...to miss the good old days?...

[MissTheMundane]

AIBU to miss life prior to 2016? The days before I'd ever heard the words 'Mexit', 'Brexit', 'Woke', 'Covid', 'Whitty' and 'Truss'. The days before 'fake news', Trump and Borris?

The days when home schooling was something you only read about or saw on TV documentaries. The days before the word 'transgender' appeared in the news 20 times a day. The days before gen z were words I'd ever heard of.

The days before my mum and countless others died due to the rise of COVID and the fall of the NHS. The days before my public sector pay decreased massively, my workload doubled, and the cost of petrol rose exponentially.

The days when the queen was alive with Philip close by, and there was a strange but secure familiarness about that. The days when Harry still seemed the loveable but rebellious cheeky chappy we all thought we knew. The days before pizza express and non sweaty arm pits.

The days before Russia almost bought us back to the cold war and Ukraine just sounded like a nice but far away place we didn't know too much about.

The days when you could phone a GP and have at least a small chance of being able to see them that day, or any day! The days when you could call an ambulance and actually believe it would come and someone would rush you to hospital. The days when you trusted that if you got seriously ill, the NHS would treat and save you.

The days when no-one joked about stocking up on toilet roll because it just wasn't a thing!

I know life wasn't all sunshine and Roses prior to 2016. I know a lot was wrong then too. But looking back it just all seemed so simple then. So much more secure and familiar.

So much has happened this last few years and I miss the simplicity of life before.

If you could have told me in 2016 how the next 7 years would pan out, I don't think there's any way at all I'd have believed it. No chance. Just no way. I wouldn't even have believed a quarter of it. I just wouldn't.

Anyone else miss the old era?

If you trust the WHO, there will be more soon.

pp mentioned 2006. There's a company trying to recreate 2006 Twitter because it had such feel good vibes and that company thinks it's all about the algorithms.

Sadly there's a lot to dread about the future but most people are excited about it, so 🤷🏻‍♀️

Anyone remember ISIS? And terror attacks? I know it seems rosier but it was just different. The breaking up of media though has really contributed to a feeling of Otherness- my friends might watch Netflix, or Prime, or Sky or Cable or Terrestrial tv so convo’s about things we’ve all seen are a struggle.

Society is undergoing a time of swift change- but we have been since computers and before that cars and before that industrial revolution.

I was thinking yesterday that compared to the US (where minimum wage is under $10) benefits aren’t great etc- having cost of living payments, an increase to the minimum wage, free NHS etc means that people enjoy a far higher standard of living than many in the US do. We also have generous time off, frequent public holidays and freedom. We take being able to walk down the street alone for granted, whereas in some cultures that isn’t possible. We have good public transport and lots of small towns that are central as well as home delivery. In fact, people might look back at this time and see it as a time of peace and stability, especially as prices are starting to go down. People like to talk about what is wrong but how often do they talk about what is right. How often do people compare their lives with a fantasy other group of people who are better off. I know Scandinavia is going to get mentioned now but it’s cold as fuck and food is super expensive so please don’t.

So, to summarise my little rant, yes things are changing quickly, sorry for your loss💐, but change is inevitable. There is more that holds us together than pulls us apart.

If you could have told me in 2016 how the next 7 years would pan out, I don't think there's any way at all I'd have believed it. No chance. Just no way. I wouldn't even have believed a quarter of it. I just wouldn't.

I blame Cameron and I will never forgive him.

I agree OP that 2016 was a turning point, but some of the seeds were sown before then.

As for "call me Dave', I'd have his government and its ministers over the mix of incompetent, nasty, and bullying ones of today in a heartbeat. Even though I have never voted Tory.

Nou I lost friends in a terror attack so ISIS is not something I can forget. I heard my first IRA bomb when I was 3 or 4. I sometimes think perspective on this is age related. I certainly remember bad times but on a personal level, the current state of things is worse.

Plus as you get older, you see more and more of it and just hope actual real end is nigh. But ...in those days, at least we weren't doing battle with chat bots and globalised processes to get basic daily aspects of life done. I've got friends who need three separate logins just to pay for a kid's school lunches.

