To think the 90's/early 2000's was when we peaked and everything has gone downhill since due to technology

People were well off early 2000 - oil price and new internet companies were making a bomb. Hence people with limited income being allowed to get mortgages on huge houses. Which caused the 2008 banking crises

This 100% Add to this the insidious and meteoric rise of social media and you have a society that is entirely self contained and seemingly unfeeling and uncaring of anyone else's concerns but their own desires, wants and interests. It's depressing.

I think everyone has a different perspective on it depending upon your life events over time. Many people have made really interesting comments that have made me think and reflect so thank you. All I’d say is that I’m very thankful for medical advancements over the last couple of decades, as it is very likely that at least two of my family would not have survived without them, so for me the advanced technology has literally been a life saver.

Absolutely. Smartphones have helped along the death of normality.
Trump, brexit, reform, all crazy all pointless, spurred on by ignorance and hate.

Absolutely agree. I’m glad I brought my kids up before their whole lives were entwined with social media.

When social media hadn’t been invented yet, I remember this comment on teletext from about 1997, on Backchat: a page in which teenagers could write in, and so was a forerunner to social media, and if you were lucky, your comment would be shown for the nation to see. It was:

”Backchat is brill, because of the stupid things you all talk about. Keep up the good work, it’s so funny!”

(The Teletubbies was a popular topic, among teenagers at the time.) This comment sums up the whole of modern social media, including mumsnet, arguing about shoes off, for example.

This .

It was so much better then, people socialising all of the time. You had to go out to have contact and communication with others. This is why the pubs are struggling now, the young ones (and older) just meet online now through social media and dating apps. If you wanted to meet someone back in the day you had to go out!
Now since covid us Gen X’s don’t bother neither, it’s just not the same sadly.
Thank god I’ve got a fit man to shag or life would be boring! Met him back in the day in 2008 but there was so much choice back then I didn’t care about seeing him again. My marriage broke up and then he popped up on my instagram and we reconnected on there, would never have bumped into him out on the drink in this day and age, so I’m guessing all others meet that way too these days 🤷‍♀️

Unfortunately those who are being harmed the most by social media don't realise it so they won't be making the choice not to use it.

It's often said that the best and most cost efficient means of stopping climate change and environmental damage is birth control.

Not when she’s talking about the 90s! There were already bulletin boards and email lists by then. Nor does being forced to use tech to communicate invalidate the point. I have to have a smartphone to see my work rota now and my kids have to use it to do their homework.

Churchill famously thought the steam engine was the high point of human invention. I frequently agree with him.

It's bizarre the OP is blaming technology when that is what we are posting on 😏

If the planet is being destroyed, that’s mainly down to numbers. In 1900 there were a billion human beings. Today there are eight billion. Soon there will be ten billion, just in time for climate catastrophe. Europe’s birth rate may be declining, but Africa’s population is going to double. Technology is neutral. If only humans were sensible and used technology wisely there is no limit to the improvements it could make to our lives. AI and nanotechnology and god knows what else could usher in age of abundance for everyone. And the improvement technology could make to our mental and physical health is limitless. But we’ve allowed the world’s population to spiral out of control and it’s messing up everything.

I'm in Liverpool, so the 90s were a lot better than the 80s. As I opened my post with, how things were was situational/regional etc.

I agree. I wish the tech bros would channel their innovation into things which support advancements in the medical field and enhancing and extending peoples lives.

I work in the creative sector and I see how AI is already making things more difficult for creative artists. For instance the recent practice of mining the books of author to train their AI in writing books without asking for the consent of authors.

Stealing from authors and putting them out of work in the future basically.

AI or at least how it’s been used currently will destroy society.

You've got the right era OP but I suggest it was The Spice Girls that brought civilization down.As we all know, if women were in charge the world would be a better.... this possible reality became desecrated by 'independent free thinking women' becoming identified by short skirts, thrusting tits and hip gyrations whilst singing about getting what we want.

And look what we've got - another reiteration of the centuries old 'power in beauty' - fake lips, layers of makeup and all sorts of chemicals shoved into bodies to attain this noveau definition of beauty. Never mind the money/power to be made by performing sexual acts via technology....way to go girls.

I first thought we were a bunch of suckers when we paid the same price for a tiny skirt that we did for clothing that used a lot more material.

The amount of misogyny around back then, no thank you! At least their are grown up films in the cinema that arent all about college kids getting their rocks off

I do wonder sometimes when and why the concept of keeping spirits up became less important. There was a time when that was seen as a crucial part of a functioning society. I'm not just talking just about the war times, but generally in the past, I get the impression people believed it was very important to be positive, both personally and in terms of putting on a positive front. That no longer seems to be the case. Maybe we see that as naive, maybe we are too cynical, I dont know. But I wonder if young people today are ever told that the future is bright and is something to be embraced. I'd be interested if other people have a view or information on when this narrative changed and why.

I agree with you and I was in primary school at the time.

Recognising the late 90s/early 2000s as humanity’s peak has nothing to do with how old one was at the time.

Who would have thought that the technological masterpieces iPhone and its competitors would go on to spawn the societal malignancy that is social media.

Whose best years are when they were a teenager?! They were probably my worst. My 30s (current era) are absolutely the best of times. I read somewhere that “your 30s are your 20s with money” which is spot on.

Doesn’t mean late 90s/early 2000s weren’t humanity’s peak - I would love to have been in my 30s during that period.

My exhusband left me and our 2 children in 1996 ( aged 3 and 2) The late 90s were bliss for him and his 17 year old girlfriend in their sexy new lifestyle. I found the later 90s rather less jolly ☺ I'd never want to revisit that time in my liife.

I agree completely. What’s the point in any of it? Nobody is happier, a lot of people are unhealthier. The planet is being destroyed.

Oh God yes OP. We had the convenience of mobile phones but without the anxiety inducing social media. No covid, Brexit or constant talk of WW3. Things still felt very social, with less anger and rage. Probably because screen time was limited and a lot of our lives were lived in person. I have so many good memories of the late nineties and early 2000s (child/teen).

@Griff123 Yeah, you're right. Fr some reason, I had the 80s in my head. The 90s, for me, are a blur.
I forgot to add, raping your wife was still legal in 1990.