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Original poster

We've seen the best of society ...

103 replies

KatherineSwynford1403 · 07/08/2023 16:42

Quote from a family member out for a family lunch yesterday. It's his 65th birthday on Wednesday and we had quite the day out yesterday. At this lunch he said the above, remarking on how much better it was growing up in the 60s and 70s, progress isn't always for the best, he's sick of people zipping around on scooters and skateboards, the streets are a mess/filthy, spiceheads, it's all got worse over the years, kids running about in pubs and restaurants and shops and not parented properly (he told us a story about getting a smacked backside for having a tantrum when he wasn't allowed a cowboy outfit in the post office in 1963), police did their job properly, nobody dresses up to go out anymore many people look slovenly, want instant gratification, are lazy, you really had to work for a degree in the 70s, on and on it went.

It did my head in but today I have started thinking did he have (a fraction of a) point at all?

OP posts:
DatumTarum · 07/08/2023 16:43

KatherineSwynford1403 · 07/08/2023 16:42

Quote from a family member out for a family lunch yesterday. It's his 65th birthday on Wednesday and we had quite the day out yesterday. At this lunch he said the above, remarking on how much better it was growing up in the 60s and 70s, progress isn't always for the best, he's sick of people zipping around on scooters and skateboards, the streets are a mess/filthy, spiceheads, it's all got worse over the years, kids running about in pubs and restaurants and shops and not parented properly (he told us a story about getting a smacked backside for having a tantrum when he wasn't allowed a cowboy outfit in the post office in 1963), police did their job properly, nobody dresses up to go out anymore many people look slovenly, want instant gratification, are lazy, you really had to work for a degree in the 70s, on and on it went.

It did my head in but today I have started thinking did he have (a fraction of a) point at all?

No.

He's remembering how good it feels to be young, that is all.

GloomySkies · 07/08/2023 16:46

Kids abused with impunity, wives not allowed to work and abused with impunity, minorities abused with impunity, men criminalised for their sexuality. People smoking everywhere, all over their kids and babies. Dirty lead spewing cars.

Your relative has serious rose tinted glasses.

GloomySkies · 07/08/2023 16:48

he told us a story about getting a smacked backside for having a tantrum when he wasn't allowed a cowboy outfit in the post office in 1963

If a toddler has a tantrum and it is ignored, then by tea time everyone has forgotten about it. This poor toddler was treated so badly for normal toddler behaviour that it still sticks in his mind 40 years later.

Floppyear · 07/08/2023 16:50

What an unpleasant grumpy man he sounds

RudsyFarmer · 07/08/2023 16:50

Of course he had a fraction of a point. But then we also had child abuse being swept under the rug. Domestic abuse in the home fairly standard. High rates of accepted drinking driving. It’s swings and roundabouts.

Floppyear · 07/08/2023 16:51

I will take a punt that he’s an avid DM reading

Floppyear · 07/08/2023 16:51

And voted brexit

swiffy · 07/08/2023 16:54

I think some things get better some get worse. Much of the UK was still a bomb site when he was growing up, buildings blackened with soot. But the streets did have less litter, people weren't as fat but they had other illnesses and more smoked.

The big change is internet and social media and I think that has been amazing and awful at the same time, its changing us and not always for the better. Overall though I think it is a common thing for older people to feel like everything is going to pot. Its just that the world keeps changing and leaves you behind and you are no longer flexible enough to keep up.

AuntieJune · 07/08/2023 16:55

Old man in 'Things were better in my day' shocker - hold the front pages

JaneJeffer · 07/08/2023 16:56

AuntieJune · 07/08/2023 16:55

Old man in 'Things were better in my day' shocker - hold the front pages

Grin
MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 07/08/2023 16:58

AuntieJune · 07/08/2023 16:55

Old man in 'Things were better in my day' shocker - hold the front pages

65 is old now?

Original poster
KatherineSwynford1403 · 07/08/2023 16:58

Floppyear · 07/08/2023 16:51

I will take a punt that he’s an avid DM reading

This is the funny thing, no, he voted Remain, and he hates the Daily Mail. I think he buys the i.

OP posts:
madeinmanc · 07/08/2023 17:00

The streets are a mess, no-one could deny that. It's also true that more people dress very informally to some events nowadays. I don't know if I'd say "slovenly", though. It seemed to really set in during the pandemic.

