I like to watch old footage from the 80s and 90s on YouTube and all the comments always talk about how much better life was back then. Kids played outside, no cell phones, the stuff people always talk about. It gets me upset cause I feel like people act like people today are just tech zombies and not human. Obviously I hang out with my friends in person (well..before corona lol), go outside, everything like that. Maybe I’m just looking in the most negative places, but it seems like everyone collectively agrees that today sucks and it makes me sad. When people say my generation are tech slaves it makes me feel dehumanized. I don’t know, was the negativity around in the past, too?? Everything just feels so so negative and it’s just kinda sad.

When you ask for a few decades ago, do you mean the 2000s and 2010s, or several decades ago for the 80s and 90s as asked in the original post?

When you ask for a few decades ago, do you mean the 2000s and 2010s, or several decades ago for the 80s and 90s as asked in the original post?


I really mean 80s and 90s. Sorry for the confusion

I like to watch old footage from the 80s and 90s on YouTube and all the comments always talk about how much better life was back then. Kids played outside, no cell phones, the stuff people always talk about. It gets me upset cause I feel like people act like people today are just tech zombies and not human. Obviously I hang out with my friends in person (well..before corona lol), go outside, everything like that. Maybe I’m just looking in the most negative places, but it seems like everyone collectively agrees that today sucks and it makes me sad. When people say my generation are tech slaves it makes me feel dehumanized. I don’t know, was the negativity around in the past, too?? Everything just feels so so negative and it’s just kinda sad.


It was easier in some ways and harder in other ways. In any case it was simpler. At least before the mid 90s there was no internet. The world was much smaller. Unless you got out and traveled, all you knew about the rest of the world was what you saw on newspapers, tv, magazines. You didn’t know what you didn’t know. There was a lot out there that was simply considered unattainable for most if you even knew about it. It was easier because there wasn’t all this information bombarding you every minute.

It was harder because of no internet. It took actual research to find out things. Driving to the library, looking up books by hand and reading them because other than a table of contents or index there was no search tool. If you wanted to talk to someone you had a voice landline that was expensive and charged by the minute. If you wanted to hear a song you called into the radio station and put in a request and hope they played it that night. Or go to the music store and buy it but music was also expensive. A new CD was sometimes $17 and that was a lot more back then. A tape wasn’t much less. And if they didn’t have it they would have to look it up and order it. I waited 3 weeks for a Martina McBride tape. If you wanted directions you would have to go buy maps. I still have county map books. But as far as the address location, you had to just ask. You didn’t know if the grass was greener elsewhere. You accepted life in the small world you knew. Want someone’s phone number? Ask. And if you lost it, get out the phone book and hope you knew who that cute girl’s parents were. To get information was difficult, time consuming, and sometimes expensive. And you could only get what was widely available to the public.

There was plenty of negativity back then. Plenty of depressed people. We still had recessions, high unemployment, high interest rates. Actually today’s interest rates are dirt cheap compared to what they were back on the day. Also back then while many regular people were friendly, businesses were more like cold institutions. Today you walk into places with an open air friendly colorful atmosphere for the most part. There was also very little acceptance to people’s differences such as appearance, sexual preference, if you were autistic, etc.

There was a lot of great TV and movies back then. Family oriented shows with a theme and a lesson. Movies by people such as John Hughes that were very touching. There wasn’t much pointless TV before Seinfeld started the craze of a show about nothing. Or reality tv took over. I also appreciated the music more as there weren’t as much computer studio tricks. You heard real talent. It seems these days it’s difficult to find movies that aren’t action/sci fi. Everywhere I go it seems it’s all anyone watches and it irritates and bores me.

I wouldn’t want to go back and relive it. But the things I love about those times, I can use modern life to experience them. I have a huge collection of movies and music that I got for next to nothing that would have cost me years of wages back then. Lots of stations play retro tv shows and once I get good internet I’ll be able to watch more of them. I have a beautiful car from the era I grew up in. And era fitting furniture thanks to Craigslist. And thanks to eBay I can find almost anything else.

It’s a good time to be alive.

The days were wonderful, if you needed information you went to a library or ask a mentor, and back then a camera was a camera!

It was easier in some ways and harder in other ways. In any case it was simpler. At least before the mid 90s there was no internet. The world was much smaller. Unless you got out and traveled, all you knew about the rest of the world was what you saw on newspapers, tv, magazines. You didn’t know what you didn’t know. There was a lot out there that was simply considered unattainable for most if you even knew about it. It was easier because there wasn’t all this information bombarding you every minute.

