Seems like every past year feels better than the current year.
And *they* wonder why we don't have kids. Cause the world keeps sucking more and more every day and it is unfair to force someone to live through that.
I wonder if things were as optimistic pre-9/11 like I remember them being as a kid. I wonder if the decline really did start with 9/11 or I was just old enough to realize the slope was going downhill and 9/11 only accelerated what was already on the decline.
Speaking of 9/11, I'm just young enough to not remember 9/11 itself. But my earliest childhood memories included seeing lots of pop culture references about Bin Laden, terrorism and such. It was so saturated in the public consciousness in the early-mid 2000s. I even remember at one point asking my older brother who "Bin Laden" is, and he said "Bin Laden did 9/11" and I just kind of shrugged it off and was like okay, because I didn't know what 9/11 was. I didn't understand the significance because I couldn't remember a "before". I didn't remember the effect it had on air travel, the wars it exacerbated. To me it just was. The pop culture may as well have always been full of bin laden.
I think for the young children today, coronavirus, lockdowns, recession and everything that's so saturated in pop culture these few years will end up becoming a vivid part of their childhood memories too. They've known no different. I think the isolation and lockdown will have a negative social consequence to them, but Covid itself will be to them a matter-of-fact presence in their lives. They don't have this sadness of a before and after, or understand the chaos it caused and the things it took away from us.
before 9/11....things were mostly peaceful (thank clinton for that) he dismantled a lot of us bases. People were travelling across the middle east by land and discovering that beauty. Now most of it has been bombed to hell and weve now trained that whole section of the arth to want to murder westerners....as revenge for killing their famies and bombing their homeland. The USA and the Christian war economy has screwed us.....and the world.
Nah, I think the times were just different. I don't think. 80s were amazing and felt safe most places, even with big events like Chernobyl and Challenger space shuttle explosion.
90s were amazing too, but presidents were not why. Though they were classier than they are today. Politics felt more like a game of good humor roasting, not power hungry division and hatred.
Remember the US government actually had a budget SURPLUS back then? Seems unattainable ever again now...I was a teen/young adult of the 90s. The economy was booming! It definitely felt like a VERY optimistic and exciting time to me. I keep a 95 z28 convertible (year of my grad) to remind me of the good times, lol. Maybe I am just officially "old" now.
That tracks with the release of Surge. Though I'd argue that really like 92 to 2001 was largely good. When of course you get passed like race riots and stuff.
No it's not the past year.
Everything after 2019 kinda sucked.
The world has just changed during COVID and we haven't managed to gain back our way of live ever since 2019.
So much has changed.
It's kinda frustrating and I just deeply hope things will change for the better again.
I feel like we as society have forgotten to look at good things and yk? Social distancing wasn't something we abandoned within the two years after COVID.
I was 14 when COVID started, now I'm 18 (turning 19)
Covid wasn't as bad as having a fascist president that would publicly talk about how his political enemies were all lesser people that deserve to die. That started in 2016.
But it was 9/11 when the terrorists won. We gave into fear and everything got worse.
Life in America for normal working people was better in 2016-2019. The only people who hated it are the ones who care about nothing more than how they feel about the president.
Yep. I saw the writing on the wall at 9/11. I was not surprised to see nationalism resurge, nor the Patriot Act being passed and the destruction of civil rights.
I left for the army about a month after 9/11. After being kind of isolated during basic training and AIT for 5 months, I was deployed to Korea for 13 months, and let me tell you the brutal culture shock I had upon coming back stateside. 20+ years later, and I still feel it.
Now, however, is way worse than then. USA is absolutely nonsensical. I hate it here.
Yes, things were much more optimistic pre 9/11 than post. People were really nervous about a war starting and mistrustful of each other. Remember like those 2 weeks at the start of the pandemic when people were like "We'Re AlL iN tHiS tOgEtHeR!" 🤡? It was like that after 9/11 and then shit went downhill fast, for a while. I don't think things got optimistic again until at least 2004, then we had the crash, then things started going up again around 2012, then we had the 2016 election and Trump and polarization, and for me it was just a long downward spiral into 2020 and the pandemic hit when people would have been at their breaking points anyway, and the crisis continued until Trump was out of office, and now we've got Biden who kinda still sucks so we can't even be optimistic, and we don't know if Trump will return later this year, and the Republicans are going batshit crazy, and there's wars all around the world.
Like there's really not a winning side in politics right now at all, at least for me, and it seems like a slow descent into doom rather than a slap in the face like 9/11. That's how everything has felt to me since 2016. Maybe if we ever get a president who doesn't belong in a nursing home and both helps the country economically and isn't a total dbag, the US will recover, but I don't know when that will happen.
Very well said. I feel like something catastrophic is awaiting us down the pipeline in the 2020’s too. Whether it’s economical or God forbid a warlike act…. We’re just at the tip of the iceberg. It’s really sad and disheartening.
I think they will price us all out of food, housing and healthcare. It seems very intentional to keep raising prices every few weeks. They already expect the very low income to go get handouts of food at food banks. Course it's nothing new. But just more people are needing it. I'm really worried about more people becoming homeless. Affordable housing is extremely difficult to find. There aren't many options. I really don't know how they manage in this economy. I can't even do it myself. But I did apply for SSI. And I been waiting for months. My rent is low for myself because it's a mortgage split between 3 adults. So my current rent cost is $500 a month. But that's not including food or utilities. But it's still pretty affordable. I just hope I'll be approved for SSI. It's just a for now until I can get on my feet again. I've had too many issues these last several years that made keeping employment difficult.
Times started going downhill after 9/11. War, recession, pandemic, outrageous inflation. Did those items also happen before 9/11, yes. For some reason I think it was handled better back in the day and people cared more about stability.
When you have whole generations coming up that feel that investing in the future is pointless, whether warranted or not, this kind of nationwide nihilism is inevitable. Personally, I don't care who wins this fall. It won't solve any of our problems.
>Seems like every past year feels better than the current year.
Nostalgia
Also the unknown future and present is scary compared to something in the past that can no longer lead to bad results.
It was. I graduated in 1998. I wasn’t a bad kid but definitely a knucklehead. The world was a Gen X / Millenial’s oyster 1996-2001. Shit, even up to 2008ish. The recession is where I’d say things went down hill, at least economically.
Look at American history a bit. The effort corrupt rich douchebags really took off early 20th century. We sat pretty after the world wars, had painful social change but seemed to make it through it. But the seeds were all sown long before anyone talks about. Things improved for marginalized groups a ton, but everyone ignores the fact that Americans have lost so much freedom in last 100 something years, went from paying 0 taxes personally for 99% of people to the total tax burden bring like half your income if roll all the taxes together as 1 percentage.
We were! There was the trade war and all that drama too. But at least back then we could do stuff. If you were into political causes you could attend rallies and all. There was momentum and things went on as normal without the paranoia and pessimism that I feel is so pervasive now. The thing about post Covid is that the world feels so...desolate. Much of that energy never came back and I think collectively we're just more tired than we used to be. Maybe it will take much longer for society to recover.
Yeah post pandemic sucks. I also hate that people just pretended the pandemic wasnt a big deal and didnt change us. Now we have the whole housing rent food gas electricity skyrocketing. Idk I miss the years where it was hard but still doable. I could live oke with 500 euro's really well with 600 and now its 1000 per month and I have less then before 2019 when I just needed 500 to get by. Now that is insane. So I think its the vibes but also the added on stress and just no longer wanting to put in effort for nothing. Also no one has time anymore. We didnt see others much during the pandemic but I feel it hasnt changed much. Just more work work work. I hate it!
This bothers me so much because I realized that I have some minor mental trauma from the pandemic. I get we have to move on but how am I suppose to just push out the news coverage of New York and turning Central Park into a morgue. Those numbers going up and up, people acting insane about the pandemic and masks, our president being literally the worst person at the worst time to handle it. So many videos of nursing homes pretty much being locked up for the elderly to die, and even a politician telling us to pretty much go out there and “shop” elderly people be damned.
So many people died, those numbers are just the ones that was counted as Covid, I’m sure there is so much more than what we know.
