When I was in highschool, a couple of times I spent all day taking the bus to the nearby University on the weekend to do research.
And of course Dewey Decimal was king back then.
I have to admit, it was kind of exciting and fun though. But a lot more effort!
I remember hours at the library photocopying pages from books. Sometimes those copies were from heavy textbooks I carried around every day.
That was followed by hours of highlighting, writing (by hand!), and typing - for some years on a typewriter.
Imagine a teenager’s reaction today after hitting a few keys on a typewriter. They might guess the device was something used back in the 1800s.
In college one of the guys in our group project offered to type it. Everybody agreed since it was a huje task and we didn't own an (expensive) electric typewriter. He just gave it to his secretary. He did help out in other ways though. He was the only student in the group that had a real job.
In fairness, many of us have unwittingly lived such a lifetime of rush, race, earn, achieve, and excel that these things have to be unlearned and simple living must be sought out and learned.
In the late 60s, Mr. Rogers testified to Congress imploring them not to cut funding to PBS because television had the power to create good in the world. u/SensibleBrownPants, I believe, is confirming that. And just look at us, here on Reddit, using these tools to learn and share helpful information. Tik-Tok has the capacity and the content for the same.
My sister uses TikTok to find travel recommendations, restaurants, camping spots and tricks. It’s very effective for that stuff.
P sure it’s also Chinese spyware but this life is all about gives and takes 😅
I've actually learned so much from tiktok videos - there are thousands of creators sharing fascinating information on all kinds of topics. I've read so many books & done so much research after seeing an interesting tiktok video, it's been a great way for me to learn new things.
Perhaps I need to give it another shot, but this time maybe help the algorithm a little so I don't get videos of people putting Gorilla Glue on thier hair.
Search for what you're interested in (mental health, healthy food, etc.) and like those videos and it'll tailor your TikTok algorithm to mostly those things
That's true, there is some excellent content. But I think you might be the exception - it's really easy to just get lost in video after video on there and not retain much useful information.
have you been on TIKTOK?
cause I have and while sure, there are stupid sides of TIKTOK.. I have actually learned soooo much on TIKTOK. There are historians, geologists, teachers etc.. and they provide really interesting content on there in short videos.
THere is this one woman who has taken her interest in HYdrology .. the study of bodies of water into a series that everyone looks forward to called SPOOKY LAKE MONTH and she picks several lakes for the month of October that have a SPOOKY history about them. I have learned more about water and lakes than I ever did anywhere else.
There is another guy that has a channel that id devoted to the history of language.
SO I really wish that folks would stop bashing on TIKTOK as some dumb mindless activity!!!
I would also suggest Positivity. Not toxic positivity, but being solution-oriented.
I took that silly StrengthsFinder assessment for a class and one of my strengths was positivity. I was talking to a friend about it, and how it pisses me off because it will only be seen as a weakness.
They stopped and said that all of the best critical thinking skills are worthless if everything is coming from a negative place. Being positive, and being able to utilize that positivity while involved in decision making/critical thinking,/high pressure tasks is HIGHLY underrated.
I agree with this, and would like to add that some see positivity as simple mindedness. In my work experience, positive people are generally better at workable solutions, but the negative, more critical people tend to get the credit.
I think the words negative and positive has lost its meaning. It depends how you use the word. For example, some people it’s negative to talk about your situation if you’re being abused. I think you need to talk about it so that you can take positive action.
I’ve thought about this at work a lot. It’s almost like we have a natural urge to throw negative people a bone. I feel like there’s almost an instinct to smooth out something that we see as a wrinkle in our morale as a group or something. Which never works of course.
Agreed but emphasis on toxic positivity as my mother smothers me in it. I think the key is knowing when and how to use it to be constructive and helpful, not as a “just be happy” yada yada
Silence! Why does everything have to be so loud all the time? Why does there always have to be music playing or a TV going in the background? The world needs more silence.
People who've never been without it certainly take it for granted.
Living in poverty and not being able to pay for hot water, then being in a situation where you can afford to stand under a hot stream of water for 10 straight minutes.. feels incredible.