It was harder because of no internet. It took actual research to find out things. Driving to the library, looking up books by hand and reading them because other than a table of contents or index there was no search tool. If you wanted to talk to someone you had a voice landline that was expensive and charged by the minute. If you wanted to hear a song you called into the radio station and put in a request and hope they played it that night. Or go to the music store and buy it but music was also expensive. A new CD was sometimes $17 and that was a lot more back then. A tape wasn’t much less. And if they didn’t have it they would have to look it up and order it. I waited 3 weeks for a Martina McBride tape. If you wanted directions you would have to go buy maps. I still have county map books. But as far as the address location, you had to just ask. You didn’t know if the grass was greener elsewhere. You accepted life in the small world you knew. Want someone’s phone number? Ask. And if you lost it, get out the phone book and hope you knew who that cute girl’s parents were. To get information was difficult, time consuming, and sometimes expensive. And you could only get what was widely available to the public.

There was plenty of negativity back then. Plenty of depressed people. We still had recessions, high unemployment, high interest rates. Actually today’s interest rates are dirt cheap compared to what they were back on the day. Also back then while many regular people were friendly, businesses were more like cold institutions. Today you walk into places with an open air friendly colorful atmosphere for the most part. There was also very little acceptance to people’s differences such as appearance, sexual preference, if you were autistic, etc.

There was a lot of great TV and movies back then. Family oriented shows with a theme and a lesson. Movies by people such as John Hughes that were very touching. There wasn’t much pointless TV before Seinfeld started the craze of a show about nothing. Or reality tv took over. I also appreciated the music more as there weren’t as much computer studio tricks. You heard real talent. It seems these days it’s difficult to find movies that aren’t action/sci fi. Everywhere I go it seems it’s all anyone watches and it irritates and bores me.

I wouldn’t want to go back and relive it. But the things I love about those times, I can use modern life to experience them. I have a huge collection of movies and music that I got for next to nothing that would have cost me years of wages back then. Lots of stations play retro tv shows and once I get good internet I’ll be able to watch more of them. I have a beautiful car from the era I grew up in. And era fitting furniture thanks to Craigslist. And thanks to eBay I can find almost anything else.

It’s a good time to be alive.


Thanks for the explanation. It’s nice to hear something that isn’t filtered through rose colored glasses. I’m glad I can access so much information whenever I want. Most of the stuff I know I’ve learned from the internet.

The days were wonderful, if you needed information you went to a library or ask a mentor, and back then a camera was a camera!
...but during the 1980s there were strikes of plenty...

Thanks for the explanation. It’s nice to hear something that isn’t filtered through rose colored glasses. I’m glad I can access so much information whenever I want. Most of the stuff I know I’ve learned from the internet.


I'd say the difference was that things were more "organic" back then, so to speak. And there was more of an air of mystery and adventure that hung over things for that very reason that it was not all at our fingertips. In the 60s and 70s if you needed to know something you had to go out and find it. And maybe you found it and maybe you didn't. This lead to interesting adventures. And while you were gone the phone might have rang at your house and you simply didn't know it. Because until the mid-80s or so answering machines were not in common usage. And you had no phone to take with you. If the person who called you wanted to talk to you bad enough they called back. If you were out and you had to call somebody you went to a pay phone and put a dime in and talked for three minutes before a recorded voice interrupted you and said put another dime in. If you didn't you were cut off. And sometimes the payphones smelled from the last person's bad breath. And if you needed money you went to the bank because ATMs were not in common usage until the early to mid 80s. And banks opened at 10 AM and closed at 3 PM. This is where the phrase "bankers hours" comes from. So if it was any time other than that and you needed money you were out of luck because you had no access to it.

I too enjoy the convenience of having everything at my fingertips now. And it certainly makes things faster. Not a lot of people ordered things through the mail back then, but if you did "please allow six weeks for delivery" was the standard line on the order form. You had to write a check and they had to get the check and then wait for the check to clear before they sent you the item.  But I do remember that "air of mystery and adventure" that hung over things back then when everything wasn't staring you right in the face.

And back then you had face to face conversations.

And back then you had face to face conversations.
...even around the dinner table.

...even around the dinner table.


without staring at your phones.

without staring at your phones.
At our dinner table our phones are not insight, or away in another part of the room, think about it , a good time to charge.

