To think the 90's/early 2000's was when we peaked and everything has gone downhill since due to technology

[SonnyHoney]

To think the 90s/early 2000s was when we peaked and everything has gone downhill since due to technology.

Bear in mind I was only a child/teen then (mid 30s now).
There was just the right amount of technology.
People just seemed happier.

I wish I could have raised my children in a similar environment to what my mother raised me in.

I think everything deteriorated after 9/11, including due to the advances in technology around that time.

And the negatives? A destroyed economy, a destroyed ecology? A destroyed future? So easy to ignore?

Ive never been convinced by technological ‘progress’ anyway. Why do things made with modern materials have to be replaced every couple years while medieval items were functional for tens, hundreds of years? As for AI don’t make me laugh. The cost is astronomical and the returns merely empower a few who don’t want the trouble of thought.

I don't think we were scared of being nuked in the 1990s (70s/80s were a different story).

Absolutely agree with this. Best music? When you were 14-17, best times? When you were a teenager probably. It’s not the decade it’s when and who you were, likely.

Only marginally. As a careless teenager in the 70s most of us weren’t politically aware enough.

Have you read the thread posted by the supply teacher? Arseholes would be about right.

Well if there was a swinging 60s equivalent I definitely swung in the 90s! Lived that decade as a ne'er do well teen to it's fullest - the good, the bad and the ugly! Carefree crazy times.

But I actually love having my friendships now curated on my phone in Whatsapp etc and it would have helped me as an awkward teenager in communicating with others.

I also think kids are a bit less cruel than they used to be, in general that is, they seem nicer and I like the values of things now.

I loved the 90s so much though for music and culture that I think it's a privilege to have grown up in that time (and it being last pre digital age).

"...the globalist project of making British people reject their own culture and history and identity." 😂😂😂
"Had the British Empire never existed, there would be no USA, no Australia, no Canada and no New Zealand, not as we know them today."

Er no, it would be different, They would be there though. The last sentence is quite a stretch. I'd love to see your working for that.

I agree. I was born in the mid 50s so I've seen everything from post-war through the imminent threat of nuclear war in the 80s and so on. I do think 2012 was a peak of positivity and the current international situation is dire but it's a mistake to look back through rose coloured glasses.

@Griff123 Yeah, you're right. Fr some reason, I had the 80s in my head. The 90s, for me, are a blur.
I forgot to add, raping your wife was still legal in 1990.

Oh God yes OP. We had the convenience of mobile phones but without the anxiety inducing social media. No covid, Brexit or constant talk of WW3. Things still felt very social, with less anger and rage. Probably because screen time was limited and a lot of our lives were lived in person. I have so many good memories of the late nineties and early 2000s (child/teen).

I agree completely. What’s the point in any of it? Nobody is happier, a lot of people are unhealthier. The planet is being destroyed.

My exhusband left me and our 2 children in 1996 ( aged 3 and 2) The late 90s were bliss for him and his 17 year old girlfriend in their sexy new lifestyle. I found the later 90s rather less jolly ☺ I'd never want to revisit that time in my liife.

Whose best years are when they were a teenager?! They were probably my worst. My 30s (current era) are absolutely the best of times. I read somewhere that “your 30s are your 20s with money” which is spot on.

Doesn’t mean late 90s/early 2000s weren’t humanity’s peak - I would love to have been in my 30s during that period.

Who would have thought that the technological masterpieces iPhone and its competitors would go on to spawn the societal malignancy that is social media.

I agree with you and I was in primary school at the time.

Recognising the late 90s/early 2000s as humanity’s peak has nothing to do with how old one was at the time.

I do wonder sometimes when and why the concept of keeping spirits up became less important. There was a time when that was seen as a crucial part of a functioning society. I'm not just talking just about the war times, but generally in the past, I get the impression people believed it was very important to be positive, both personally and in terms of putting on a positive front. That no longer seems to be the case. Maybe we see that as naive, maybe we are too cynical, I dont know. But I wonder if young people today are ever told that the future is bright and is something to be embraced. I'd be interested if other people have a view or information on when this narrative changed and why.

The amount of misogyny around back then, no thank you! At least their are grown up films in the cinema that arent all about college kids getting their rocks off

You've got the right era OP but I suggest it was The Spice Girls that brought civilization down.As we all know, if women were in charge the world would be a better.... this possible reality became desecrated by 'independent free thinking women' becoming identified by short skirts, thrusting tits and hip gyrations whilst singing about getting what we want.

And look what we've got - another reiteration of the centuries old 'power in beauty' - fake lips, layers of makeup and all sorts of chemicals shoved into bodies to attain this noveau definition of beauty. Never mind the money/power to be made by performing sexual acts via technology....way to go girls.

I first thought we were a bunch of suckers when we paid the same price for a tiny skirt that we did for clothing that used a lot more material.

I agree. I wish the tech bros would channel their innovation into things which support advancements in the medical field and enhancing and extending peoples lives.

I work in the creative sector and I see how AI is already making things more difficult for creative artists. For instance the recent practice of mining the books of author to train their AI in writing books without asking for the consent of authors.

Stealing from authors and putting them out of work in the future basically.

AI or at least how it’s been used currently will destroy society.

I'm in Liverpool, so the 90s were a lot better than the 80s. As I opened my post with, how things were was situational/regional etc.

If the planet is being destroyed, that’s mainly down to numbers. In 1900 there were a billion human beings. Today there are eight billion. Soon there will be ten billion, just in time for climate catastrophe. Europe’s birth rate may be declining, but Africa’s population is going to double. Technology is neutral. If only humans were sensible and used technology wisely there is no limit to the improvements it could make to our lives. AI and nanotechnology and god knows what else could usher in age of abundance for everyone. And the improvement technology could make to our mental and physical health is limitless. But we’ve allowed the world’s population to spiral out of control and it’s messing up everything.

It's bizarre the OP is blaming technology when that is what we are posting on 😏

Not when she’s talking about the 90s! There were already bulletin boards and email lists by then. Nor does being forced to use tech to communicate invalidate the point. I have to have a smartphone to see my work rota now and my kids have to use it to do their homework.

Churchill famously thought the steam engine was the high point of human invention. I frequently agree with him.

It's often said that the best and most cost efficient means of stopping climate change and environmental damage is birth control.