Where the good old days really better?

Question

Or do we look back with a sense of nostalgia and selective memories?

If you are using crime as your measure, crime rates are at historic lows now.

If you are using high school graduation rates as your measure, they are also at all time highs.

If you are using children born to teens as your measure, that number has gone down each of the last 23 years.

If you are using life expectancy as your measure, it has never been longer.

Answer 1

It seems as though I've answered this question at least a dozen times in the last two weeks. So, I'm going to think up a new approach, but give the same answer. [Incidentally, I love the way that everybody simply ignores all your data!]

The good, old days (let's make that the early 'fifties or pre-World War II -- not the old West, medieval Europe, or the end of the Ice Age -- were probably "better" in terms of cultural integration and consistency, but only if you were a white male of European ancestry. Social expectations were better understood by more people.

However, if you were a woman, you were subjected to much more discrimination in employment (but perhaps consciousness of the discrimination was not as acute as it is today). Far more women had to have their husband's permission to do things that we take for granted today.

Women were not supposed to smoke, and certainly never in public. The doors of education were not as open. Their opinions only counted on the "etiquette" page of the newpaper, and that was only read by other women.

If you were non-White, particulary Black, there were segregated schools, prohibitions about sitting at lunch counters, restrictions on the of buses, difficulty in registering to vote, etc.

But, the pace of life, like the pace of change, was slower. At the time, though, it probably seemed very fast. Technology wasn't anything like what we EXPECT today. Color television was possible. No manned space ships or satellites orbited the Earth. Computers were used only in large research institutions, mostly universities.

"Harbor Lights" was No. 1 on "Your Hit Parade" for a year and a half. Postage stamps were 3 cents, and nobody anticipated an increase....ever. When you phoned a company or an organization, you spoke to a living person on the line.

But, there was no teflon-coated cookware, George Forman grill, or trash compactors. Children were punished at school and then punished again when they got home. And, most kids could pretty well count on Mom always being right there in the kitchen.

So, yes, from one perspective, those were the good, old days. But from most other perspectives, they were not.

Also, I agree with the people who have answered that someday, these will be the "good old days." The reason is that the pace of change is increasing. The digital camera that you bought last year is no longer in stock, personal computers age 25 times faster than we do, and globalization will create a "Brave New World."

Answer 2

The latter...:)
Go back 40 years (1966, and yes, I was alive then and remember it): life expectancy was shorter. The US was embroiled in racial strife much worse than the illegal immigration stuff now. We were mired in VietNam, a hugely unpopular war (ok, that part is very similar to today!). Our president had recently been assasinated. The economy was in recession. Cars were big huge gas guzzlers, and not nearly as safe as today. Infant mortality was MUCH higher, there weren't vaccines for many of the illnesses we can easily prevent now. You could go on and on...

In some ways, especially *before* 1960 or so, things were somewhat "simpler" for the average white American -- there was less diversity, there was more perceived safety in communities, most people who lived around you believed & felt the same way you did...and those things get selectively remembered as "good." But people forget all the other stuff :)

Answer 3

Less complicated were definitely better for a lot of reasons. All of the wondrous technological advances we are enjoying now are wonderful, but we are sadder and more stressed and our overall health is not better. We all look back at the positives of our childhood with a sense of longing, that is part of the human experience. I guess we have to learn to be thankful for whatever time we are living in, and use our past as a strong stepping stone toward the future; extend the good to others and use any bad to make us learn and become stronger, and thus; a better person. Have a great day, stay cool.....

Answer 4

Don't you think the people in the wooden buggies of the West who had to contend with gunfighters and flying dust and scarcity of money and even less frequent baths would agree that their lifestyle as opposed to: perverts, stalking children and women and men; crooked CEOs who run a business in the ground and get a slap on the wrist, but retain the money while your retirement is akimbo; people bombing clinics because they take one view of how "that" person should conduct their sexual choices; and let's not forget planting explosives at the base of a building to level it because your political or spiritual beliefs differ.

There is so much covert stuff in our day that back in the day was out in the open. You could say what you meant and you meant what you said. Today, with all of the political correctness, people repress their hate, smile in your face and everyone's happy, until you're alone one day and they act on their repressed anger.

In my opinion, things truly were better in the good old days we just have more stuff to get in the way of that happiness.