And back then you had face to face conversations.


I don’t know what you mean by this though cause I still have face to face conversations every day.

Lack of mass surveillance may be one of the few blessings that past decades would have had, at least prior to the 2000s; it could have still been widespread but it would have been easier to avoid too because technology was far simpler.
You could also keep the media you paid for unlike these days when streaming is commonplace.
If there's any upside to these days is that people are more "woke", which should theoretically confer benefits for all (but in practice doesn't because of very effective backlash through racist attacks, denouncing the LGBT+ community, neoliberalism on steroids since the 80s, religious fundamentalism on the rise etc.)

The days were wonderful, if you needed information you went to a library or ask a mentor, and back then a camera was a camera!


Yes cameras were dedicated devices. You paid for film with only 20 exposures I think, had to be smart about getting a good picture and had to make sure it was worth it. Then you had to send it off for developing and wait sometimes for days, meanwhile your photos were in someone else’s hands. And if you took a picture of anything someone thought was questionable you could go to jail for it.  There was Polaroid instant film but that was even more expensive. There were digital cameras in the 90s but the image quality was totally hopeless. Analog film was still the best thing for a long time.

In fact everything was a dedicated device. You also had a calculator, house phone, tape recorder, CD player, Rolodex cards or handheld data bank, paper dictionary or electronic dictionary, word processor or typewriter. You name it. Now your phone does it all and you can take it with you.

I remember the talks about video phones and how they were basically a pipe dream. Same with a tv flat enough to hang on a wall. There was a lot to dream about back then.

With limited access to information there was definitely something magical and mystical about things. Like your favorite stars. Back then you wrote a letter to the fan club address in the tape jacket and hope they replied. And how things worked unless you figured it out yourself. I remember the first time I got a master brake catalog in the early 2000s I kept thinking how I’m not really supposed to have this information. But it enabled me to design some great custom trailer disc brake projects. And sourcing the actuators would have been impossible without the internet as every local dealer thought I was nuts.

Yes cameras were dedicated devices. You paid for film with only 20 exposures I think, had to be smart about getting a good picture and had to make sure it was worth it. Then you had to send it off for developing and wait sometimes for days, meanwhile your photos were in someone else’s hands. And if you took a picture of anything someone thought was questionable you could go to jail for it.  There was Polaroid instant film but that was even more expensive. There were digital cameras in the 90s but the image quality was totally hopeless. Analog film was still the best thing for a long time.

In fact everything was a dedicated device. You also had a calculator, house phone, tape recorder, CD player, Rolodex cards or handheld data bank, paper dictionary or electronic dictionary, word processor or typewriter. You name it. Now your phone does it all and you can take it with you.

I remember the talks about video phones and how they were basically a pipe dream. Same with a tv flat enough to hang on a wall. There was a lot to dream about back then.

With limited access to information there was definitely something magical and mystical about things. Like your favorite stars. Back then you wrote a letter to the fan club address in the tape jacket and hope they replied. And how things worked unless you figured it out yourself. I remember the first time I got a master brake catalog in the early 2000s I kept thinking how I’m not really supposed to have this information. But it enabled me to design some great custom trailer disc brake projects. And sourcing the actuators would have been impossible without the internet as every local dealer thought I was nuts.
Have you ever get to see "One Hour Photo" (2002) starring Robin Williams?

At our dinner table our phones are not insight, or away in another part of the room, think about it , a good time to charge.


A good time to sit with your family and discuss the day's problems.

I don’t know what you mean by this though cause I still have face to face conversations every day.



I meant you didn't have people staring their phones all the time.

I meant you didn't have people staring their phones all the time.
...while eating at the dinner table?

...while eating at the dinner table?


Yes, just a simple family get-together.

Yes, just a simple family get-together.
Having a long philosophical discussion?

Have you ever get to see "One Hour Photo" (2002) starring Robin Williams?


No I never heard of it till now. Just looked it up and it looks like something I’d enjoy. Thanks.

No I never heard of it till now. Just looked it up and it looks like something I’d enjoy. Thanks.
O0

Nah, it wasn’t better a few decades ago. And anyone who says it was is probably blinded by their own nostalgia. There are some things I dislike about today and the 2010’s, like the politics, pop music, and constant reboots. But I also really like today’s hip-hop, social media, and technology. There’s always going to be ups and downs to every decade.

Yes, it was better.  :)