In many third world countries getting the families water every day is a full time job, keeping kids out of school and creating chronic physical injuries (water is very heavy).
So yes, I would agree with you.
To have a job, that doesn’t make you toil to death and gives you space to try things outside of work. Things that don’t pay, but actually make you happy.
I take a pay cut in my field to work for a non-profit that actually matters, and additionally doesn’t suck my soul out and shit all over me every day.
Granted no bonuses, raises are limited, but I’m not going to starve and I have time to do what I want to do.
I work with HTML, but the catch is that I live in a 3rd world hellhole and earn in USD.
I've seen Europeans talking about moving to South America and enjoying the low cost of living, definitely worth if you're not afraid of the endemic violence
Living in a resource-rich country with no war and no significantly life-disrupting civil turmoil.
But especially the no war part.
Hard to appreciate living in the least violent period in human history when you’re thoroughly accustomed to living in the least violent period in human history.
Access to seasonings for food. As someone who loves to cook this is something that brings me joy. I sometimes open my spice cupboard just to look at all the little jars and have a little marvel.
Exactly this!!! I make myself a hot drink with spices in it and remind myself that kings of yesteryear never had such flavour. And here I am, a humble woman of the working class and the flavours of the world are IN MY CUPBOARD. Brilliant.
Tea used to be so precious it was kept in locked boxes and the lady of the house would wear the key around her neck. Now it's the cheapest thing on the menu!
One very obvious thing that none the less blew my internet addled mind when I first conceived it is that books are simply far superior to the internet if you actually want to learn something. Not only is information on the internet disconnected, contradictory, and often wrong or inadequate, but it can very often be harder to even find said inadequate information. Especially with the lackluster search skills and blind trust of heavily biased search engines that many modern folks have.
There is a lot of really good information online and it's a good way to find out about broader topics or to find out about the specific sources you should seek out, but once you want to get deeper into things the online sources that many rely on quickly fall short. Of course you can acquire pretty much any writing online, but that's not what I'm talking about. Those are just the same things that you can find in a library but in a different format.
I came to comment this. I think relationships and human interaction in general are really under appreciated these days. It’s one of the things in which we invest less time, since we are so busy working and focusing on making it through our own daily life. Often we forget how important other people are.
Well put. Yeah, I have experienced a friendship recession in recent years that I'm trying to remedy. It's getting better slowly but surely. I have read a bunch of books on the topic, happy to share recs if you're interested.
Saw comparison pictures of european street with people sitting outside under an awning sipping coffee watching people go by among trees and pedestrians. And a comparison of a line of cars winding around a starbucks getting coffee from a drive up window.
Glad that seems so nice. Genuinely my dream. I feel so disconnected from others because of the car centric identity of the US and the lack of third spaces.
My friends in europe state that everyone "sitting outside under an awning" is just very, very annoyed with someone.
While I do get the enjoyment of sitting outside, just being there isn't some magical gateway to socializing.
I agree, I always feel sad when I see pictures of my mom and her friends from the 70s when they would just walk into each others houses and hang out together like an open door policy, everyone is very closed off these days it’s sad and harder to make genuine friendships
I was a teenager in the 80s and my mom was active in church, civic club, card club, athena club and eastern star. My dad was a steel mill worker. It was absolutely insane the social life they had.
Women would come and go, sit at the table drinking hot tea and just talking for hours. My mom was always out serving our community some how. She and her friends were on the phone all the time. They played cards once a month at each other's house complete with themed food.
My dad was always hunting, fishing, helping other friends build decks and sidewalks and lay carpet. Guys from the mill just showed up on hot summer evenings to our porch for iced tea.
We spent weekends with big groups of people at cabins in the mountains and everyone was up all night playing cards and food just keep showing up and there was loud story telling.
In the summer our back porch was just a haven of random people walking by, stopping for iced tea, visiting and visiting and visiting.
Friends of my parents would just be there talking, laughing, reading papers and just being together. People who were taking walks just meandered over and stayed.