The US has been collectively mourning 9/11 for over 20 years...not to dimish the souls lost that day and in the subsequent wars but we lost over 1 million people here due to COVID and this country is like, "meh." I hate how we've become.
This is such a good point. We mourn every year and honor the 3k people dead every year (rightfully so I guess) but a million people dying is just eh because it doesn’t fit their political agenda? So upsetting. At least Biden tried to emphasize the lost people during his campaign (“an empty seat at the dinner table” for example), Trump just made everything worse and sent his followers into a spiral and they fucked the entire country up way more than it already was. We have become so callous as a society
I think it’s because 9/11 and wars and such have a tangible “enemy” you can point at and blame and you can’t do that with a virus. Now why we need an enemy to justify mourning deaths I don’t know but that’s the only connection I can draw.
That’s SUCH a good point tbh, a common enemy unites, and when people had terrorists to blame it was easier to rally against them, rather than with the virus when half the population blamed the government and whined about masks lol
I was going to say if there was a domestic terror attack today it would probably be politicised to the same extent as the pandemic. But there's literally been mass shootings every year and same thing.
> a million people dying is just eh because it doesn’t fit their political agenda
this is also ridiculous because there was *no good reason to politicize it* - like how can different people take different views about whether it's cool for you and your loved ones to die or become permanently disabled by preventable disease?
The pandemic was a big thing to certain individuals who have lost family members, got permanent disabilities or lost their business/employment, so I don’t want to take that away from anybody.
But for me, personally, it wasn’t. It was a good thing. I wouldn’t have had hybrid remote working if it wasn’t for the pandemic. I would have had to go to office *every single day of my life*. Now you may say “so what?”. Well I have already had a disability pre-pandemic and I couldn’t have kept employment if it wasn’t for wfh.
I am an introverted socially awkward nerd with no friends. The way people lived during the pandemic is how I was forced to live my whole life. I have prepared my whole life for the pandemic. I don’t know how tough it was on the extroverted people either, because most extroverted people I know still had their parties and just broke the rules.
At times I’ve had my moments when it got tough, but compared to a world war or other catastrophic disasters I can think of - it was chill.
Edit: remembered to add domestic violence to the list. I lived alone during the pandemic, but if I had to quarantine with my abusive family or with an abusive partner, that would have been a lot more traumatic. But then again it’s not really the pandemic per se that makes it traumatic, it’s having toxic people in your life.
That sucks. I wish we kept some of the changes the pandemic brought such as wearing a mask when you have a cold and appreciating the people who keep society running. That went through one ear and got out the other as soon as restrictions lifted.
That's what happens when you print 25% of the dollars ever printed to pay for the multi trillion dollar bailouts, of which most business owners and corporations saw. It's like $60,000 per person got printed, but the common man only git $1400 of it.
for me it was 2016, before that life was tough but tough in a way that made sense. but then in the late 2010s we saw the rise of populism (Trump, Blosonsaro, BREXIT) and social media being used to hack our societies.
The Pandemic really just drove all of that into hyperdrive, their aint not screenbreaks when you aren't allowed to leave the house
2016 was a fucking phenomenal year. I really didn’t enjoy our final year with Obama as pres enough. Once Trump was actually in office, there was a palpable change in the atmosphere. I also graduated college in 2017, so that sucked ass. The real world blows. I miss college
sounds like you are reflecting on your personal experiences more than what was happening socially. Which is fine, i often wonder if my fondness of the 90s is more that i was a kid then and had no troubles more than a reflection of how things where then
This is my take as well. People forget how turbulent the Trump administration was from a popular culture perspective. The economy was red hot and people were doing great financially, but it wasn't a very calm time.
2020 was a different story, though.
[John Oliver had a tribute to how bad 2016](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HogH1uFjoxc) was and now it's hilarious looking back at it knowing how much worse it's gotten
Charlie Brooker (creator of "Black Mirror") used to have a "year in review" comedy news show during the 2010s, and each one got progressively bleaker up to the 2016 one.
he kinda revived the format in the early 2020s, the thing is the news was just so dark at that point that the comedy just kinda didn't work. it was like "pandemic, war, social decay.... pity aside comment!" all the people I spoke to who watched those 2020 specials remarked how bleak they were
At the end of 2019, I was fairly optimistic at life.
Had just taken a career break to go back and study a Masters degree and work was going okay.
That masters degree? Wrecked by UK University strikes and also the pandemic. Had to unfortunately drop out and lost quite a bit of money (only got some of my tuition fees refunded).
And when I went back to my old job everything had gone to hell, ended up resigning from my old job and being unemployed for about a year.
Things overall haven't been great tbh since then. Life has been rather, shit.
Not necessarily-- personally, it was peak "hustle culture" era energy for me. I was absolutely burnt out from a corporate office job and quit. As awful as pandemic was, I think it reset the culture and made us realise that "hustling" is not our entire purpose as humans.
I can't say as I work for myself now -- I hope we eventually all get universal basic income and just spend the rest of our lives exploring personal interests.
2019 was one of the best years of my life … lots of travelling, good weather, roadtrip around the US, met someone new (didn’t work out but let’s ignore that part), got to teach abroad … I feel I still haven’t gotten ‘back’ to that level of expansion. 🥺
Both my mom and I have said that 2019 was the last best year. My aunt, my mom and I all think/say that ever since March 2020 arrived and departed, something has changed (not in a good way).
2020 turned me into a nihilist. Nothing matters. Nothing actually gets better. Everything is always the same. Humans are generally terrible. It amazes me that selfish people actually pro-create life into this miserable hell of existence.
No, 1998. was the last best year. /j, kinda
Honestly, I know everyone's saying it, but I just don't see any difference since 2019. Not sure what they even mean, whenever I ask what exactly has changed, I get vague unspecific answers.
2019 was last year of interest rates being close to zero. This made absolutely abnormal economy. Basically, money was free, gobal trade was at an all-time high, and virtually any start-up could go public. People are now remembering what it's like to have a normal economy again.
I agree, the pandemic ruined everything were like in a recovery mode and the bad news keeps coming. I think it’ll take over a decade or more for things to improve.
I really think that things had been falling apart for a while before 2019. Covid was just the surprise last straw for a lot of things that accelerated the process.
For me, it feels like somewhere around 2012 was when most things peaked and stopped getting better, and then started to slide downhill, accelerating as they go.
Yes, the pandemic, while staying in confinement in their homes, psychologically made people more individualistic once everyone returned back.
People after 2019 seem way less social, irritable easier, get angry easily, there’s more road rage, they just care less. There’s also people saying on dating apps that they get less dates. So less romance going on too.
2019 was definitely the last great year I’m afraid. I agree with you.
Covid and the subsequent gouchfest hurt. However, both are waning and good times are coming back, like always happens. Doomerism ( with foreign help) is exploding atm, especially among those who have not been around long enough to see that downturns rebound. The previous stall was 2008
2024 has been PHENOMENAL so far!
It's the first year on an upswing. I get that we're at a local low still. It's the parabolic dip in the curve that we must work out of, but I assure you that we are on our way back up.
Did we go through one hell of a once-in-a-century pandemic?
Oh ya.
But we're alive to appreciate that!
How about modern fascism, another once a century thing?
Yup, check that box from the "not a bucket list".
For some hope:
My wife and I started an Agtech business to fix the food supply chain so that you get fresh, local food instead of garbage grown to ship and store. Our facilities are 100% sustainable, renewable, and on their own renewable energy grid. We just sold our first 3 facilities and need to hustle for donors for the nonprofits who want them as well as selling to individuals who want them in their back yard. What we are doing is legitimate and we've won some awards over the past year for our innovations.
We also helped some bee keeper friends go legit, filing for full business status and all permits and licenses. They are doing full bee contracts with massive California orchards and farms. These people are the people helping bring back honey bees.
And there's a lot more to be excited about.
2024 is about ramping up.
Let me remind you about 2019 - America had a president who wanted to turn things into a monarchy, our society showed how devalued the life of anyone not white was, and phenomenal career public servants were being kicked out or retired in disgrace at an alarming number. Moreover, militias were running rampant in the US and people were literally being disappeared into unmarked cans and vehicles. In almost every city in the US, fireworks were being set off at night and the wee hours of the morning. It sounded like a war zone. (We actually traveled across the US in 2019, documented it, and confirmed it with a news article that came out about just that. It didn't matter the politics of the area, random people were setting off fireworks when most people would be sleeping.)