In fact, I look back at globalisation protests, which I saw from the window of the international company where I worked...and I wonder, is it good or bad that I didn't realise how bad things would be? I had sympathy for the protestors but no way would I have joined them.

I remember my father telling me there was nothing anyone could do to stop it. At the time, he thought it was good, but I think in his later years, he understood why it wasn't.

I also thought that London was at tipping point, population wise, in 2000. How wrong I was. Now the whole world is an overpopulated hellhole relying on tech to get things done, including bringing bloody coffee to our block of flats. Starbucks is seven minutes walk maybe?

It's all very "I don't like going outside so bring me everything here" - but with this population level, I don't like it either.

Language warning if you feel like rocking out to this. It's weird...I have a 23 year old work contact who keeps wanting advice from me because he thinks I'm coping with the state of the world really well. It's all I can do not to say "well, my dear, I'm closer to death than you are". I had another lady say to me "please don't tell me you're not coping, I see you as an example of how to cope". FML.

As far as I am concerned, the 'good old days' ended in the year 2000. The 21st Century has been rubbish so far.

Sorry to hear that. At the time, I remember the panic everybody felt and yet a few years later it is almost forgotten.

I remember sci fi writers (and star trek!) back in the 1960’s predicting many things we use now- so that definitely isn’t new. The birth rate has really dropped- so in 20 years the population will be in decline.

Re chat gpt and deepfake etc- I am sure methods will be created to control and limit their powers- not least by educational establishments! Look at the rise and fall of Facebook, twitter etc. We all thought social media would bring us all together but it just fed us hate and lies. Most people I know scroll one or two platforms once or twice a day, interact with their loved ones and live their lives very much as they did 20 years ago.

I feel most for the elderly, some of whom have been left behind and live in an increasingly isolated world, where they can no longer pop into the Bank because there isn’t one, who don’t want to learn how to use technology and no longer trust anyone. All fuelled by certain papers playing on their fears.

It got shit when it became ok to let people starve, for DC to be sleeping in cars, for homeless to be issued with tents, for injured to be lying in the gutter with no ambulance on it's way. All due to austerity and cuts. Food banks barely existed 20 years ago. Whilst yes we have had a pandemic, a lot of it is due to government policy and blatant greed.

🎤Let's all meet up in the year 2000...won't it be strange when we're all fully grown..? 🎤💃🏽

Nou yes, my mum is losing the last of her independence with the banks closing. We've had some nasty posters here saying the elderly should just get online, but after a stroke and with arthritic fingers, she can't reliably use a computer for banking, she isn't someone who refused to learn. She can use Youtube etc but it's too complex now for her to bank online.

so the last few years, I go with her, they say "can't your daughter just do it for your online." Really awful. Now they are closing in the borough, so yes, that's what I have to do. How unfair that she loses that control.

I don't think bots will be controlled. It's not in the interest of those in charge. If you heard Tim Berners Lee giving the Reith lecture, he was saying it's quite possible for child abuse videos etc to be removed very quickly or even prevented from going online, but no one cares enough to do it.

2016 did seem to be the tipping point. The year that seemed full of death and disaster.

All the high profile celebrity deaths that year, starting with Alan Rickman and David Bowie, set a bit of a dark tone.
Then the brexit vote.
It was about that time that people started going public with statements such as "if you didn't vote xyz then you're scum and I won't associate with you" (Normalyy I'd less polite terms)

It was about that point that I believe we crossed the line from honest debate and agree to disagree to "If you don't vote/think the way I do you're scum" and it became acceptable to say so.

Obviously trump winning the election was also that year, although he didn't take control until later on.

It just seemed to be an awful year all round and sowed the seeds of a lot of misery

I think back to starting work at 19...7am and there were huge groups of homeless people on Holborn and the Strand, really big groups, and charities giving hot drinks.

I appreciate it goes up and down but I think the difference now is that fewer people care and when you look at population figures, it's not surprising. Life in London is just fighting your way through too many people.