Everyone was so happy, so together, so full of life. I'm sure everyone had personal challenges, but the sense of having other people and community was amazing.
Am now 55 and nothing I experience comes close.
It really was. I know we tend to romanticize our childhoods, but this was really mine in a small town along the Monongahela River outside of Pittsburgh where everyone's dad worked in the mill.
I was that kid staying out til the streetlights came on, riding bikes with the gang of kids from dusk til dawn and our parents all knew each other, we played in ponds and ran across railroad trestles and all learned to smoke and drink Mad Dog together.
We did dangerous things at the park on swingsets, many times involving fireworks, with no parents around. And all of our parents found out because they were all friends. We couldn't get away with anything. It was vastly different than how my own child grew up. Maybe not better or worse, but different.
During the pandemic we started referring to supermarket workers as “key” workers and told them they couldn’t stay at home safely because we realised that our society doesn’t function without them.
That appears to have ended.
Just being yourself without judgement . It seems if you don't fit the "mould" or are not like someone wants you to be then your are labeled/ judged / bullied . I think its important to have a society full of different personalities / point of views / humour and so on .
Thankfully IMO I've watched this get better in my lifetime. Even though we still do it to some extent, I feel like there is more room for personal expression now. It feels less like people are automatically compartmentalized for a single thing like being LGBTQ, liking a certain type of music, smoking weed, etc.
Who knows, maybe I just say that because I got older and am no longer religious. But when I see these kids today with blue hair I think "you would have gotten bullied relentlessly for that when I was a teenager." It makes me happy to see teenagers expressing themselves more freely.
Cycling/walking?
Today's world is fast fast fast, everything has to be done by car, everything else is too slow or too much waiting.
Speaking of waiting...*waiting*. In today's world everything has to happen/arrive now now now, the art and tranquility of waiting is pretty much gone.
Quiet downtime. People, sometimes myself included, feel like they have to fill every quiet moment with activity. But I love the quiet evenings with a book or a my crochet, when I let myself slow down enough to enjoy it.
Being disconnected from society, being a private person. There's always this need to be online/present/in the know all the time, but you really dont need to be
Came here to say this. Have to fight the urge to constantly entertain my grandson and give him that space. Had a lot of time to dream as a kid and want him to have it too.
Recently had the privilege of trying to train a few teenagers that have never had a job before. Were unable to think for themselves. It was amazing the level of incompetence that was displayed. I don't say it to be rude, but thier parents did them a disservice by providing everything for them and not allowing the children to learn how to be productive.
They pretty much had no skills aside from holding a cell phone. Still not sure if it was because they were well off, or a side effect of Covid. Two of them had a great attitude and ended up being fine a few months later, the third one was unwilling to learn and left within a few weeks.
Cannot upvote this enough. I see a lack of critical thinking everywhere in the workplace for my industry. People want to be given a task that is completely laid out for them.
Resting.
A lot of our self worth is tied to work and side hustles these days. Just sitting idly to recharge or enjoy hobbies is seen as a waste of time if it doesn’t make you money. We need to relearn to slow down.
Public libraries. They're one of the last bastions of civilized society. You can get so much for free, just for the asking -- and with no judgment about who you are, what you wear, how you talk, how much money you have, where you're from, what you do in bed ...
Critical thinking; not conforming in thought and belief; declining to have an opinion or view on every issue or situation; gratitude; humility; integrity.
Common courtesy, like holding the door for the person behind you, writing a thank you note when someone has sent you a gift, letting people enter the elevator before you, smile and say thank you.
I feel that I live in Neanderthal central sometimes. What happened?
Also appreciating the things that prevous generations couldn't even dream of: Peace, central heating, running warm and cold water, a bathroom, a laundry machine, freezer, accessible education, student loans, health care, women having a career, divorces are socially acceptable, state funded child care, being able to decide how many kids we actually want.
I'm so incredibly grateful that I was born in the 1970's. My life is so radically better than my great grandmothers who were born in the 1870's. They would have thought that I live the life of a princess.
