Do you think that the quality of life is better today than it was in our grandparents generation?

Question

What things have improved and what has got worse?

Answer 1

Depends what you mean by 'quality of life'.

In terms of quality of services and products, definately yes. Houses are easier to clean and maintain, products are easier to get hold of, they arrive quicker, you don't have to trek for miles for your nearest shop, equal opportunities are greater, society is better protected, healthcare is better, public services are better.

However, if the question is 'are people happier now?', then the answer is not so clear cut. Commercialism and Materialism is teaching us slowly that our desires are not simply quenched by getting what we want, but they continue to grow. There appear to be more depressed people than ever, and suicide rates are apparently increasing.

I think the growth of our capitalist consumer society has brought greater satisfaction and comfort but not neccessarily happiness. Since happiness is not brought by material things, but by relationships and making a differences, something that has not changed over the generations.

Answer 2

financially people are better off, that's an improvement. there are more career opportunities, especially for women. but i think we have lost the closeness that families and the neighbourhood once had, and family traditions are becoming a thing of the past. young people have no respect these days which leads to more crime. its a shame we can't bring some of the old values into this modern day society and the quality of life could be even better.

god, i sound negative lol. I'll stop ranting. i sound old too but I'm only 30.

edit....and what firstknight said

Answer 3

As a granny myself,I can honestly say that things have definately taken a turn for the worse.When we had the death penalty there were definately less murders.When young boys went in to national service there were very few yobs on the streets.When parents,teachers,police etc could give a naughty child punishment,children were far better behaved and would not dare act as they do for fear of reprisals.Wages were better and we managed on what we had as debt was not something to be proud of and televised as a reality show!We may have more material things these days but we have lost our freedom!No longer can mothers leave their children outside a shop in a pram,no longer can your children go off to the woods and play,no longer can old people walk out safely,even during the day but especially not at night.No longer can you sit indoors with your doors and windows open for fear of burglars etc.No longer is there any respect for the law or order and the language of most generations is appalling.Is there anything positive I can say?The health of the nation is possibly better in the old incurable deseases but hospitals are filthy and another reason for bringing back matrons.Sorry peeps,not very positive is it ?

Answer 4

i dont think so we did not have loads of money in them days but we never starved,clothing was hand me down and we walked every where,not many cars in the streets we were caned if we were giulty of anything in school,we were told to respect other people and brought up in a civilised manner,we respected all most every thing that we recieved as gift and xmas was once a year.99%of the time was family time/quality .holidays in a caravan in porthcawl was the best that we could expect,club trips each summer to barry island,when our fathers would pop to the pub.big families meant competition for us kids,i am one of [9] and also we learnt the most important thing in life--love no greed,saving money for a rainy day,kids would so be more united hardlyany bullying,if a child had measles and had not my mother would take me to thier house so i may catch the desease,we could also leave our front doors open and not worry about being robbed because we had nothing worth stealing,so yes i suppose that we were richer then than we are now.

Answer 5

A lot of things have improved but the crime rate is a lot, lot worse. At least in our grandparents day the children could be let outside to play without much fear of them coming to any harm.

Answer 6

No I do not! The way of life today may be easier from a tech point, but the human elements are gone. Families have deterioated and kindness and helpfulness to one another isnt very prominate either. Kids in my day had to use their imaginations to play, but nowdays they must be entertained with tv or video games or IPods or cell phones or dvd's and so on. I long for the more laid back times of long ago when you could let your kids play outside, safely or leave your doors unlocked, or known your neighbors almost as family members. Those days are never to be seen again and it makes me sad!

Answer 7

You ask any of our grand parents and they would probably tell you their quality of life was better. Money may have improved but then the cost of living has changed too. You took things in their time as they came there was no picking and moaning at minute things in life and their were not so many bad people then either. Life was a lot innocent and i believe better then too. I always remember my nan telling me about her child hood etc and i always loved listening to her it was always fun and happy.

Answer 8

Quality of life means different things to different people. When we have better tools to get things done, we get them done sooner, but that leaves us with more time,and unless people use that time to do good instead of evil, quality of life isn't going to get better. The older generation that I know enjoyed their work enough that they didn't think of leasure time as something to waste, but filled it with another activity that today people would think of as a second job. I also saw that there was more co-operation between people to get things done. Now people seem to get stressed out because they feel they are doing a job alone. Being stressed all the time doesn't sound to me like good quality of life. How you feel, not what you own determines quality of life.

Answer 9

Improvements: Health care, air travel, education [especially for women], wider choice of food from foreign lands.

What got worse? Intrusions on our privacy, continuous monitoring by CCTV, DNA databases, Orwellian government and the Nanny State.

Answer 10

I completely agree! My grandpa who died final twelve months grow to be so care loose, had a large humorousness, grow to be large to speak to, and had a large outlook on existence. additionally my different grandparents actually have a large humorousness, and not purely my grandparents yet i agree all grandparents understand what the numerous issues in existence are and the thank you to stay their existence to the fullest.