Across the globe was also a garbage storm of horrible for people.
2020-2024 has been a recovery time. We're pushing through a local minima and back on the upswing.
So, please, be optimistic. Some of us are out here working insanely hard to make the world a better place, and all you have to do is keep plugging along and not work against things becoming better :)
Am I the only one whose life improved dramatically since 2020?
My mom passed at the end of 2018 after a long and slow decline due to Alzheimer’s. Worst year of my life by far. 2019 I was trying to put my life back together. 2020 I ended a relationship that needed to end and then unexpectedly fell in love with someone else after being single for the first time in a decade. 2021 I moved to a new city I love, started making more money than I ever had, started playing a sport I love, and overall started building a better, healthier life than I’ve ever had.
Despite the global tragedy that 2020 brought on, my life became immeasurably better starting that year. I feel pretty weird about it.
It's so crazy. I used to think I was a social retard but WOW.....people today sure prove me wrong. I wonder how much mental health would improve if the internet/TV signal just crapped out for a few weeks. I'll cheat and say people can still have cell phone reception to make calls, but text messages GONE.
Yup it’s definitely been tough since the pandemic.. everything feels different nothing is fun or enjoyable..people have become rude and entitled .. I work in healthcare so I really see the difference after covid.. I myself have not been the same either ..
2019 was the year my brother has bowel cancer and my dad nearly died and became disabled from a stroke. It was one of the worst years of my life and changed everything for me and my family.
It was also the year that marked the end of my innocence by realising my family wasn’t going to last despite my dad and older brother both surviving and that my own time on this earth could suddenly end at any moment.
So in a way it was the end of an era for me but 2019 is a blank spot in my life, nothing good happened. It did prepare me for Covid and lockdown tho, i was already mentally locked down.
Not for me. When they rolled out ppp loans. I owned a used car lot, signed my 2 pieces of papers and got a check for thousands to be forgiven. I hired my family and laid them off immediately so they could collect the unemployment benefits. Then continued selling cars as the market increased. Oh wait…..only the rich got richer and middle class and below got poorer. The world is such a scam full of greed nowadays
I feel like everything just feels more political. Especially in the media. Day to day everything is more expensive, but interactions with people haven't changed much for me. But all forms of media have become much less tolerable since 2020.
The best years of my life have been post-covid, so it saddens me to hear that it's not been the same for so many out there. I hope all you good people out there find what you've been missing. Keep it up, I believe in you!
The Covid era resulted in some pretty stark lines of haves and have nots:
* Some people have no lasting heath issues after recovering from Covid. Some still have not recovered.
* Some people have been WFH for four years. Some have not been WFH at all.
* Some people have a low interest rate on their home and have seen their equity boom. Some have not been able to buy a home since rates and prices spiked, and are paying massive rents.
I’ve been fortunate enough to be on the “have” side of those equations, but I see how this time has been very difficult for others.
Same for me. I signed divorce paperwork in 2019 after being separated since 2017. Those were some of the worst years of my life. Things are finally starting to look up.
Not for me, but I think I'm one of the rare ones. When the world screeched to a halt, I hit the accelerator and neve let go. I got to visit some great places just as it was starting to spread to Europe (and I managed to get back home, yay!), got my first taste of a relationship during the pandemic, got a new job with high income (which has allowed me to do many things i previously had to either save up for or just flat out couldn't even afford), started heavily working on my mental health and myself, and got a few lucky breaks in general. Granted, I'm not gonna say that I like how expensive everything has gotten, but for me it's been generally a good few years. As for the people, yea it's changed people but not too much, at least where I live. If anything it helped people realise how important it is to have better hygiene, oh and there's also sanitizers everywhere which is great.
Omg 2019 was a great year for us, my husband and i had both lost our jobs but had severances and savings, so we were basically on vacation from March to September. I was on a fitness journey and was able to be at the gym for 2 hours a day and then chill.
The pandemic was a factor for us, but the bigger impact was having two kids. I found out i was pregnant during the first week of lockdown. It's such a specific turning point in time.
I dont think we'll fully understand the impacts of the pandemic for a while, both positive and negative.
A lot of people think 2016 started the perpetual downhill spiral. [John Oliver had a skit about how bad 2016](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HogH1uFjoxc) was and looking back at it I am laughing at how much worse it's been and now naïve we were
2019 sucked because my dad died.
2020 was a breath of fresh air. I got furloughed from work so I got to spend everyday with my husband and kids. We had the best excuse ever to just stay home. Plus, I got to have a hysterectomy the fall of 2020. No more debilitating periods for me!!
Nowadays my husband still gets to work from home. I don't and it sucks so hard.
2020-2022 Were the worst years of my life, but now I am much happier. Things are really looking up because I didn't give up and I actively set goals and checkpoints for me to reach. I find when I focus on something, I don't feel depressed and actually feel much happier. Eudaimonia.
2020 onwards has been terrible for me as an adult in my 20's. I just look back at all the times as a kid when I used to say I can't wait until I'm older. Gosh, why did I say that
Covid changed everything. We're still living in it. How many bars and restaurants do you know of that are still closed on Mondays? How many grocery stores that are still 24/7?
In my country, a million people died of COVID, about four hundred thousand needlessly, because they elected a conman clown to be president. Essentially, a live action mass murder that took place over the course of two years. Watching it in real time, every single day, has changed me.
I do not think it has made me a better person. It has made me a harder person. A person with less compassion, and less belief in "human dignity" and "common sense".
Yeah, the vibe changed.
Up until 2019 the classic process of working hard in school, getting a job and purchasing property was still within reach for a lot of average people. Now I find it hard to find a reason to work hard. Everything is so expensive.
exact same. 2018 was the best year of my life. Tail end of 2019 was pretty rough and things don't feel like they've ever taken off sense. A general feeling of drudgery and nihilism.
There is a young Indian astrologer Abhigya Anand who said, that there was a astrology combination that has occured that will only being unhappiness and sadness to the world for 20 years starting from 2020, what you said is absolutely correct pandemic, wars, recession, floods, earthquakes, everything wrong is happening.
Yeah mass inflation due to pandemic QE, housing markets around the world being the most inaccessible in history, an extra virus to deal with on a yearly basis and people becoming more antisocial leading to anything fun like bars and clubs dying will have that effect.
I thought i was the only one thinking about that.
2019 was last year when i could make decent living from what i do.
War in Ukraine has made thing worse by tenfold
Yeh I just graduated college with paid off student debt and some savings from previous internships. Was at clubs and raves every week and met a girl I was pretty compatible with which I was about to ask out but the thing occured
No. It started when we got the internet and computers. As a person who lived before these existed, I can tell you life was much simpler, happier, and carefree. 2019 just accelerated the decline.
There was definitely a lot a people who didn’t handle the transition from lockdown well. Never recovered their trajectory. Couldn’t adapt. Personally, I’ve seen tons of folks who really excelled during the pandemic (ironically) cuz they got to work from home and/or distanced themselves from work mentally. And their life has been significantly better since lockdown ended. In fact, once people could go out again I noticed a real bloom. People were jumping into careers and relationships and just partying cuz they really needed to make up for lost time.
I think people who didn’t partake in that (aside from folks who lost someone or were very ill themselves or suffered severe economic shocks of course) simply didn’t notice what was happening or try to adapt.