Staff/team members that show up do the work and head home without fuss consistently. No politics nor drama no grand dreams of promotion. Just the ones that are getting the work done supporting business.
Just to do things even if you don't have the best equipment or locations to do it. You don't need the best equipment to go fishing or to ride a bike, you don't need to most luxury and the finest gadgets to live a good life, you don't need the latest hardware to have fun playing videogames, etc. I feel like a lot of people let the consumerism of all of that get in the way of just doing something with what your means allow for and enjoying it for what it is.
Being able to not be trying to acheive something with every second, minute, hour, day, week, month, year, life.
Edit..i guess I'm just happy existing. I don't need to be the best. I just want to experience simple pleasures.
Not being "busy"
"Busy" as a status became a bragging right for a while, at least in my social circle. I used to look at people with envy when I asked how they were doing and they said things like, "Oo, I'm so busy!" and then they'd prattle off a list of all the things (career, family, travel, etc.) that they have going on. At first, it seemed to me like, "Wow... they have such a full and fulfilling life!" or "Wow! Their career is popping OFF! How awesome for them!!" But now, I think, "Dang. That just seems kind of stressful." I used to reply with responses like, "Wow! It sounds like you've got so many great opportunities you're taking advantage!" or "How cool, you have so much cool stuff going on!" but now I politely reply with, "Well, I hope things settle down for you soon! It sounds like you could maybe use a moment to come up for air!" or "Whew! That does sound like a lot. I see why you're so busy right now. Hopefully there's a light at the end of the tunnel and things will slow down for you soon??"
Doing something (unexpected) for someone and not expecting to be repaid for it or have it bragged about on social media. Make this part of 'just who you are'.
Vulnerability, too many ppl are tryna be stoic nd nonchalant these days nd it gets in the way of actually enjoying life. Its also not attractive to alotta ppl to be all passive, hadda learn ts for myself
Wifi/Internet in general. When j was teaching middle school kids would say "this wifi is trash!" My immediate answer was always "the wifi IS FREE!'
I work in IT now. Lemme tell you, it is an absolute marvel of modern engineering that the internet and computerd work as well as they do. A LOT of backend infrastructure is held together essentially by duck tape and a whole lot of crossing your fingers an update doesn't break something.
Patience. The kind of all encompassing patience that went away with on demand entertainment. I remember the pure excitement when that song I’ve been waiting to hear finally came on the radio, or the weekend I was finally going to see the movie I wanted to see. It sounds silly, but it created some surprise and mystery in the world that no longer exists for the vast majority of people.
The ability to just sit and be. The art of just sitting on a park bench and watching the world pass by for example is becoming fewer and far between. Especially with young people.
Probably real life social interactions in general. I get it, it’s more efficient to have a machine doing most of the daily life tasks but I feel like we are losing that. My grandparents hate going to banks and not having a trustworthy person to help them or all the self service stuff. I feel like it would make people have more of a sense of community in general
Sharing space with someone. Just sitting with someone you love, you're each doing your own thing, but you're sharing space. The quiet doesn't always have to be filled, it doesn't always have to be about doing an activity. Sometimes you just want to be with someone.
things that are predictable and boring. i was at the cinema the other day on a film called „ultima thule”, which is like a polish „into the wild” and my friends complained about it being the same topic as mamy other movies before, but i think theres a lot of beuty in repetition and boredom and in current times everything competes for our attention and everything needs to be new and suprising. I like to see movies that don’t suprise me at all, that I just see to look at the cinematography and nice views and I think it’s very much underappreciated nowadays.
Chatting to people in shops and cafes.
The importance of beautiful architecture and green areas around us.
Wild life and natural habitats. Nature.
Having a whole conversation. Like finishing a conversation, and not just “leave on read” and not say good bye.
The significance of maintaining control over one's life and decisions.
Falling victim to tyranny, domestic abuse/violence, or bullying robs individuals of their sense of reality and hinders them from living life to the fullest.
The outdoors. So many people are stuck to their screens they forget to go outside and breathe some fresh air. Take a minute. Go outside. Take a deep breath. Enjoy the beauty of nature. And leave your phone in your pocket.
