We've seen the best of society ...

[KatherineSwynford1403]

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?

Why, specifically?

I do generally think that people who say things like this had unusually privileged/sheltered upbringings.

Glad to have the expert and definitive opinion there.

On demand TV is amazing. Imagine living without that…

I think it is very narrow minded when elderly people become intolerant towards e.g. children, especially if they expect everyone else to be tolerant to their needs and whims. To some extent it is normal, but I think a lot of elderly folk could learn from trying to be wise and positive rather than going the downer route.

I'm a secondary teacher. There are some absolutely cracking teenagers on their way through- society is going to be fine.

I mean I think it's OK to say some things were better then... the NHS for a start. definitely Smart phones and SM has made many of us into endorphin junkies hooked on instant gratification (I type this after playing my millionth sudoku game of the day and while eating instant ramen)... I feel london has changed massively and lost some of its character to chain stores (made worse by them trying to be unique/authentic/quirky bleurgh), it has definitely become dirtier).

and actually the racism is worse and more harmful (speaking from experience). whereas in the 1990s, people said things or asked questions slightly inappropriately eg. do you have electricity in Bangladesh... I very rarely felt malice. but now especially since 2016 its much worse

but if we are talking about the 1970s, I would definitely not want to be living in that era!

wouldn't mind going back to 1990s and being a slim teenager again!

This! My nanny is 93 and is so able to give a balanced view of the world. Of course life has changed a lot; less sense of community, more pressure on families, more consumerist less freedom for kids. But also much more tolerant and inclusive, easier to keep in touch therefore able to move around more, lots and lots of good things. She spends time with our friends our age and thinks young people are great.
Saying the world is terrible now to be honest is just cruel to the younger generations. Give them hope not negativity. You can’t criticise the life they happened to be born into then get angry when they struggle with MH issues.

Well the post war decades saw a lot of economic growth and levelling up, so life got better (pensions, central heating, access to education, NHS, expanded home ownership) for lots of people.

So he’s right we probably won’t see such growth again, but the stuff about kids and scooters is bollocks, and for women and people of colour life is a lot better now than in the 70s.

Not a chance someone like this voted remain and reads the i. Not. A. Chance.

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

This.

However not entirely sure things will better for the next generation - mainly housing and living costs wise and possible climate problems however there will still be many things that are better areas of actual progress of useful tech and some that aren't.

@KatherineSwynford1403 could it not be that life before children, family, mortgages, rent, back problems knee problems, (insert any health issues) was a shit load easier?

Not less worthwhile, just easier.

Well I'm the same and agree with him.....people don't always fit into the little boxes of what younger people think they should lol 🙄

❤️❤️❤️

Agreed .

Also what's a spice head?

An outlier then rather than the majority

Society has been frayed by thirteen years of Tory neglect and underinvestment - that’s why the streets are filthy, the roads are full of potholes, the sea of full
of shite, and the NHS is crippled. People are the same deep down though.

And given the choice, I’d rather live in a time when children like my son aren’t beaten or humiliated for the additional needs they were born with (sample teacher quote about my brother; ‘he doesn’t want to speak in front of the class, but if you make him until he cries, he can do it’). When I as a woman can open a bank account or buy a house without needing my husbands permission. And when drink-driving is no longer socially acceptable. And that’s just off the top of my head.

Even under Thatcher we had trains and an NHS. And she was bad enough.

There’s no infrastructure at all now. It’s awful.

Good heavens. No wonder how rates of anti depressant use is so high. So many people with such a bleak view of society.

I look around… my children are happy and healthy, we are off for a few nights by the coast, it my daughter’s birthday next month, I have booked a threatre visit, in meeting a friend for a coffee tomorrow… all these little things add up to mean I simply don’t negatively stew like this

Afraid so. Always has been.

Doesn't mean you have to be anything in particular, but it is old.

People are going on about how the world is such a better place now in terms of "equality" but for me it absolutely isn't because that is completely overridden by a current lack of tolerance of other people full stop.
You see it on here, endless posts from people who simply cannot cope with others behaving in ways they do not do themselves.
"They looked at me a funny way!"
"They said "no you can't" how rude!"
"I feel abused because the ticket inspector MADE ME show my ticket"
"I hate her, she wont stop talking about her life. It's unbearable, what a controlling bitch".
All such negative interpretations, and a complete inability to empathise.

There is absolutely a decline socially in people looking out for each other, thinking about how other minds work, striving for compromise or understanding. And the speed with which people lapse into hatred is alarming. Personally I don't think this is outweighed by "advances" for minority groups at all. Sometimes I wonder how far we are away from the human race just eating itself because of "me me me" being so predominant now.
Hey ho.

Oh right, ok. If you say so. I just thought I held an opinion on the state of things, what media I read, and what I voted for during the Brexit vote...😗

He's got a point , but most people on here look back on their childhood and teenage years fondly ( note , I said most , some due to family situations will disagree )
He had his best time , many on here had theirs , and those currently will hopefully look back and say the same .

Yep, I think organisations do a lot, that they didn't used to, or didn't exist, and medical knowledge has moved on a huge amount.

But, individuals seem much more self centred, and uncaring. There's in creasing intolerance, anger, self entitlement, resentment, and intolerance around.

Which is a shame.

Yes you do I was’t doubting that 🤷‍♀️

Swings and roundabouts, some things are better and some things are worse- most of which is down to interpretation anyway. I look back fondly on my childhood but I wasn't stressing through the financial crash, struggling to keep the roof over our heads or whatever else that my parents were as times were tough. My experience being good doesn't mean things were better overall.