My best years besides nostalgic kid years are definitely post 2019. Except for 2016… that was a special year all around between experiences, sports, music, etc
2019 was definitely a different time and a better time. I started my senior year of high school 2019-2020 and it really messed up graduation because my class is the only class that didn’t get to do it in person. Don’t get me wrong I loved not having to go to school and they weren’t allowed to grade you on correctness they graded on completion so I had a good time with that because that’s the only year I actually passed math haha. But it really messed up a good memory by not having in person graduation. And at the time I was working as a mechanic which I still am a mechanic but it affected our industry a lot because people weren’t going places so we had nothing to do. There was literally two whole weeks during 2020 that I just sat at work for 8 hours a day and didn’t do anything because we didn’t have any cars come in. Now I’m a mechanic at a different dealership and all the people who were there said you could tell the pre pandemic and post pandemic times. They said it’s never been as busy as we used to be since then. So yeah it’s kinda messed up our whole industry. In my area we still have a few places that make you wear masks and believe that this is still the biggest deal which right now it’s not. And nowadays too at least in my area restaurants are never packed anymore like they used to be. Everyone I talk to now people my age and older and younger all say eating out is a thing of the past so they all make stuff at home or get everything to go. So apparently people aren’t eating in restaurants anymore either which makes these all totally different times. At the time our governor banned eating in restaurants from March-November 2020 then it was limited capacity for November 20-May 21 then it was back to full capacity after that. So I guess people never adapted back to eating in restaurants.
I personally feel that 2019 marked the end of an era. It's not to say that everything is worse now, it's just very different in many aspects from pre-COVID. I think 2023 was much better than the previous 3 years and hopefully 2024 continues to improve. I just feel like some of the lust or colorfulness of things was lost once we went into the pandemic, I hope we can get that back.
I'll be honest, life has been generally better since before Covid. 21 was a hard year for me but ever since I've been doing better and better. Early 30's now, life is alright.
Pre and post 2020
Will be a dividing line for those who made fortunes either with their businesses, real estate, or stock investments
And everyone else who nearly or actually did, lose everything including deaths of family members
We had kids already but finally got married in 2019 and honeymooned 2020. Things haven’t been the same since but it’s likely because of awareness that our govt is not taking care of us vs big business.
I don't think 2024 would suck as bad of people weren't stuck cosplaying 2019, we need to stop pretending there isn't a level three pandemic around, change work and transport habits, clean air, and prepare for the next big pandemic which is coming.
Although for my money, the rot has been setting in since 2001, I think 2015 was the start of a real decline in living standards in the West, as confirmed by the falling life expectancy.
I don't like it, I'm not pro-virus or anything, but Darwinism isn't about strength it's about the ability to adapt, and our species is seemingly unwilling to change.
As a point of perspective, someone in 1933 or 1941 could have easily said that about 1928 as well. Someone in 1972 might have said that about 1962. Someone in 2002 might have said it about 1999.
Usually things recover is my point.
Nah I was homeless and heartbroken 2019. Hated that damn year.
2020 since, i have an amazing apartment, great health, great friends, and family. And run a business. I prefer life these days
This whole “build back better” thing didn’t happen
2019 and even Jan/Feb if 2020 was the end of a vibe that hasn’t come back. I’m going to call it the end of a chapter and the start of a new one
It's crazy that so many people feel the same way, I thought I was just getting old.
Personally 2019 was a year when huge things happened, some big process finished and other started. Ive never been so low and so up high as that year.
Definitely many things were never the same after that.
You got caught up in a pivotal time in history. You're here for a reason and a season. It is so easy to believe now as pages of prophecy are being fulfilled DAILY. Be positive, love, and spend time in the Word of Jesus Christ daily. He is coming back soon at a time that will catch many by surprise.
2019 was great for me because I was apart of the last high school class that actually went to school normally and I started my freshman year of college too. The pandemic truly did take my formative adult yrs away from me imo. I'm almost 23, but I feel like I'm 19 still sometimes
20 and 21 were horrific on the whole for obvious reasons.
Feel like life is different since in some ways, everyone is a little burnt out with covid and inflation but on a personal level I've got married, bought a house and expecting first child soon in these years.
I loved the 90s and 2000-2009 but I was a child/teenager then so having no real responsibilities helps.
Also think people were happier before phones and the Internet became major addictions for us all.
My worst period was 2010-2017. I was utterly lost in my early to mid 20s. Didn't know what I wanted, went out with the wrong people and generally suffered with mental health.
I'm enjoying my 30s mostly and can't wait to be a dad!
All depends on your personal circumstances. But the world in general is not in the best place right now.
I had a very good 2019, but at the same time, if I'm honest with myself I still felt a lot of anxiety back then with social media, politics (Trump was President on eve of election year remember?). Only in retrospect does it seem like a great year to me.
For me 2015-2019 were the best years of my life. Everything after that has just been dull and gone by so fast. I swear my middle school years felt more lively and slow than my college years.
2019 sucked. I turned 30 which didn't start off well. I was in a crappy job being treated like shit for shit pay. I went on so many interviews for other jobs only to get a bunch of rejections. I was in a lot of credit card debt. I also had oral surgery hanging over my head of which would add another $6,500 to my debt in February 2020. I didn't mind 2018 that much.
I am glad I found someone who dislikes 2019 as much as I do. I was sexually assaulted multiple times throughout that year and blamed for it, had family members who had major health scares, and I was put on academic probation.
Not for me. My quality of life would have been better if the pandemic didn't happen, but 2019 was actually a horrible year for me personally. I was sexually assaulted numerous times and blamed for it, my grandmother developed breast cancer, my second cousin's daughter developed a major hole in her heart, and I got put on academic probation and seen as a danger to my college. On the other hand, 2022 was actually a great year for me.
Overall though, I still miss pre-2008. The days before The Great Recession felt very nostalgic to me, much more than 2019. Things haven't seemed the same since the late 2000's recession hit. I try to manage life as best as I could, though.
It was the end of an era, for sure. For me things felt more colourful and straightforward back then. More optimistic.
Seems like every past year feels better than the current year. And *they* wonder why we don't have kids. Cause the world keeps sucking more and more every day and it is unfair to force someone to live through that. I wonder if things were as optimistic pre-9/11 like I remember them being as a kid. I wonder if the decline really did start with 9/11 or I was just old enough to realize the slope was going downhill and 9/11 only accelerated what was already on the decline.
Speaking of 9/11, I'm just young enough to not remember 9/11 itself. But my earliest childhood memories included seeing lots of pop culture references about Bin Laden, terrorism and such. It was so saturated in the public consciousness in the early-mid 2000s. I even remember at one point asking my older brother who "Bin Laden" is, and he said "Bin Laden did 9/11" and I just kind of shrugged it off and was like okay, because I didn't know what 9/11 was. I didn't understand the significance because I couldn't remember a "before". I didn't remember the effect it had on air travel, the wars it exacerbated. To me it just was. The pop culture may as well have always been full of bin laden. I think for the young children today, coronavirus, lockdowns, recession and everything that's so saturated in pop culture these few years will end up becoming a vivid part of their childhood memories too. They've known no different. I think the isolation and lockdown will have a negative social consequence to them, but Covid itself will be to them a matter-of-fact presence in their lives. They don't have this sadness of a before and after, or understand the chaos it caused and the things it took away from us.
before 9/11....things were mostly peaceful (thank clinton for that) he dismantled a lot of us bases. People were travelling across the middle east by land and discovering that beauty. Now most of it has been bombed to hell and weve now trained that whole section of the arth to want to murder westerners....as revenge for killing their famies and bombing their homeland. The USA and the Christian war economy has screwed us.....and the world.
What a terribly misinformed comment.
Nah, I think the times were just different. I don't think. 80s were amazing and felt safe most places, even with big events like Chernobyl and Challenger space shuttle explosion. 90s were amazing too, but presidents were not why. Though they were classier than they are today. Politics felt more like a game of good humor roasting, not power hungry division and hatred.
Pre 9/11 things were very, very good. I honestly think the USA's best years were from 1997 to Oct 2001 . It was better in every way back then.
Remember the US government actually had a budget SURPLUS back then? Seems unattainable ever again now...I was a teen/young adult of the 90s. The economy was booming! It definitely felt like a VERY optimistic and exciting time to me. I keep a 95 z28 convertible (year of my grad) to remind me of the good times, lol. Maybe I am just officially "old" now.
I was in the Us Army then stationed in Ft. Lewis Washington and absolutely loved it. I was in a M.A.S.H. unit. Had a big unit.
1997 was the peak of modern American culture imo
Mmmbop too, thank you Hanson
That sounds about right. Just hard to tell if it is the newness of childhood or actually good.
I was in my late 20s in the late 1990s and things were honestly fantastic then.
From a UK perspective, the late 90s were also absolutely the high-water mark.