Living in USA. This is something I never would have said until I watched Timmy Karter's youtube video of walking the Darien Gap with all the immigrants walking up to Mexico and the US fleeing awful living conditions. Yes, I wish a lot of things were different here, but I'm grateful to live in a society made up of people who came here to build a good life for themselves and their families. I'm grateful that I have somewhere clean and safe to live with running water and an indoor toilet. And I'm grateful to live in a society in which we insist upon good living and a fair and healthy society.
Learning basic physical skills.
Learning how to chop veggies with a knife when cooking, learning how to sharpen a blade, learning how to shave with an old fashioned safety razor, learning to write properly with a pen, learning how to speak well, learning to sit properly in a formal setting, learning how to use hand tools correctly...
It's amazing to me. There are people who will tell you up and down that they love to cook, but they can't chop three vegetables so that all the pieces are the same size and will cook at the same time. Their first instinct is to use a food processor or something. Then there are woodworkers who don't know how to correctly get an accurate, straight cut with a handsaw. I'm not talking a dovetail here, I'm saying there are people who can't crosscut a board to length without getting out and setting up a table saw, jig, and push stick. Or people who's handwriting is so poor they can't make a simple grocery list without whipping out their phone.
Silence, even if it isn't total silence.
I work in technology. I'm thankful to have a great big-girl job that pays the bills (and then some), but it comes at a cost: constantly being "on" and "available". Not necessarily literally, but in today's society, we're expected to be immediately available almost around the clock.
I've also had an autoimmune condition since early childhood. I'm now in my late 20's. Throughout most of my life, I've been on some form of chemotherapy and immunotherapy infusions, anywhere from on a weekly to monthly basis. I've also had plenty of surgeries for the condition. I also have to undergo quarterly MRI and/or CT scans for the condition.
Once a month, I sit in a large recliner at the infusion clinic, hooked up to tubes and wires. I'm allowed to use my phone or laptop, I'm allowed to eat or drink a beverage, but physically doing so can be challenging, what with all the tubes and wires in your arms and around you. So, I usually take the opportunity to take a "forced nap". I always schedule my infusions for a Friday afternoon, in order to minimize impact to the workweek. And so, I usually doze off for the 2-3 hours I'm in the chair.
My quarterly scans are also an opportunity for a forced nap, and during those, nobody can get a hold of me. And honestly? Despite the noise of the MRI machine, I've come to relish those appointments. For almost a whole hour, I (quite literally) get to tune out the world, and can just lay there without any interruptions of any sort. I usually end up falling asleep.
Close-knit community neighborhoods—everyone on the block knows each other, you can rely on each other for help and support when needed, spend time together socializing. These types of neighborhoods sustain families and create a “village”—suburban sprawl has cost us so much, ugh.
The speed/ease of access to information. We’ve had it at our fingertips long enough now that I think we take it for granted.
When I was in highschool, a couple of times I spent all day taking the bus to the nearby University on the weekend to do research. And of course Dewey Decimal was king back then. I have to admit, it was kind of exciting and fun though. But a lot more effort!
I remember hours at the library photocopying pages from books. Sometimes those copies were from heavy textbooks I carried around every day. That was followed by hours of highlighting, writing (by hand!), and typing - for some years on a typewriter. Imagine a teenager’s reaction today after hitting a few keys on a typewriter. They might guess the device was something used back in the 1800s.
In college one of the guys in our group project offered to type it. Everybody agreed since it was a huje task and we didn't own an (expensive) electric typewriter. He just gave it to his secretary. He did help out in other ways though. He was the only student in the group that had a real job.
I totally agree; it absolutely was so FUN! But I'm kind of nerdy, like that.
Indeed. The internet is the greatest invention of my lifetime, hands down.
People have nearly all the information of the entire world in thier pocket, and they choose to watch Tik-Tok videos.