AuntieJune · 07/08/2023 17:02

Specifically:
They're were was more kids out on the streets in the 70s. Remember chopper bikes and roller skates?

Dirty streets - we didn't have wheelie bins back then, just metal bins that fell over and spilled easily. And a load of much more polluting cars, coal fires etc, asbestos everywhere...

Kids running everywhere - parents these days work more hours and still spend more time with their kids than parents of yesteryear. Parents used to just leave kids home unattended, in hotel rooms etc - latch key kids, babies out in the garden in a pram, kids on a picnic bench outside the pub while Dad's on the fruit machines

Less formal clothing I suppose there's a bit of a point, tailoring has gone out the window, but no one wears housecoats or patched up old trousers anymore either

You didn't get spiceheads then but it was fine to smoke and drink all day, boozy lunches, drink driving. And there have been opium dens and similar for hundreds of years.

Police did their job properly - might want to ask black people about that...

GloomySkies · 07/08/2023 17:02

Not all streets are a mess. Maybe in the big cities. But I remember my childhood city streets being covered with litter and dog shit. Now I live in a nice town and the streets here are lovely.

AuntieJune · 07/08/2023 17:03

MrsDanversGlidesAgain · 07/08/2023 16:58

65 is old now?

Show quote history

If age is a state of mind, he's definitely old

Bluevelvetsofa · 07/08/2023 17:03

It’s not surprising that people recall the years of their youth with fondness and affection surely. When you’re young, the possibilities seem endless and the world is there for you to capture.

Then life gets in the way. There are plenty of things that I think were better in the past. There are plenty of things I think are better now.

I do think that the world is a less tolerant and more selfish place now and a more materialistic society, with the cult of youth being prevalent. Maybe it was always like that for each generation. Maybe that’s how it should be.

Araminta1003 · 07/08/2023 17:05

I bet his grandparents said similar in the 1970s. Progress is fast and alienating for many in their mid 60s plus (although usually this type of pessimism doesn’t kick in until mid 70s).

So much is far better, more equal rights for all, online shopping, tech making things easier, loads of travel, goods, experiences etc

tescocreditcard · 07/08/2023 17:06

I'm 58 and I don't recognise the country I was born it. It's like a different country now. Nothing is better only worse.

wlana · 07/08/2023 17:07

tescocreditcard · 07/08/2023 17:06

I'm 58 and I don't recognise the country I was born it. It's like a different country now. Nothing is better only worse.

I agree with this.

Kic · 07/08/2023 17:07

kids running about in pubs and restaurants and shops and not parented properly (he told us a story about getting a smacked backside for having a tantrum when he wasn't allowed a cowboy outfit in the post office in 1963),

I'm not sure I'd be rushing to agree with a man who considers hitting a child for having a tantrum to be 'parenting properly'...

And no, we didn't run about in pubs. We were just left in the car outside for instead while the adults were in there. Those same adults would drive home afterwards without even stopping to consider that they might be too drunk to drive safely.

There was less rubbish in the street but far more dog mess. If you'd tried to pick up after your dog in the 70s and 80s, people would have thought you'd lost the plot.

RunItOff · 07/08/2023 17:09

Cowboy outfit! Today he could have a mermaid outfit and nobody would judge 😂😂😂

BoohooWoohoo · 07/08/2023 17:10

I look at my kids and think that some things are better now but others things were better during my childhood. For example I am grateful that there was no social media and camera phones so I didn't have FOMO or every questionable outfit and decision documented but I prefer the attitudes of today where racism, homophobia, sexism are not considered ok.

EmmaPaella · 07/08/2023 17:11

Well he’s clearly wrong. The 80s and 90s were the best time to grow up.

SarahShorty · 07/08/2023 17:14

It's all very subjective and I think it depends on what you consider to be positive and negative. Back in his time, there was no internet, no TikTok, no on-demand services etc You had to plan ahead with groceries and fuel and if you forgot something and the shops were closed, tough. There was a lot of 'make do and mend', too, whereas nowadays if something breaks, it's cheaper and quicker to replace with new rather than fix it. I hate my PILs for what they have, but it was a different time.