to think modern life is rubbish

[maryjolisalondon]

Working full time, paying huge amounts of rent / mortgage just to have two days off a week. Only getting a few weeks holiday a year. Traffic and getting to work and school then making food often only leaves an hour or two a day free. Then if you get sick more and more companies only pay SSP. For people under 40 its also looking like retiring even in your 70s won't be possible for the average Joe.

John Maynard Keynes predicted that by now, no one would have to work more than a 15 hour week. Interesting article on why that hasn't happened here:
strikemag.org/bullshit-jobs/

(Sorry about the horrendous font and colour)

I know myself that I could get the actual, actual work of my particular job done in 15 hours a week. What pads it out are all the pointless meetings, new 'initiatives', working groups, 'expertise pools', admin, procedures, faffing, fuss-Arseing and bullshit.

BarbarianMum: there were vaccinations in the 1950s.
I do live quite happily without a tv, microwave, dishwasher and tumble dryer.
I do have a car.

But modern life is destroying the planet.

We have throw away clothes made of nasty fabrics.

The world has an oil crisis yet we drive massive gas guzzling polluting cars,
We fly across Europe and further for a few days break.

A booming economy thrives on us spending and spending.

Farmers are paid less for milk than it costs to produce.

It's a mad world.

Thanks for the link, Rosita, a very interesting read. What caught my attention was the right-wing whipping-up of public opinion against the essential job holders when they make their essential nature felt, and spot on about the less than fabulous pay for so many.

I do a real job, as defined in this article, I'm a teacher and have lost count of the visionaries who would like to get rid of the pesky human interface of teaching and learning, to make the process of education mimic the shite-fest of corporate life, usually espoused by those who don't actually teach.

Tossers.

TB 1950

blog.wellcome.ac.uk/2012/06/08/defeat-tuberculosis-1950/

Smog 1970

m.youtube.com/watch?v=Sr8L_PKfTLU

Me again, on the topic of bullshit jobs. I remember reading some time ago that if it wasn't clear what you did from your job title, then it was a bullshit job.

www.bullshitjob.com/title/

Rather be around now than my grandads day where he family was so poor they shouldnt afford 2p for medication and he watched his brother died of a very treatable childhood disease or the fact his family couldnt afford any food. The cupboard was empty and i mean empty, no tins, nothing and they had to go to the soup kitchen. He remembers being hungry all the time and this is only 80 years ago. We so lucky nowadays, we just dont realise it!

?'bullshit jobs' serve the function of keeping us all too stressed and busy to think too deeply about what's really going on ?.
It's just a way of keeping us all occupied and distracted ?

Merrymouse dont know about you but my flying cars on order...

'Rather be around now than my grandads day'

no doubt Our grandchildren will express similar sentiments, I wonder what aspects of our lives they will compare especially unfavorably with their own.
What things that we unquestioningly accept will they view as untenable? ?

Well that is easy. They will say "in 2015 everybody had to drive on roads and there were no flying cars!!!".

Ha ha
We will be completely surprised at the way things change
Predictions about the future are usually way off
Something or other comes out of left field and throws off the whole picture ?

modern life is great for us in the first world - we flush our toilets with DRINKING water - we feed our dogs and cats meat from a supermarket where a WHOLE AISLE is devoted to pet food.

I had a little girl visit from Rwanda - when she saw these things she thought we were SO rich, it made me cry.

Sometimes I feel that way for the same reason you have stated - the constant treadmill of work and home and not getting enough time with my kids due to financial needs.

But it has been great to read the pps and be reminded that modern life is actually pretty good.

This government do seem to be trying to make things harder for people but that might be another thread.

YANBU to feel like a moan. We all do sometimes.
But YABVU to think modern life is rubbish. Perhaps you could read some social history - just Call the Midwife would do for starters ( the book not the TV programme). Or talk to an elderly person.
Modern medicine and the NHS are enough for me to feel happy to live now. My Grandmother's 5 year old died, screaming in her arms, because they had no NHS and no money.
Retirement in your 60s is a relatively recent concept. People used to work until they absolutely couldn't, sometimes into extreme old age. Then, too often, it was the workhouse.