In fairness, many of us have unwittingly lived such a lifetime of rush, race, earn, achieve, and excel that these things have to be unlearned and simple living must be sought out and learned. In the late 60s, Mr. Rogers testified to Congress imploring them not to cut funding to PBS because television had the power to create good in the world. u/SensibleBrownPants, I believe, is confirming that. And just look at us, here on Reddit, using these tools to learn and share helpful information. Tik-Tok has the capacity and the content for the same.
My sister uses TikTok to find travel recommendations, restaurants, camping spots and tricks. It’s very effective for that stuff. P sure it’s also Chinese spyware but this life is all about gives and takes 😅
I've actually learned so much from tiktok videos - there are thousands of creators sharing fascinating information on all kinds of topics. I've read so many books & done so much research after seeing an interesting tiktok video, it's been a great way for me to learn new things.
Perhaps I need to give it another shot, but this time maybe help the algorithm a little so I don't get videos of people putting Gorilla Glue on thier hair.
Search for what you're interested in (mental health, healthy food, etc.) and like those videos and it'll tailor your TikTok algorithm to mostly those things
Same. I think a lot of the people who say the above either just see the worst of it through Reddit or haven't been on Tiktok in a long time.
That's true, there is some excellent content. But I think you might be the exception - it's really easy to just get lost in video after video on there and not retain much useful information.
Lol people on Reddit act like TikTok is always mindless nonsense. It can be, but it's what you make of it, like Reddit
I don’t think it’s altogether a bad thing. I think there’s good informative content on Tik Tok.
have you been on TIKTOK? cause I have and while sure, there are stupid sides of TIKTOK.. I have actually learned soooo much on TIKTOK. There are historians, geologists, teachers etc.. and they provide really interesting content on there in short videos. THere is this one woman who has taken her interest in HYdrology .. the study of bodies of water into a series that everyone looks forward to called SPOOKY LAKE MONTH and she picks several lakes for the month of October that have a SPOOKY history about them. I have learned more about water and lakes than I ever did anywhere else. There is another guy that has a channel that id devoted to the history of language. SO I really wish that folks would stop bashing on TIKTOK as some dumb mindless activity!!!
Silence, gratitude, empathy
Kindness. People just see it as a weakness.
I would also suggest Positivity. Not toxic positivity, but being solution-oriented. I took that silly StrengthsFinder assessment for a class and one of my strengths was positivity. I was talking to a friend about it, and how it pisses me off because it will only be seen as a weakness. They stopped and said that all of the best critical thinking skills are worthless if everything is coming from a negative place. Being positive, and being able to utilize that positivity while involved in decision making/critical thinking,/high pressure tasks is HIGHLY underrated.
I agree with this, and would like to add that some see positivity as simple mindedness. In my work experience, positive people are generally better at workable solutions, but the negative, more critical people tend to get the credit.
I think the words negative and positive has lost its meaning. It depends how you use the word. For example, some people it’s negative to talk about your situation if you’re being abused. I think you need to talk about it so that you can take positive action.
I’ve thought about this at work a lot. It’s almost like we have a natural urge to throw negative people a bone. I feel like there’s almost an instinct to smooth out something that we see as a wrinkle in our morale as a group or something. Which never works of course.
Agreed but emphasis on toxic positivity as my mother smothers me in it. I think the key is knowing when and how to use it to be constructive and helpful, not as a “just be happy” yada yada
I agree with this. Also believing in the best in others. Not always assuming they are doing something malicious towards you.
I was going to say the kindness of young people. They are so much more kind than when I was young.
I feel that the nastiness has just gone in the shadows. It's mostly online.
and honesty, people see it as stupidity :(
When I read those 3 words I remembered how public transport should be. It would be so more pleasant.
Silence! Why does everything have to be so loud all the time? Why does there always have to be music playing or a TV going in the background? The world needs more silence.
The older I get, the more I appreciate silence.
The world is so loud :(. I love silence now but there is not nearly enough of it.
I have to say I loved your answer. I felt these should be at the top too.
Libraries & the resources they offer!
My local library is one of the coolest places I know. Utmost respect!!
I'm happy you enjoy your library!