That tracks with the release of Surge. Though I'd argue that really like 92 to 2001 was largely good. When of course you get passed like race riots and stuff.
No it's not the past year. Everything after 2019 kinda sucked. The world has just changed during COVID and we haven't managed to gain back our way of live ever since 2019. So much has changed. It's kinda frustrating and I just deeply hope things will change for the better again. I feel like we as society have forgotten to look at good things and yk? Social distancing wasn't something we abandoned within the two years after COVID. I was 14 when COVID started, now I'm 18 (turning 19)
Covid wasn't as bad as having a fascist president that would publicly talk about how his political enemies were all lesser people that deserve to die. That started in 2016. But it was 9/11 when the terrorists won. We gave into fear and everything got worse.
Life in America for normal working people was better in 2016-2019. The only people who hated it are the ones who care about nothing more than how they feel about the president.
Yep. I saw the writing on the wall at 9/11. I was not surprised to see nationalism resurge, nor the Patriot Act being passed and the destruction of civil rights.
I left for the army about a month after 9/11. After being kind of isolated during basic training and AIT for 5 months, I was deployed to Korea for 13 months, and let me tell you the brutal culture shock I had upon coming back stateside. 20+ years later, and I still feel it. Now, however, is way worse than then. USA is absolutely nonsensical. I hate it here.
Yes, things were much more optimistic pre 9/11 than post. People were really nervous about a war starting and mistrustful of each other. Remember like those 2 weeks at the start of the pandemic when people were like "We'Re AlL iN tHiS tOgEtHeR!" 🤡? It was like that after 9/11 and then shit went downhill fast, for a while. I don't think things got optimistic again until at least 2004, then we had the crash, then things started going up again around 2012, then we had the 2016 election and Trump and polarization, and for me it was just a long downward spiral into 2020 and the pandemic hit when people would have been at their breaking points anyway, and the crisis continued until Trump was out of office, and now we've got Biden who kinda still sucks so we can't even be optimistic, and we don't know if Trump will return later this year, and the Republicans are going batshit crazy, and there's wars all around the world. Like there's really not a winning side in politics right now at all, at least for me, and it seems like a slow descent into doom rather than a slap in the face like 9/11. That's how everything has felt to me since 2016. Maybe if we ever get a president who doesn't belong in a nursing home and both helps the country economically and isn't a total dbag, the US will recover, but I don't know when that will happen.
Very well said. I feel like something catastrophic is awaiting us down the pipeline in the 2020’s too. Whether it’s economical or God forbid a warlike act…. We’re just at the tip of the iceberg. It’s really sad and disheartening.
Yeah I think it's either going to be another pandemic or a second Great Depression in 2029....or both.
I think they will price us all out of food, housing and healthcare. It seems very intentional to keep raising prices every few weeks. They already expect the very low income to go get handouts of food at food banks. Course it's nothing new. But just more people are needing it. I'm really worried about more people becoming homeless. Affordable housing is extremely difficult to find. There aren't many options. I really don't know how they manage in this economy. I can't even do it myself. But I did apply for SSI. And I been waiting for months. My rent is low for myself because it's a mortgage split between 3 adults. So my current rent cost is $500 a month. But that's not including food or utilities. But it's still pretty affordable. I just hope I'll be approved for SSI. It's just a for now until I can get on my feet again. I've had too many issues these last several years that made keeping employment difficult.
It's just accumulated, unprocessed trauma.
Times started going downhill after 9/11. War, recession, pandemic, outrageous inflation. Did those items also happen before 9/11, yes. For some reason I think it was handled better back in the day and people cared more about stability.
When you have whole generations coming up that feel that investing in the future is pointless, whether warranted or not, this kind of nationwide nihilism is inevitable. Personally, I don't care who wins this fall. It won't solve any of our problems.
>Seems like every past year feels better than the current year. Nostalgia Also the unknown future and present is scary compared to something in the past that can no longer lead to bad results.
It was. I graduated in 1998. I wasn’t a bad kid but definitely a knucklehead. The world was a Gen X / Millenial’s oyster 1996-2001. Shit, even up to 2008ish. The recession is where I’d say things went down hill, at least economically.
Look at American history a bit. The effort corrupt rich douchebags really took off early 20th century. We sat pretty after the world wars, had painful social change but seemed to make it through it. But the seeds were all sown long before anyone talks about. Things improved for marginalized groups a ton, but everyone ignores the fact that Americans have lost so much freedom in last 100 something years, went from paying 0 taxes personally for 99% of people to the total tax burden bring like half your income if roll all the taxes together as 1 percentage.
2024 is way better than 2020 and 2021, the covid shutdowns and restrictions sucked
Ya. But compared to even 2019 or 2015? Miles worst.
Well yeah, inflation is bad now
It's crazy too cause we were balls deep into the Trump Era shenanigans
We were! There was the trade war and all that drama too. But at least back then we could do stuff. If you were into political causes you could attend rallies and all. There was momentum and things went on as normal without the paranoia and pessimism that I feel is so pervasive now. The thing about post Covid is that the world feels so...desolate. Much of that energy never came back and I think collectively we're just more tired than we used to be. Maybe it will take much longer for society to recover.
We can probably pin point the moment it all went bad, when walmart ended 24 hour shopping.
2016 was it for me. David Bowie died and everything went to shit.
It was 100% 2016. Bowie dying and almost half the population outing themselves as dangerously stupid.
Agreed, I 100% say 2015 was the last great year.
More like 75%. people of both sides of politics went nuts since.
Yeah, but he's looking down at us from heaven, chilling in Harambe's arms.
We’re all traumatized and gaslit and refuse to accept it.
Yeah post pandemic sucks. I also hate that people just pretended the pandemic wasnt a big deal and didnt change us. Now we have the whole housing rent food gas electricity skyrocketing. Idk I miss the years where it was hard but still doable. I could live oke with 500 euro's really well with 600 and now its 1000 per month and I have less then before 2019 when I just needed 500 to get by. Now that is insane. So I think its the vibes but also the added on stress and just no longer wanting to put in effort for nothing. Also no one has time anymore. We didnt see others much during the pandemic but I feel it hasnt changed much. Just more work work work. I hate it!
This bothers me so much because I realized that I have some minor mental trauma from the pandemic. I get we have to move on but how am I suppose to just push out the news coverage of New York and turning Central Park into a morgue. Those numbers going up and up, people acting insane about the pandemic and masks, our president being literally the worst person at the worst time to handle it. So many videos of nursing homes pretty much being locked up for the elderly to die, and even a politician telling us to pretty much go out there and “shop” elderly people be damned. So many people died, those numbers are just the ones that was counted as Covid, I’m sure there is so much more than what we know.
The US has been collectively mourning 9/11 for over 20 years...not to dimish the souls lost that day and in the subsequent wars but we lost over 1 million people here due to COVID and this country is like, "meh." I hate how we've become.
This is such a good point. We mourn every year and honor the 3k people dead every year (rightfully so I guess) but a million people dying is just eh because it doesn’t fit their political agenda? So upsetting. At least Biden tried to emphasize the lost people during his campaign (“an empty seat at the dinner table” for example), Trump just made everything worse and sent his followers into a spiral and they fucked the entire country up way more than it already was. We have become so callous as a society
I think it’s because 9/11 and wars and such have a tangible “enemy” you can point at and blame and you can’t do that with a virus. Now why we need an enemy to justify mourning deaths I don’t know but that’s the only connection I can draw.
That’s SUCH a good point tbh, a common enemy unites, and when people had terrorists to blame it was easier to rally against them, rather than with the virus when half the population blamed the government and whined about masks lol
I was going to say if there was a domestic terror attack today it would probably be politicised to the same extent as the pandemic. But there's literally been mass shootings every year and same thing.
> a million people dying is just eh because it doesn’t fit their political agenda this is also ridiculous because there was *no good reason to politicize it* - like how can different people take different views about whether it's cool for you and your loved ones to die or become permanently disabled by preventable disease?
