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anon291

Every single 'it was better in the X0s' is actually 'i want a tween/young teenager in the X0s'.

Everything else is post hoc rationalization

I'm jealous of my kids since they are so much better off in every way

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College grads have it worse in every way than I did graduating in 1996 from a no name state school in South GA in CS.

I had a job waiting for me in Atlanta after graduating based on an internship that was easy to get. I was able to get a house built at 28 for $170K. Even fast forwarding to 2016 I had a 5/3 3500 square foot home built in the northern burbs of Atlanta built for $335K in the good school system. 8 years later we sold it for $700k and downsized to a condo in Florida for half the price. It would be a stretch for me to buy a $700K home now.

For non college grads in my hometown, there were four or five factories that employed plenty of people with good jobs, all but one is gone.

I don't think it is, so many kids watch stranger things and ask if kids really did have that kind of freedom back then. I get why many things objectively better today, but suicide rates are up. I don't think people's mental health and happiness follow like objective statistics very well. And why would we assume it's true? This concept of "I wish I was. tween/ young teenager in the X0's" has probably only been true for like 100 years.

I'm conflicted on that myself. On paper their life is certainly so much easier and more comfortable.

On the other hand, I feel like there's some intangibles missing. Not having instant access to everything made for patience and appreciation. Not having laptops and cellphones meant having to converse and interact with those around you. It's hard to describe why any of that is better than today, but it just feels like it was to my old brain.

not every. I have not lived in 90s at all, I am from the current millennium, but.. I am nostalgic about 90s. This is strange, but I feel nostalgia about times I never live

Both can be true. We can be wearing nostalgia goggles and things can actually be worse now.

20-30 is the most commonly picked best age, while teenage is the most widely picked worst age

https://today.yougov.com/society/articles/53769-what-are-the...

> I'm jealous of my kids since they are so much better off in every way

Really? It’s interesting how much I see this take online. I never see people saying this IRL.

I disagree with the above take. I feel bad that my kids have to grow up in the world of today rather than the world of the 90s.

That's because you're listening to your hormones not reality.

Yes of course I am. This is the best possible time quite literally. Barely any conflict. The entire world, including 'poor' countries, are getting richer. Like the world of 2100 is going to be F'ING amazing.

We are making our way to a post scarcity world and it's amazing.

All the negative news you hear everyday are just distractions from what's actually going on.

2100: "You're gonna have dictatorships and you're gonna love it?"

> Barely any conflict

I feel like you might not be paying much attention.

The last century was characterized by two mega wars that killed tens of millions and social changes / revolutions that killed tens of millions as well. This century is off to an AMAZING start. Perhaps unprecedentedly good in world history.

And of course before this century, resource scarcity, lack of modern medicine, etc meant a grueling life of farmwork, living in a hovel, and being sent off to random wars. Now people complain because they can't get a 1500 sq ft home and garden. Come on guys be real.

Not to mention brutal state violence being commonplace , punishments being swift yet often unjust, etc. of course even previous conflicts used to show a brazen disregard for life. Thirty years, 100 years of war, etc

This is true but being able to afford a home, close to where you can find work and develop your social status further, is a pretty important part of life so not particularly surprising kids are miffed about that.

Not sure how the world wars would have worked had the participating nations been nuclear capable. This invention is quite significant.

We haven't even got to the same point in the last century where the big war happened, and so far it looks like when we do get to that part of the century, we'll be doing the same thing.

Having medicine is good though. I don't think anyone's arguing that. "Things are worse" doesn't mean "everything is worse"

Is this satire?

We’re quickly entering a new era of energy abundance, without needing to constantly dig up, process, and cart around enormous amounts of oil. And solar has recently gotten cheap enough that people in poorer countries around the world are deploying huge amounts of it. That’s pretty amazing!

What does this have to do with my question?

You asked if it's satire, I gave you a reason it might not be.

No not at all. The world is way better off today than at any time in the past. This is objectively true and we can all feel it everyday we don't die of dysentery, sepsis, etc.

how many dysenteries make a nuclear explosion?

Can you put that in terms I can understand? How many measles outbreaks per vaccine refusals is that?

Exactly. How many of one bad thing reduced compensates for a different bad thing increased? They say it's better now because we have fast access to information. But we don't have house stability. How many seconds of latency to information equals owning a home?

It is very hard to hear the good news happening “somewhere” when you see the bad news happening in your backyard.

I’m optimistic too, but I can’t help wonder if the post scarcity world, like the future, won’t be evenly distributed.

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