🎤Let's all meet up in the year 2000...won't it be strange when we're all fully grown..? 🎤💃🏽

If I'd known it was going to be so crap I'd have tried a bit harder to 🎤💃🏽"party like it's 1999"🎤💃🏽 instead of just having my parents round for a rather lacklustre buffet on Millennium Eve.

Elem "It was about that point that I believe we crossed the line from honest debate and agree to disagree to "If you don't vote/think the way I do you're scum" and it became acceptable to say so"

this is awful, yes. Interesting mum and friends in her age group are baffled by it. After Trump got in, I had a drink with a neighbour and she told me very calmly what she thought was good about him. I was very anti him but I don't see those who disagree with me as bad, that's crazy.

She is honestly one of very few people I know who is happy to have a calm conversation about politics. We both learn from each other. Sadly for me, she's gone back to the US. Sadly for her, her sister practically disowned her for being a Trump supporter.

Oh ...I was in a restaurant/bar on the Embankment. It was a bit hairy getting in at 6ish, I don't do well in crowds. But leaving at 5am was fine. People were chatty on the Tube. We danced with the chefs after midnight! Good time had by all. Such happy days.

The wheel wasn't turning though, that was the embarrassing failure alongside the millenium dome!

that would now be labelled a flu pandemic year...if you look back at the figures you'll see. I got it, and was wobbly for 6 weeks after and furious that I couldn't go to the gym. Practically everyone I knew got it, I don't know how many died but nurses called it morgue month ☹️ the press didn't scream, like my mum says, they didn't scream in the 60s flu epidemic either.

I was in London in 1993 when an IRA bomb went off and it devastated the area, I have never been so scared in my life. Luckily I was out of reach and did not get hurt but lots did and if I remember someone died. I will never forget the noise of the blast.

Back then you put the 6pm news on to watch an update or you bought a newspaper. There was no social media where everyone is spouting their opinion, uploading videos, shoving things in your face. Nowadays within 2 minutes the footage would be available and I think that's what makes it seem worse now.

But it's not. Think you have rose coloured glasses on. Problems existed back then. There was some horrible housing estates in London (and other areas of the UK) that were no go areas. Most have been regentrified now, Ok problems still exist as morons are everywhere, but standards have improved.

Sexism and racism was more blatant back then.

I miss using cash - ie having to download apps to pay for parking - and having to pre book things you could just do spur of moment in the past like go to the zoo if weather was nice rather than book in advance and then the day is wet and cold and not much fun.

Minor things perhaps but the pandemic definitely escalated those changes into day to day life.

Agree banking is hard work now. Popped in the tell them my mum had passed away and no counter staff, had to wait for them to find a human to help me as everything os set up as self service.

Hmm some things are worse, some are better

My friend was cycling in the City and narrowly missed being hit by shards of glass when the Bishopsgate bomb went off.
But DH and I hark back to the '60s as the best era. When your 1d would buy you a handful of black jacks or fruit salads. We love watching the old cine films on The Footage Detectives on Talking Pictures

Emma emerald, if there's another pandemic coming, let's enjoy this in between bit! It's not all doom and gloom

@Ariela I was thinking the same as I read through all the posts!
The 60's & 70's rocked! :-)

I miss the old days in the sense that you could go somewhere, anywhere on a weekday in term time safe in the knowledge it would be fairly quiet. Now everywhere seems to be busy all the time.

And 'the whole world is not an over populated hell hole', such hyperbole, the population of the world is at some point due to start declining

Honestly not wanting to sound unsympathetic but I do think a lot of MNetters were aged between 15-30 in the Blair/brown years and benefited massively from a lot of the policies and schemes from this time. There are always winners and losers from every major change.

The year before the Global Financial Crisis. 2009?
Before Lehman's bank went bust and we saw those junior staff walking to the station with a box of personal stuff they had cleared from their desks.

I think a really dark side to the 2000s-2010s that we’re really only just on the other side of is the cruelty of reality TV. Jeremy Kyle was acceptable until 2019; X Factor, Big Brother, exploited some very vulnerable people.