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I feel almost maybe 80% as removed from WWI-era society as I do from Roman society, tbh. It's almost equally hard to imagine living in either era. Post-WWII (my parents' childhood's) starts to feel more connected. I imagine this is wildly different for individuals. For me, 100 years ago does feel about "an eternity" ago.

> I imagine this is wildly different for individuals.

It's definitely different if you happen to live in an old European city like Vienna (like I do). There's castles, buildings and places named after people and events from that era everywhere. Everytime you get tap water you're reminded (Wiener Hochquellenwasserleitung). It's not hard to imagine living in the middle ages even, since there's lots of artefacts from that age too.

There's a lot riding on the word "effectively", but in terms of how well I can imagine it or empathize with it, my grandparents' childhood is not far off any other time in history. The signal is mostly already gone.

In many families, grandparents and particularly great-grandparents are 'pre-history'. I could tell you maybe about a dozen facts about the lives of two of my eight great grandparents, but that's it. What can I say about the childhoods of my grandparents if I hardly even know who their parents were?