Answer 5

Probably the later. They were simpler, though. I think that what makes todays day and age so different from 'back then' is what is viewed on television. Our children see commercials, that if it were a movie, it would be rated PG and they wouldn't be allowed in the theater! Our censorshipping has changed in what they call an effort to allow the educating of children in areas of what can be dangerous for the (sexual preditors, drugs etc.) but I think more than anything it just allows them access to the knowledge of the existance and possibility of access to such things. Parents need to educate their children and rear them themselves rather than letting the television do it for them.

Answer 6

I believe that we live in challenging times that bring a lot of truth to light.
Insofar as quality of life, there are some serious issues with current times, indeed! One is the air and water quality -- pollution is rampant. The other, and perhaps most noticeable, is the employment scenario. It used to be that people would be hired for a position that was not excessively demanding, and they could, while they were in this position, perform well in it as well as other social roles such as parent.

Answer 7

No the good old days were not better perse, only different. The Ozzie and Harriet lifestyle never really existed. While people tended to be more respectful of their fellows in bygone days, today's society is more informed in general. So while there will always be tradeoffs, no generation is better or worse than those which came before.

Answer 8

If you take the time to compare days of old to days of new you might get a sense of how much tougher life was back then and the fact of how much easier life is for us today.

Now let's compare (but, I am sure that I might leave some things off)....

Days of Old: people washed clothes at a river bank or in a large tub outside the house and then hung them to dry
Days of New: people do laundry at laundry mats or in their own homes with machines that can be programed to get out certain stains.

Days of Old: people heated the house with a fireplace, wood burning stove or coal. air conditioning was unheard of.
Days of New: people heat their house by gas, electric or the new water furnace. air conditioning is pretty much a standard in every house, even older homes have been remodeled to accomidate air conditioning.

Days of Old: people got from one place to another via horse and buggy or foot power, when the bicycle came out that was another popular form of transportaion. railway was popular for distant trips.
Days of New: people travel by plane, train automobile and some people even own vehicles that cost as much as a home.

Days of Old: to get news of importance from one place to another, people used the telegraph or telegram, when the phone was invented this made communicating easier for those who had one. also, the post office was another form, but it was slow going because it relied upon the stage coach or horse delivery.
Days of New: today we use Email, instant messaging, home phones and most today are portable throughout the home, and cell phones which about 80% of the public has one. today the mail runs via a carrier who drives a vehicle of some sorts.

Days of Old: the village raised a child
Days of New: single unwed parents are raising children (hence lack of moral values)

Days of Old: people helped one another, if someone needed food or clothes a neighbor was there to help
Days of New: people was across a homeless person and don't even look back to offer any assistance

Days of Old: people had a sense of religion and culture wher they went to church on the weekends, mothers did not work, fathers supported the family and didn't complain about it
Days of New: people don't go to church, mothers work somethimes 2 jobs to supports the family, fathers don't care about their children and their families

and like I said before there is so much more that I could do to compare, but, I am sure that I have bored you by now. Just looking at the above, shouldn't we thank a higher power that we are so priveledged to have what we do have instead of complaining about what we don't have?!

Answer 9

There will always be the "good old days" to someone. When I was a kid (in the late 50 s ) my grandpa used to say, "things were better in the old days. You kids listen to that awful music. You turn it up so loud, it's going to leave you deaf. You dress like the ladies of the street. Then there is that Elvis guy, he is the devil."

I think it is all in what you know and have to compare with. Look back at the first car invented. Look at the Wright brothers. They thought they were movers!!!! And they were for that period in time. Times have to change and go forward.

Good old days were grandpa's devil with all the new things. He would say, "I am glad I won't be around to see that happen."
The good old days are in our minds. There is nothing wrong with that. As our kids reach our age, they will say the same thing.
It's sort of like comparison shopping.


By the way, I prayed to wake up and be one of June and Ward Cleaver's kids.

Answer 10

It rather depends on who you are.

For white heterosexual adult men in this country, I have no doubt
that the 50s were happier times.

However, if you weren't one of these, things have probably
gotten considerably better. Consider the anti-discrimination
movements, the discoveries in medicine, etc.

And, Gee, what would we do without the Internet? ;)

I do think that the speed of life has increased and that is
(generally) a bad thing. Cell phones are very useful, but
are over-used, etc. Instant electronic transactions tend to
increase stress.

We can have it all, but do we really want it?