I'm bloody glad to live now.

merrymouse makes a good point about wooly hats not itching any more. Used to be pure torture. Count your blessings

I am not a huge fan of modern life.

I think it was better when.....

There were no mobile phones
Facebook wasn't invented
No internet at all (ironic I know!)
Pubs closed at 11 and clubs at 2.
Shops were shut on Sundays
Kids walked to school without worry
Teachers could give kids a clip for misbehaving.
Neighbours would all help each other out and know each other's names.
House prices were low
Workers only worked the hours they were being paid for
Pay rises were the norm
The euro didn't exist and it was still cheap as chips to go to Greece.
A job was for life in certain industries.

Some will say change has improved all of the above but I'm not convinced.

SickofFrozen - but you can't take those things in isolation... you have to also go back to
the unions holding much power,
the power black outs,
the lack of choice,
the general lack of money,
the fear of interest rate hikes,
the having to visit the bank manager in person if you wanted an account/a loan/a mortgage,
the lack of holidays,
the lack of central heating and double glazing,
the woman of the family not having a car,
the poor contraception,
the children being in fear of teachers/grown ups in general etc... since a thump was "what you deserved"

People living in fear of being exposed as gay.
Inflation.
Racism.
Bullying at work and by those with power.
Isolation of people who didn't get on with their neighbours.
Little understanding of mental health.
Little understanding of learning difficulties.

Of course life isn't perfect now, but it certainly wasn't more perfect in the past.

Personally I'm ok with my life in general and thankful for all the help given by the NHS to my disabled child.

What I really hate is the non stop negativism in the media. Miles of coverage for the hateful jihadist john and minimal coverage for a war hero receiving the Victoria cross. You just can't escape the misery. My personal Facebook has 'shared' sad stories of cruelty to animals etc. TV is CONSTANT! News alway starts with bad news

Oh, and I hate litter, it's a constant reminder of how we are destroying the planet. And climate bloody change omg!

How about just 15 years ago? I was pretty happy with the world in 2000.

What have we achieved since then?

I can think of, good side:
I do know that there have been advances in healthcare. My mother might not be alive now had that not happened. Gay marriage is coming on board (not there yet, though, and some very scary backlash especially in the US...). Some people might count the internet advances, but I'm not sold on that. I'm sure there are more.

bad side:
Women's rights in the US have definitely gone downhill since then. The world economic crisis. The rise of extremist terrorism. The working world appears have gotten more competitive, meaning those who are willing to go overboard working will get the jobs.

It may be argued that some of those things were already in progress and thus inevitable (e.g., the terrorism -- they must have been planning 9-11 then!). But I wonder what could have been, if the world had progressed differently.

I think, over the last thirty or forty years, there have been some negative changes to society ( and yes, of course some positive ones as well).

Children have a lot less freedom nowadays, and seem to be left to their own devices a lot less.

The internet and social media have become ubiquitous and many people seem to live a large portion of their lives through Facebook etc. Likewise, many people seem to be more interested in texting and tweeting than engaging with the people actually in front of them.

There is more pressure to have 'stuff', it's much more difficult to buy a house, and a lot of families are forced into being dual income households regardless of whether one parent would prefer to be at home with the children.

People spend far more time commuting, and work longer hours than a generation ago.

As a result of a lot of the above, there has been a gradual erosion of community spirit and solidarity and increasing numbers of people do not know their neighbours, or live near family and friends.

No, I wouldn't like to return to the Victorian era and be a scullery maid living in a basement bedroom and having to be up at 5 to light the fires, but I do think it would be nice if we could row back in some ways.

It does seem that a lot of the things unions fought for, seem to be eroding. Working 6 hours without a break, zero hour contracts etc.

But I'd rather be in these times, with a safety net in the form of benefits, and modern machines and medicines, than in any other time in history.

Your lifestyle sounds very demanding OP.

YANBU unreasonable OP

But you might need to start with Social Histoty and Economics 101 and work up to win in here

It's strange because generally social mobility, environmentalism, anti-poverty causes would get reasonable support on MN.

OP this is Mumsnet, where the majority of posters are either SAHMs to husbands earning 50K+ or in high earning careers themselves. they live in a bubble of affluence and have absolutely no fucking idea what you're talking about.