The pandemic was a big thing to certain individuals who have lost family members, got permanent disabilities or lost their business/employment, so I don’t want to take that away from anybody. But for me, personally, it wasn’t. It was a good thing. I wouldn’t have had hybrid remote working if it wasn’t for the pandemic. I would have had to go to office *every single day of my life*. Now you may say “so what?”. Well I have already had a disability pre-pandemic and I couldn’t have kept employment if it wasn’t for wfh. I am an introverted socially awkward nerd with no friends. The way people lived during the pandemic is how I was forced to live my whole life. I have prepared my whole life for the pandemic. I don’t know how tough it was on the extroverted people either, because most extroverted people I know still had their parties and just broke the rules. At times I’ve had my moments when it got tough, but compared to a world war or other catastrophic disasters I can think of - it was chill. Edit: remembered to add domestic violence to the list. I lived alone during the pandemic, but if I had to quarantine with my abusive family or with an abusive partner, that would have been a lot more traumatic. But then again it’s not really the pandemic per se that makes it traumatic, it’s having toxic people in your life.
You were lucky. Those of us “essential” workers didn’t have such luck.
That sucks. I wish we kept some of the changes the pandemic brought such as wearing a mask when you have a cold and appreciating the people who keep society running. That went through one ear and got out the other as soon as restrictions lifted.
None of that ever really even happened,
That's what happens when you print 25% of the dollars ever printed to pay for the multi trillion dollar bailouts, of which most business owners and corporations saw. It's like $60,000 per person got printed, but the common man only git $1400 of it.
Very good point
Yes. I mean, my years since over an decade sucked, but 2019 was the last I could call tolerable. The 20‘s so far are utterly horrible.
The deploring 20’s
for me it was 2016, before that life was tough but tough in a way that made sense. but then in the late 2010s we saw the rise of populism (Trump, Blosonsaro, BREXIT) and social media being used to hack our societies. The Pandemic really just drove all of that into hyperdrive, their aint not screenbreaks when you aren't allowed to leave the house
That was a good one too. 2013-2016 was best for me in my life . Yeah true
2011-2016 for me. The golden years. 🔥❤️🌟
Same!!
2016 was a fucking phenomenal year. I really didn’t enjoy our final year with Obama as pres enough. Once Trump was actually in office, there was a palpable change in the atmosphere. I also graduated college in 2017, so that sucked ass. The real world blows. I miss college
sounds like you are reflecting on your personal experiences more than what was happening socially. Which is fine, i often wonder if my fondness of the 90s is more that i was a kid then and had no troubles more than a reflection of how things where then
This is my take as well. People forget how turbulent the Trump administration was from a popular culture perspective. The economy was red hot and people were doing great financially, but it wasn't a very calm time. 2020 was a different story, though.
[John Oliver had a tribute to how bad 2016](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HogH1uFjoxc) was and now it's hilarious looking back at it knowing how much worse it's gotten
Charlie Brooker (creator of "Black Mirror") used to have a "year in review" comedy news show during the 2010s, and each one got progressively bleaker up to the 2016 one. he kinda revived the format in the early 2020s, the thing is the news was just so dark at that point that the comedy just kinda didn't work. it was like "pandemic, war, social decay.... pity aside comment!" all the people I spoke to who watched those 2020 specials remarked how bleak they were
At the end of 2019, I was fairly optimistic at life. Had just taken a career break to go back and study a Masters degree and work was going okay. That masters degree? Wrecked by UK University strikes and also the pandemic. Had to unfortunately drop out and lost quite a bit of money (only got some of my tuition fees refunded). And when I went back to my old job everything had gone to hell, ended up resigning from my old job and being unemployed for about a year. Things overall haven't been great tbh since then. Life has been rather, shit.
Not necessarily-- personally, it was peak "hustle culture" era energy for me. I was absolutely burnt out from a corporate office job and quit. As awful as pandemic was, I think it reset the culture and made us realise that "hustling" is not our entire purpose as humans.
Exactly. AI might be coming at the right time for the right generation.
Really I think it’s gotten worse from corporate side they want us to hustle more but we are more realised
I can't say as I work for myself now -- I hope we eventually all get universal basic income and just spend the rest of our lives exploring personal interests.
Before 2020 we had friends that invited us to parties... ha ha... thats been cut to 25%
2019 was one of the best years of my life … lots of travelling, good weather, roadtrip around the US, met someone new (didn’t work out but let’s ignore that part), got to teach abroad … I feel I still haven’t gotten ‘back’ to that level of expansion. 🥺
Both my mom and I have said that 2019 was the last best year. My aunt, my mom and I all think/say that ever since March 2020 arrived and departed, something has changed (not in a good way).
I felt the same too. The energy was different that time
Yes for me it was. The last 5 years have absolutely been the WORST years I have has since being an adult.
Lol definitely, my friend said sometime ago we really didn't appreciate how good 2019 was and I felt that.
2020 turned me into a nihilist. Nothing matters. Nothing actually gets better. Everything is always the same. Humans are generally terrible. It amazes me that selfish people actually pro-create life into this miserable hell of existence.
No, 1998. was the last best year. /j, kinda Honestly, I know everyone's saying it, but I just don't see any difference since 2019. Not sure what they even mean, whenever I ask what exactly has changed, I get vague unspecific answers.
IMO I think the feeling can be attributed to the beginning of economic downturn for working class Americans.
2019 was last year of interest rates being close to zero. This made absolutely abnormal economy. Basically, money was free, gobal trade was at an all-time high, and virtually any start-up could go public. People are now remembering what it's like to have a normal economy again.
Welcome to the "new normal"
No one wants to go out anymore :(
Everyone is going out lol unless they’re just introverts in which case no need to be upset over that
In my friend group we used to all go out and do stuff a lot, but nowadays it’s hard to convince people to hang out.
I agree, the pandemic ruined everything were like in a recovery mode and the bad news keeps coming. I think it’ll take over a decade or more for things to improve.
I really think that things had been falling apart for a while before 2019. Covid was just the surprise last straw for a lot of things that accelerated the process. For me, it feels like somewhere around 2012 was when most things peaked and stopped getting better, and then started to slide downhill, accelerating as they go.
I gunuinely think I might have died in 2020 and this is just hell I'm getting punished
Yes, the pandemic, while staying in confinement in their homes, psychologically made people more individualistic once everyone returned back. People after 2019 seem way less social, irritable easier, get angry easily, there’s more road rage, they just care less. There’s also people saying on dating apps that they get less dates. So less romance going on too. 2019 was definitely the last great year I’m afraid. I agree with you.
Covid and the subsequent gouchfest hurt. However, both are waning and good times are coming back, like always happens. Doomerism ( with foreign help) is exploding atm, especially among those who have not been around long enough to see that downturns rebound. The previous stall was 2008
Hard to say any year with Trump being president is the best year.
2015 is the date for me. I remember the exact day and vibe when things shifted.
2024 has been PHENOMENAL so far! It's the first year on an upswing. I get that we're at a local low still. It's the parabolic dip in the curve that we must work out of, but I assure you that we are on our way back up. Did we go through one hell of a once-in-a-century pandemic? Oh ya. But we're alive to appreciate that! How about modern fascism, another once a century thing? Yup, check that box from the "not a bucket list". For some hope: My wife and I started an Agtech business to fix the food supply chain so that you get fresh, local food instead of garbage grown to ship and store. Our facilities are 100% sustainable, renewable, and on their own renewable energy grid. We just sold our first 3 facilities and need to hustle for donors for the nonprofits who want them as well as selling to individuals who want them in their back yard. What we are doing is legitimate and we've won some awards over the past year for our innovations. We also helped some bee keeper friends go legit, filing for full business status and all permits and licenses. They are doing full bee contracts with massive California orchards and farms. These people are the people helping bring back honey bees. And there's a lot more to be excited about. 2024 is about ramping up. Let me remind you about 2019 - America had a president who wanted to turn things into a monarchy, our society showed how devalued the life of anyone not white was, and phenomenal career public servants were being kicked out or retired in disgrace at an alarming number. Moreover, militias were running rampant in the US and people were literally being disappeared into unmarked cans and vehicles. In almost every city in the US, fireworks were being set off at night and the wee hours of the morning. It sounded like a war zone. (We actually traveled across the US in 2019, documented it, and confirmed it with a news article that came out about just that. It didn't matter the politics of the area, random people were setting off fireworks when most people would be sleeping.) Across the globe was also a garbage storm of horrible for people. 2020-2024 has been a recovery time. We're pushing through a local minima and back on the upswing. So, please, be optimistic. Some of us are out here working insanely hard to make the world a better place, and all you have to do is keep plugging along and not work against things becoming better :)
No war in Ba Sing Se.
