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Comment by saturneria | Hacker News Reader

In the 70s/80s, the jobs that were available to you were basically what your family member could "get you in". I am of that age and I remember General Motors was a great place to work at that time. My friend "got in" after high school because his father was a union boss. For me, "getting in" to General Motors was literally impossible because I had no connections.

I was into 90s cyberpunk and the problem was the ideas were basically all wrong about the internet. Or maybe we could have gone in another direction with the internet but didn't.

The main difference overall though is in the past life was incredibly boring. It was so boring people had to invent all these cultural activities to escape the disconnected, mind numbing boredom of existence.

Life today is just much more interesting regardless of finances so there isn't the motivation to hang out at goth bar once a week.

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I don’t think that’s an accurate view of what the job market was like in the 70s and 80s.

My point was more that I think there was more of a feeling of security, in the sense that regular people felt a little more optimistic about the future and their personal finances. People started low on the totem pole but felt confident about moving upwards slowly. That feeling doesn’t really exist anymore.

>In the 70s/80s, the jobs that were available to you were basically what your family member could "get you in"

Perhaps this may have been true for those who didn't have a university degree. Otherwise, this experience doesn't line up with anyone in my family.

> In the 70s/80s, the jobs that were available to you were basically what your family member could "get you in"

(UK here). My first job in 1987 was in computing for an engineering company and my father had exactly zero influence on me getting that job.

What makes life so much more interesting today as compared to 50 years ago?

When's the last time you were bored? It's been ages for me. Too much going on all the time. Most people have an endless scroll one phone tap away.

I was bored all the time in the 90s and early 2000s.

I actively am trying to cut off the overstimulation though. I never used those types of phone apps but youtube and the net have endless content.

I think if you searched you'd find other articles mentioning the lack of boredom, I don't think I'm an isolated incident.

Not being bored doesn’t mean you’re leading an interesting life.

Not at all. I see why you say that. My general thought of why things more interesting is not that they truly are, rather our time and attention spans have been taken up by more frivolous things while boredom leads to ideas and innovation.

I meant that boredom I experienced earlier in life was arguably a good thing.

I see, I thought you were trying to argue for the GP’s point.

When's the last time you were bored? When's the last time you did something interesting?

I'm putting out a new track on spotify, as soon as i get the master back so I'm excited for that. I'll admit though, not a ton of interesting stuff going on. I mean, I make jewelry, am learning Japanese and do visual art too so I'm not lacking for good hobbies but idk where to meet people these days.

Being bored is good for you my dude. Google for it.

Seems you missed the part of my comment where I say I'm explicitly trying to cut down on stimulation. I'm aware.

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