Things you would never believe would become the norm

[LakeTiticaca]

The flip side of the other thread about the horrors that were acceptable 20/30/40 years ago.
Things that back then we would never believe possible . I'll start
Children carrying knives.
Children murdering each other
Children attacking parents and teachers.
Morbid obesity
The lax attitude towards drugs
The notion that you are not responsible for your own actions. It's always someone else's fault.
Smart phones and social media
The damage that smartphones and social media cause

@LakeTiticaca I think you have an idealised view of "the past"

Teaching children how to have anal sex and other potentially harmful niche practices, and it not being considered abusive to do so.

Socks and crocs
Socks and sliders

shocking

Of course not, you know I’m not saying that. Just that it seems to be characterising an entire generation by the worst and most extreme elements. People said they couldn’t understand why the thread might be seen as ‘nasty’. I was explaining.

I can’t believe that food banks are normal now.
Nor that men can apparently become women whilst we are all supposed to deny the evidence of our own eyes and ears and we will be called bigots and racists if we say what we actually see.
Or that it is impossible to see a dentist unless you can afford private fees. Or that getting a gp appointment is now like winning the lottery.
Or that our rivers and seas are full of shit.
Or that nobody cares that the climate is being destroyed in front of our eyes.
Or that the far right is becoming more mainstream.
Or that America is electing a sex offender and criminal again.

When I saw the thread title I thought of same sex marriage, virtual meetings rather than having to travel, the amazing information resource of the internet, as well as some of the downsides of social media. But I think the OP only wants to talk about ‘bad things about living nowadays’. Be fair, some things are better now and others, such as affordability of housing, undeniably worse.

I probably am in a sense but I think one of the worst things in society today is the entitlement of many people and the total lack of respect for others. It feels very much like a me me me society. There is something badly wrong when we have gangs of children,(getting younger and younger) terrorising neighbourhoods, kicking elderly folks doors, smashing windows, etc and nobody is doing anything about it

VAT on education.

If that’s happening regularly in your neighbourhood then I can see why it’s left you feeling not great about modern society, I’m sorry.

Ok 🙂

According to all my maths and English teachers ithe90s, having a calculator and dictionary in my pocket all the time!

Fathers taking time off work when dc are ill. My dad went to work, as did all my friends. If we were ill, our mums were the only ones who were expected to sort everything out.

Some things are definitely better.

Just read the OP.
The last 2 things on your list are correct due to technology moving on, but everything else on your list has always existed and will likely always exist in human society.
Because people are flawed and some are irretrievably damaged by other people's actions.

The way we're more knowledgeable about layering to withstand the weather

You really think this is a new thing??!!

Haha this made me laugh too. Having grown up in north Scotland, this is practically in my DNA. I certainly know my grandfather who was born in the early 1900's layered up each day to do his outdoor job. And no doubt his father and father before him.

I probably am in a sense but I think one of the worst things in society today is the entitlement of many people and the total lack of respect for others. It feels very much like a me me me society. There is something badly wrong when we have gangs of children,(getting younger and younger) terrorising neighbourhoods, kicking elderly folks doors, smashing windows, etc and nobody is doing anything about it

Jeez where do you live that this is happening enough for you to comment on it? Yikes.

I'll stick with my quiet rural life where folk say hello and help each other out.

I meant to add to this, but they are hopefully a minority and most people are still decent, wanting to live good lives and see their kids thrive.

Some positives

Exercise. Exercise becoming seen as normal and something everyone should do rather than the preserve of a few nutters super sporty people.

Deliveries. Not having to spend your Saturday traipsing round the shops buying food and doing errands.

Lots more good TV! On demand, no ads, lots of choice, rather than “well it’s The Bill or the snooker”

Being able to choose a holiday by browsing 100s of options and reading reviews rather than taking a punt off Teletext or a travel agent catalogue and hoping it’s not awful.

Experienced climate change, no longer some vague dystopian future but happening now. A reality now, not some vague thing in the distant future

Constant noise from headphoneless phones on trains and buses

A rise in population

Being expected to have a smartphone & walk around in instant contact with it staring at it all the time. OTOH, makes me look completely normal when I play PoGo, I appreciate how much I blend in. Even if we all look like that scene from Dr. Who circa yr 2005 when everyone stopped to listen to the daily joke in their implanted ear piece.

"Safety first culture" to exclusion of any other consideration or believe in human resilience and even benefits from taking risks.

Social media is just people talking to each other. Meanwhile, social media is villified and the young people of today "have it so hard due to social media" leading to a "mental health crisis epidemic." Meanwhile, young people in 1919 got to worry about Spanish Flu. Very young people young in 1940 got shipped out of the cities to live with random strangers, or stayed in their city homes which were being bombed to rubble many nights. Young people in 1950-1990 got told that many government plans for Nuclear Armageddon were normal, including when the US President joked about "we start bombing in 5 minutes". Yet somehow, life was truly golden grand stress-free life for all these youngsters of the past which is why they "can't understand" the mental health traumas of today's youth because they didn't have the "pressures of social media" when they were young.

ps: I heard a version of the last few sentences from a Vietnamese colleague, she's baffled about the "mental health" issues her young adult daughter & peers say they experience, compared to what her generation & her parents suffered.

There were fancy false fingernails in the 1960's. I used to watch my older cousins apply them and I always wanted some.

They weren't anything the Edward Scissorhands talons of today though 😅
I remember when my sister was about 13, she sourced some almonds from my mums baking cupboard, painted them with red nail polish and attempted to stick them onto her fingernails. My mum went berserk and I pissed myself laughing for about 2 weeks afterwards 😅 😂

Smoking being banned in public places and on transport, drink-driving being taken so seriously, physical chastisement of children being made illegal, the ability to access information about anything, anywhere, at any time. All things that growing up in the 60s I would never have believed possible.

Women determinedly altering their faces with surgery, botox and/or bucketfuls of make-up to make themselves look like Bratz dolls.

After all the years of us asking a friend to be honest when asked does my bum look big in this?, we are now at a stage where women are forking out money to have silicone injected into their buttocks to achieve an arse the size of Buckinghamshire. This is one of the many things I just can't get my head around 😅😅

Ha, true, I would have been delighted to know that large round arses were going to be A Thing! Especially during the waif years.

How about the proliferation of tattoos and body piercings. We would never have thought they'd become so common place back in the 80s.