Was life better in "the good old days"?

Question

I was sitting in front of 2 old women on bus this morning who were going on about how life was so much better when they were younger (even with the war!!) and they said people don't have anything worthwhile these days which i found quite insulting. They also said there was a lack of community spirit and nobody looked out for each other anymore. Would you rather live in the 40s or 50s when there was "more community spirit" and life was simpler or now with advanced technology but in a less caring world?

Answer 1

GOOD is really a respective term. How much GOOD is very good and how much is "not so good" can never be defined.

In younger days normally we all are in physically good shape and psychologically in a romantic frame of mind. When you are in good mood everything seems to be good. War situation also feels like heaven. We try to look into the positive sides only and ignore all the negatives.

When we grow up we get immune to that level of goodness. Once which was very good now it becomes so so. Also we have more lazy time and we can spend our time to find out detailed negative sides of every thing.

In my opinion this is the reason of GOOD OLD DAYS.
When you and me will reach 80 years we will also behave in same fashion.

Answer 2

Life isn't easy for anyone - never has been.

Memory is funny in that bad things tend to fade with time and all that remains are the good things. What I believe you are actually hearing from the elderly is a simple desire for their youth to come back.

It is a true "flaw" with the human race. We spend our youth wishing to be older. By the time we realize how good we had it when we were young, we're too old to do anything about it.

As a matter of fact, I do believe that people have by and large HAVE lost their sense of community. I don't know most of the people in my town. The only thing I know about my neighbors across the street is that they yell at their kids ALL THE TIME.

Would I rather live in a time of technology? Yes...and no. I'm here so I don't really have any say in it. I'm grateful for the opportunity for health care and an easier lifestyle but I'm also aware of how detrimental conveniences can be to daily life.

Kids and computers = bad combination (shorter attention spans and weight problems)

Fast Food = Bad Bad Bad

Fast paced lives = Less family time and that's bad too

I would also argue that the ability the media has to misinform the public and get away with it is attrocious as well. I can't count the numbers of reporters out there who I'd like to kick in the head for getting information wrong.

The other issue I'll bring up is war. For us, technological advances may save some lives but those advances have caused so much more sorrow than not...

In truth, I see a steady decline of the over-all human condition.

The best that I can do is to take one day at a time and keep my little corner of the universe as peaceful and as healthy as possible.

"The good old days weren't always good and tomorrow 'aint as bad as it seems."

-Billy Joel (at least he's the one who comes to mind at the moment)

Answer 3

You know what I find quiet amazing, those two old dears wouldn't have had much of a life when they were in the 'good old days' just like a lot of people today don't think they have a good life either, they didn't have technology like we do, no fancy washing machines or tumble driers, cookers or fridge freezers, washing was a day of a job, for a lot of them it was the dolly tub and manual wringer, trying to get clothes dried on a creel, ironing with a flat iron, cooking on a range, no money for luxuries and having to walk to town to save the bus fare for something necessary, I know because it was how I was brought up and I saw how hard it was for my mom, she had 5 kids and broke her back keeping a home nice and working too, ok yes the neighbours did look out for each other more in those days, we are lucky enough to still have that were we live for the most part, I don't know how my mom did what she did and I for one would not like a life like that would you, give me technology and the life I have today thank you.

Answer 4

Everyone has their "good old days". They could've included The war, rock'n'roll, free love or sushi, but only one of these, not all. It depends on your generation. And yes, they were better.

What really depresses me is that everyone in this country right now is either completely thick or terminably apathetic. It's more important to know what's going cheap at the works canteen and what's going to happen on eastenders than how many mothers' sons got killed or maimed today in the middle east - their side or ours, it's still wrong.

No more wars until the political leaders sign up and are:
in the front line when bullets are being fired at them, AND
at the BACK of the queue for body-armour, helmets etc.

Answer 5

I think it's fair to say that in my parents generation people had a lot less than we have today and they probably did cherish the things they had more so than we do today. Whether this is a good thing or not is hard to say because we have so much more today, but then are we really happy? I do believe that people in general are more unhappy than the last generation was in many ways. So perhaps they do have a point to a certain degree. I also believe that people are less caring than they were in the past.

Answer 6

Yep, I think life was better in the good old days. Nowadays the news brings nothing but upset and trauma. I feel so sad to hear when little innocent kids are snatched and have awful things happen to them (I won't go into any details). Also my boyfriends mum told me a woman in Ireland left her Key in her front door for well over 15 years and NOTHING happened to her house, do you even think you can do that today! I don't think so.

Answer 7

Older folks often reflect fondley of the 'good old days' not so much because they were so great, but because they were familiar. Familiarity is comforting. The pace of societal change nowadays can be daunting even to the highly adaptable. For every advance we do lose something, but we also gain something.
I'll close by qouting Billy Joel...
"The good old days weren't always good, and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems"

Answer 8

I think some things are better and some are worse, but I know that most people will grow older and repeat the same ol' ironic cliches! What these 'wise'(?) old women are basically saying is life was so much better when we were younger and had so much more power!

Answer 9

What a brill question. It was wonderful to live in the 50s, we had so much appreciation for simple things and seemed to have so much more time to enjoy them. I think I'm right in saying there was much less crime then and no fear with letting children out to play unaccompanied (though we always found lots of friends already out there!). Everyone knew their neighbours and lots more community things were organised (street parties and street outings for example). Only 2 TV channels to chose from and we used to make our own entertainment much of the time. Oh yes, and the sun was always shining (though I expect that is a trick of my memory!).

Answer 10

They may be thinking of how it was when they were children. At that time, they wouldn't have had the worries that they do as adults. I think sometimes it would be fun to go back, but I wouldn't know any more.. so what is the point. Even though we may not have the "community", we can relate to people if we want to.