Not upvoting because the comment is flippant, but pre-1990 you had the Cold War and a somewhat realistic threat of nuclear war, though I have no memories of ducking under my desk in 1970's NYC.

Generally, the best time to live in is the present, but there have been a lot of changes since Reagan that have made life harder and worse, e.g. the 24h news cycle exacerbated by a distinct lack of rational discourse.

The list of other factors is pretty long, but it pretty much comes down to how public and disproportionate the negativity and spin pervade society.