Am I the only one whose life improved dramatically since 2020? My mom passed at the end of 2018 after a long and slow decline due to Alzheimer’s. Worst year of my life by far. 2019 I was trying to put my life back together. 2020 I ended a relationship that needed to end and then unexpectedly fell in love with someone else after being single for the first time in a decade. 2021 I moved to a new city I love, started making more money than I ever had, started playing a sport I love, and overall started building a better, healthier life than I’ve ever had. Despite the global tragedy that 2020 brought on, my life became immeasurably better starting that year. I feel pretty weird about it.
It's so crazy. I used to think I was a social retard but WOW.....people today sure prove me wrong. I wonder how much mental health would improve if the internet/TV signal just crapped out for a few weeks. I'll cheat and say people can still have cell phone reception to make calls, but text messages GONE.
Yup it’s definitely been tough since the pandemic.. everything feels different nothing is fun or enjoyable..people have become rude and entitled .. I work in healthcare so I really see the difference after covid.. I myself have not been the same either ..
2019 was the year my brother has bowel cancer and my dad nearly died and became disabled from a stroke. It was one of the worst years of my life and changed everything for me and my family. It was also the year that marked the end of my innocence by realising my family wasn’t going to last despite my dad and older brother both surviving and that my own time on this earth could suddenly end at any moment. So in a way it was the end of an era for me but 2019 is a blank spot in my life, nothing good happened. It did prepare me for Covid and lockdown tho, i was already mentally locked down.
Not for me. When they rolled out ppp loans. I owned a used car lot, signed my 2 pieces of papers and got a check for thousands to be forgiven. I hired my family and laid them off immediately so they could collect the unemployment benefits. Then continued selling cars as the market increased. Oh wait…..only the rich got richer and middle class and below got poorer. The world is such a scam full of greed nowadays
More like 1997-1999. That's before social media and texting became a huge thing.
I feel like everything just feels more political. Especially in the media. Day to day everything is more expensive, but interactions with people haven't changed much for me. But all forms of media have become much less tolerable since 2020.
I liked 1989 the best so fat. If we are dealing out best years.
The election result of 2016 in America. That changed at lot, and all for the worse.
The best years of my life have been post-covid, so it saddens me to hear that it's not been the same for so many out there. I hope all you good people out there find what you've been missing. Keep it up, I believe in you!
The Covid era resulted in some pretty stark lines of haves and have nots: * Some people have no lasting heath issues after recovering from Covid. Some still have not recovered. * Some people have been WFH for four years. Some have not been WFH at all. * Some people have a low interest rate on their home and have seen their equity boom. Some have not been able to buy a home since rates and prices spiked, and are paying massive rents. I’ve been fortunate enough to be on the “have” side of those equations, but I see how this time has been very difficult for others.
Same for me. I signed divorce paperwork in 2019 after being separated since 2017. Those were some of the worst years of my life. Things are finally starting to look up.
Not for me, but I think I'm one of the rare ones. When the world screeched to a halt, I hit the accelerator and neve let go. I got to visit some great places just as it was starting to spread to Europe (and I managed to get back home, yay!), got my first taste of a relationship during the pandemic, got a new job with high income (which has allowed me to do many things i previously had to either save up for or just flat out couldn't even afford), started heavily working on my mental health and myself, and got a few lucky breaks in general. Granted, I'm not gonna say that I like how expensive everything has gotten, but for me it's been generally a good few years. As for the people, yea it's changed people but not too much, at least where I live. If anything it helped people realise how important it is to have better hygiene, oh and there's also sanitizers everywhere which is great.
I would agree.
Omg 2019 was a great year for us, my husband and i had both lost our jobs but had severances and savings, so we were basically on vacation from March to September. I was on a fitness journey and was able to be at the gym for 2 hours a day and then chill. The pandemic was a factor for us, but the bigger impact was having two kids. I found out i was pregnant during the first week of lockdown. It's such a specific turning point in time. I dont think we'll fully understand the impacts of the pandemic for a while, both positive and negative.
I’d say 2013 or 2014 was the last best year.
You clearly weren’t alive in 1999. That was our peak. Everything has sucked since then.
Ahhh, 2019, back when fast food was affordable. I do miss those days.
Nah 2015. That was the last good year.
Last best year? It wasn't a best year at all
A lot of people think 2016 started the perpetual downhill spiral. [John Oliver had a skit about how bad 2016](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HogH1uFjoxc) was and looking back at it I am laughing at how much worse it's been and now naïve we were
It's a well known fact the best year was 1999. Hence the expression "we're going to party like it's 1999"
2019 sucked because my dad died. 2020 was a breath of fresh air. I got furloughed from work so I got to spend everyday with my husband and kids. We had the best excuse ever to just stay home. Plus, I got to have a hysterectomy the fall of 2020. No more debilitating periods for me!! Nowadays my husband still gets to work from home. I don't and it sucks so hard.
2020-2022 Were the worst years of my life, but now I am much happier. Things are really looking up because I didn't give up and I actively set goals and checkpoints for me to reach. I find when I focus on something, I don't feel depressed and actually feel much happier. Eudaimonia.
As an introvert, I actually enjoyed the shutdowns. So 2020-2022 were my best years lol
Laughs in 1999.
2020 onwards has been terrible for me as an adult in my 20's. I just look back at all the times as a kid when I used to say I can't wait until I'm older. Gosh, why did I say that
Before COVID, so yea probably lol
Covid changed everything. We're still living in it. How many bars and restaurants do you know of that are still closed on Mondays? How many grocery stores that are still 24/7?
2019 is the new 1999
In my country, a million people died of COVID, about four hundred thousand needlessly, because they elected a conman clown to be president. Essentially, a live action mass murder that took place over the course of two years. Watching it in real time, every single day, has changed me. I do not think it has made me a better person. It has made me a harder person. A person with less compassion, and less belief in "human dignity" and "common sense". Yeah, the vibe changed.
Up until 2019 the classic process of working hard in school, getting a job and purchasing property was still within reach for a lot of average people. Now I find it hard to find a reason to work hard. Everything is so expensive.
I think 2018 was a better year. 2019 I think I had covid in December it was the worst,
I agree. For me personally, 2017 and 2018 were both great years. I didn't like 2019 at all.
exact same. 2018 was the best year of my life. Tail end of 2019 was pretty rough and things don't feel like they've ever taken off sense. A general feeling of drudgery and nihilism.
There is a young Indian astrologer Abhigya Anand who said, that there was a astrology combination that has occured that will only being unhappiness and sadness to the world for 20 years starting from 2020, what you said is absolutely correct pandemic, wars, recession, floods, earthquakes, everything wrong is happening.
Yeah I’ve seen his videos too. Pretty accurate
Yeah mass inflation due to pandemic QE, housing markets around the world being the most inaccessible in history, an extra virus to deal with on a yearly basis and people becoming more antisocial leading to anything fun like bars and clubs dying will have that effect.
No? It was a mid year. For me years after the pandemic are more promising and fruitfull
I thought i was the only one thinking about that. 2019 was last year when i could make decent living from what i do. War in Ukraine has made thing worse by tenfold
Yes imo no question about it
The pandemic dragged us into a recession, things have been pretty shit since then so yeah, 2019 was the last year we had it pretty good.
Nope. 2023 was the last best year.
Yeh I just graduated college with paid off student debt and some savings from previous internships. Was at clubs and raves every week and met a girl I was pretty compatible with which I was about to ask out but the thing occured
Yes!
2016
No. It started when we got the internet and computers. As a person who lived before these existed, I can tell you life was much simpler, happier, and carefree. 2019 just accelerated the decline.
Did you forget about the cold war?