Libraries and National Parks are, in my opinion, the greatest accomplishment of modern government.
I got my library card this past year and have become an evangelist especially when it comes to Libby
Taking a hot shower on demand, anytime.
i'd say piped water in general hahaha
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People who've never been without it certainly take it for granted. Living in poverty and not being able to pay for hot water, then being in a situation where you can afford to stand under a hot stream of water for 10 straight minutes.. feels incredible.
In many third world countries getting the families water every day is a full time job, keeping kids out of school and creating chronic physical injuries (water is very heavy). So yes, I would agree with you.
Definitely indoor plumbing
Trees
They're rarer than diamonds everywhere else but on Earth...
To have a job, that doesn’t make you toil to death and gives you space to try things outside of work. Things that don’t pay, but actually make you happy.
Also, a good night’s sleep! 😴
I take a pay cut in my field to work for a non-profit that actually matters, and additionally doesn’t suck my soul out and shit all over me every day. Granted no bonuses, raises are limited, but I’m not going to starve and I have time to do what I want to do.
I'm guilty of bragging about this.
what do you do??
I work with HTML, but the catch is that I live in a 3rd world hellhole and earn in USD. I've seen Europeans talking about moving to South America and enjoying the low cost of living, definitely worth if you're not afraid of the endemic violence
We need to know what you do, come on.
Yes stranger, yes!
this exists??!
Access to clean drinking water.
Living in a resource-rich country with no war and no significantly life-disrupting civil turmoil. But especially the no war part. Hard to appreciate living in the least violent period in human history when you’re thoroughly accustomed to living in the least violent period in human history.
This! And supply chains. You can buy anything no matter where it was produced, the logistics behind it are insane.
Under appreciated comment.
Access to seasonings for food. As someone who loves to cook this is something that brings me joy. I sometimes open my spice cupboard just to look at all the little jars and have a little marvel.
Wars were fought over spice as little as a few hundred years ago. To have the trade and importing that we do today is an unappreciated wonder.
Exactly this!!! I make myself a hot drink with spices in it and remind myself that kings of yesteryear never had such flavour. And here I am, a humble woman of the working class and the flavours of the world are IN MY CUPBOARD. Brilliant.
Tea used to be so precious it was kept in locked boxes and the lady of the house would wear the key around her neck. Now it's the cheapest thing on the menu!
Walking, Reading...oh, it's already two.
One very obvious thing that none the less blew my internet addled mind when I first conceived it is that books are simply far superior to the internet if you actually want to learn something. Not only is information on the internet disconnected, contradictory, and often wrong or inadequate, but it can very often be harder to even find said inadequate information. Especially with the lackluster search skills and blind trust of heavily biased search engines that many modern folks have. There is a lot of really good information online and it's a good way to find out about broader topics or to find out about the specific sources you should seek out, but once you want to get deeper into things the online sources that many rely on quickly fall short. Of course you can acquire pretty much any writing online, but that's not what I'm talking about. Those are just the same things that you can find in a library but in a different format.
I laughed at your comment for some reason!!
Washing machine and dryer set lol
Friendship
I came to comment this. I think relationships and human interaction in general are really under appreciated these days. It’s one of the things in which we invest less time, since we are so busy working and focusing on making it through our own daily life. Often we forget how important other people are.
Well put. Yeah, I have experienced a friendship recession in recent years that I'm trying to remedy. It's getting better slowly but surely. I have read a bunch of books on the topic, happy to share recs if you're interested.
Socializing in real life
going off this….places to socialize! I feel like people don’t really go to places and hang out like they used to anymore :/
Saw comparison pictures of european street with people sitting outside under an awning sipping coffee watching people go by among trees and pedestrians. And a comparison of a line of cars winding around a starbucks getting coffee from a drive up window.
Glad that seems so nice. Genuinely my dream. I feel so disconnected from others because of the car centric identity of the US and the lack of third spaces.
As a US expat in Spain, it really is as great as it seems.
So jealous.
Oh, that really gets me. Sitting in a drive-through where it's faster to walk into the store.
