It's a hard one. I think that modern times are far better than most times in history. But there seem to be trends over the last few decades that make is seem like things are going downhill. I don't positively know the facts behind this, though.
I know that in the US (where I'm from, so that's where I'm more aware of recent history), the pattern of working more and more hours per week went up starting in the 1980's, and based on some graphs I've found on the internet :) reaching 1950's levels by the 21st-century. Late 1970's looked the best there (with a massive drop in the 30s, which I assume would be due to labour reform, and a massive spike during WWII).
It seems 'buying power' based on the average wage has dropped as well. Certainly in our recent economic downturn. It seems like the equivalent level of employment nowadays produces less benefit than it did for our parents. I remember when I first moved out my parents telling me that my rent should be no more than 25% of my income -- and were shocked to see that the cheapest shared rentals in town were still well over 50% (after dividing amongst tenants).
It also feels like there is a lot of hate in the modern world, but I wonder if it's only more visible -- e.g., I, who am not a target of most of such hate, am aware of it now, whereas 30-40 years ago only the victims would have been.
And in the 1970s, while there was a lot more overt oppression of women in the workplace, etc., it was also reasonable to be fighting for equality and women's rights. Now it seems the attitude is often 'it's fixed, stop complaining' when statistics on statistics show that that's not true.
So on a broad scale, YABU, as life now is safer, healthier, and better quality for a much broader portion of society than most times in human history. But I'm not sure if we're talking about the space of a few decades. I'm slightly worried that we are slowly losing a lot of the advantages we spent much of the 20th century accruing.