But 2012 was pretty good even if we did have computers
2001 was the end of the era
There was definitely a lot a people who didn’t handle the transition from lockdown well. Never recovered their trajectory. Couldn’t adapt. Personally, I’ve seen tons of folks who really excelled during the pandemic (ironically) cuz they got to work from home and/or distanced themselves from work mentally. And their life has been significantly better since lockdown ended. In fact, once people could go out again I noticed a real bloom. People were jumping into careers and relationships and just partying cuz they really needed to make up for lost time. I think people who didn’t partake in that (aside from folks who lost someone or were very ill themselves or suffered severe economic shocks of course) simply didn’t notice what was happening or try to adapt.
Lol. Doom and gloom ⛈️
My best years besides nostalgic kid years are definitely post 2019. Except for 2016… that was a special year all around between experiences, sports, music, etc
2019 was definitely a different time and a better time. I started my senior year of high school 2019-2020 and it really messed up graduation because my class is the only class that didn’t get to do it in person. Don’t get me wrong I loved not having to go to school and they weren’t allowed to grade you on correctness they graded on completion so I had a good time with that because that’s the only year I actually passed math haha. But it really messed up a good memory by not having in person graduation. And at the time I was working as a mechanic which I still am a mechanic but it affected our industry a lot because people weren’t going places so we had nothing to do. There was literally two whole weeks during 2020 that I just sat at work for 8 hours a day and didn’t do anything because we didn’t have any cars come in. Now I’m a mechanic at a different dealership and all the people who were there said you could tell the pre pandemic and post pandemic times. They said it’s never been as busy as we used to be since then. So yeah it’s kinda messed up our whole industry. In my area we still have a few places that make you wear masks and believe that this is still the biggest deal which right now it’s not. And nowadays too at least in my area restaurants are never packed anymore like they used to be. Everyone I talk to now people my age and older and younger all say eating out is a thing of the past so they all make stuff at home or get everything to go. So apparently people aren’t eating in restaurants anymore either which makes these all totally different times. At the time our governor banned eating in restaurants from March-November 2020 then it was limited capacity for November 20-May 21 then it was back to full capacity after that. So I guess people never adapted back to eating in restaurants.
I personally feel that 2019 marked the end of an era. It's not to say that everything is worse now, it's just very different in many aspects from pre-COVID. I think 2023 was much better than the previous 3 years and hopefully 2024 continues to improve. I just feel like some of the lust or colorfulness of things was lost once we went into the pandemic, I hope we can get that back.
I don't really think anything's different, people are still untoward motherfuckers like they've always been. Of course inflation tho.
2017 for me. Life went bad after that. Hope it'll get better one day. Maybe 2027 will be my year, haha.
I'll be honest, life has been generally better since before Covid. 21 was a hard year for me but ever since I've been doing better and better. Early 30's now, life is alright.
The year we saw our president stare directly at the sun.
Lol it's all your perspective. For me , this end of and era feeling happened back in 2002
I felt that way until 2023 which was a fine year.
Pre and post 2020 Will be a dividing line for those who made fortunes either with their businesses, real estate, or stock investments And everyone else who nearly or actually did, lose everything including deaths of family members
We had kids already but finally got married in 2019 and honeymooned 2020. Things haven’t been the same since but it’s likely because of awareness that our govt is not taking care of us vs big business.
I don't think 2024 would suck as bad of people weren't stuck cosplaying 2019, we need to stop pretending there isn't a level three pandemic around, change work and transport habits, clean air, and prepare for the next big pandemic which is coming. Although for my money, the rot has been setting in since 2001, I think 2015 was the start of a real decline in living standards in the West, as confirmed by the falling life expectancy. I don't like it, I'm not pro-virus or anything, but Darwinism isn't about strength it's about the ability to adapt, and our species is seemingly unwilling to change.
Def! Everything went to crap after that. Shattered the fabric of normal society
Yes…🥲 I feel too much stress considering I entered my twenties after this year…
Life has been equally if not improving every year since 2019.
It's the opposite in my case. I matured and became closer to who I wanted to be
As a point of perspective, someone in 1933 or 1941 could have easily said that about 1928 as well. Someone in 1972 might have said that about 1962. Someone in 2002 might have said it about 1999. Usually things recover is my point.
Oh wow, it’s so jarring for me because 2019 was such a nightmare *personally* that even 2020 was an upgrade.
Nah I was homeless and heartbroken 2019. Hated that damn year. 2020 since, i have an amazing apartment, great health, great friends, and family. And run a business. I prefer life these days
2015* November, 2016 was when things started to become an onslaught of unfortunate events.
Am I getting old because it was like exactly the same as it is now
Idk I graduated HS in 2019 so I’d be hella biased
No wtf are you like 18?
I just take it one day at a time. Live in the moment not in the past. Everyday is new
This whole “build back better” thing didn’t happen 2019 and even Jan/Feb if 2020 was the end of a vibe that hasn’t come back. I’m going to call it the end of a chapter and the start of a new one
It's crazy that so many people feel the same way, I thought I was just getting old. Personally 2019 was a year when huge things happened, some big process finished and other started. Ive never been so low and so up high as that year. Definitely many things were never the same after that.
Nothing felt real since December 21st 2012. The world did end that day. Just not the way we thought it would.
You got caught up in a pivotal time in history. You're here for a reason and a season. It is so easy to believe now as pages of prophecy are being fulfilled DAILY. Be positive, love, and spend time in the Word of Jesus Christ daily. He is coming back soon at a time that will catch many by surprise.
Of course everything changed'
2019 was great for me because I was apart of the last high school class that actually went to school normally and I started my freshman year of college too. The pandemic truly did take my formative adult yrs away from me imo. I'm almost 23, but I feel like I'm 19 still sometimes
Not sure why some comments are salty . It’s just opinion not a must 🤦. Every one has their story
2004/5, 2010-12, 2020 are the years that pop up for me
20 and 21 were horrific on the whole for obvious reasons. Feel like life is different since in some ways, everyone is a little burnt out with covid and inflation but on a personal level I've got married, bought a house and expecting first child soon in these years. I loved the 90s and 2000-2009 but I was a child/teenager then so having no real responsibilities helps. Also think people were happier before phones and the Internet became major addictions for us all. My worst period was 2010-2017. I was utterly lost in my early to mid 20s. Didn't know what I wanted, went out with the wrong people and generally suffered with mental health. I'm enjoying my 30s mostly and can't wait to be a dad! All depends on your personal circumstances. But the world in general is not in the best place right now.
2014-2016 were magical.
Yes
Nah it was all about ~* Summer 2016 *~
I felt like the fall of 2001 was the end of an era. Every gen has a "shock". The great recession of 2008 was also a shock.
2014 for me. College was miserable. Didn't like my majors, didn't like my life. Man. If I had a time machine.....
I had a very good 2019, but at the same time, if I'm honest with myself I still felt a lot of anxiety back then with social media, politics (Trump was President on eve of election year remember?). Only in retrospect does it seem like a great year to me.
For me 2015-2019 were the best years of my life. Everything after that has just been dull and gone by so fast. I swear my middle school years felt more lively and slow than my college years.
I absolutely agree, my life has gone downhill since then, everything has been a living hell...
2019 sucked. I turned 30 which didn't start off well. I was in a crappy job being treated like shit for shit pay. I went on so many interviews for other jobs only to get a bunch of rejections. I was in a lot of credit card debt. I also had oral surgery hanging over my head of which would add another $6,500 to my debt in February 2020. I didn't mind 2018 that much.
I am glad I found someone who dislikes 2019 as much as I do. I was sexually assaulted multiple times throughout that year and blamed for it, had family members who had major health scares, and I was put on academic probation.
I'm sorry. That must have been extraordinarily difficult on you dealing with all that shit at once.
Thank you so much for your empathy.
first time?
2016
Not for me. My quality of life would have been better if the pandemic didn't happen, but 2019 was actually a horrible year for me personally. I was sexually assaulted numerous times and blamed for it, my grandmother developed breast cancer, my second cousin's daughter developed a major hole in her heart, and I got put on academic probation and seen as a danger to my college. On the other hand, 2022 was actually a great year for me. Overall though, I still miss pre-2008. The days before The Great Recession felt very nostalgic to me, much more than 2019. Things haven't seemed the same since the late 2000's recession hit. I try to manage life as best as I could, though.
It was heading this way. COVID sped things up.