 years (I'm 33)

Most other things, no i don't think things are harder now than they were, and we're quite lucky really.