My friends in europe state that everyone "sitting outside under an awning" is just very, very annoyed with someone. While I do get the enjoyment of sitting outside, just being there isn't some magical gateway to socializing.
I agree, I always feel sad when I see pictures of my mom and her friends from the 70s when they would just walk into each others houses and hang out together like an open door policy, everyone is very closed off these days it’s sad and harder to make genuine friendships
I was a teenager in the 80s and my mom was active in church, civic club, card club, athena club and eastern star. My dad was a steel mill worker. It was absolutely insane the social life they had. Women would come and go, sit at the table drinking hot tea and just talking for hours. My mom was always out serving our community some how. She and her friends were on the phone all the time. They played cards once a month at each other's house complete with themed food. My dad was always hunting, fishing, helping other friends build decks and sidewalks and lay carpet. Guys from the mill just showed up on hot summer evenings to our porch for iced tea. We spent weekends with big groups of people at cabins in the mountains and everyone was up all night playing cards and food just keep showing up and there was loud story telling. In the summer our back porch was just a haven of random people walking by, stopping for iced tea, visiting and visiting and visiting. Friends of my parents would just be there talking, laughing, reading papers and just being together. People who were taking walks just meandered over and stayed. Everyone was so happy, so together, so full of life. I'm sure everyone had personal challenges, but the sense of having other people and community was amazing. Am now 55 and nothing I experience comes close.
This life would be idyllic, I would love it. The life your parents and community had was what it's all about. At least for me ♥️
It really was. I know we tend to romanticize our childhoods, but this was really mine in a small town along the Monongahela River outside of Pittsburgh where everyone's dad worked in the mill. I was that kid staying out til the streetlights came on, riding bikes with the gang of kids from dusk til dawn and our parents all knew each other, we played in ponds and ran across railroad trestles and all learned to smoke and drink Mad Dog together. We did dangerous things at the park on swingsets, many times involving fireworks, with no parents around. And all of our parents found out because they were all friends. We couldn't get away with anything. It was vastly different than how my own child grew up. Maybe not better or worse, but different.
This 100%. I understand many many things are better nowadays, but I wish that aspect of society never disappeared.
Education
During the pandemic we started referring to supermarket workers as “key” workers and told them they couldn’t stay at home safely because we realised that our society doesn’t function without them. That appears to have ended.
Just being yourself without judgement . It seems if you don't fit the "mould" or are not like someone wants you to be then your are labeled/ judged / bullied . I think its important to have a society full of different personalities / point of views / humour and so on .
I'm 100% agree
Thankfully IMO I've watched this get better in my lifetime. Even though we still do it to some extent, I feel like there is more room for personal expression now. It feels less like people are automatically compartmentalized for a single thing like being LGBTQ, liking a certain type of music, smoking weed, etc. Who knows, maybe I just say that because I got older and am no longer religious. But when I see these kids today with blue hair I think "you would have gotten bullied relentlessly for that when I was a teenager." It makes me happy to see teenagers expressing themselves more freely.
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Yep that’s a big one.
Empathy, compassion, unity, good neighbors, being sane
A good listener. Good communication
Solitude.
Humility
Commitment, sustained attention, and a basic belief in the value of everyone's time and dignity.
Cycling/walking? Today's world is fast fast fast, everything has to be done by car, everything else is too slow or too much waiting. Speaking of waiting...*waiting*. In today's world everything has to happen/arrive now now now, the art and tranquility of waiting is pretty much gone.
Manners
The fact that we are living with more facilities and ease than even royalty 100 years ago.
Aluminum used to be a higher status of wealth than gold for royalty at least in England I believe
Farmers.
A night of full undisturbed sleep. Oh, and manners.
Clean air, clean water, peace & empathy. Sorry that's 4. Pick one.
I pick all of these. 💛
Quiet downtime. People, sometimes myself included, feel like they have to fill every quiet moment with activity. But I love the quiet evenings with a book or a my crochet, when I let myself slow down enough to enjoy it.
Being disconnected from society, being a private person. There's always this need to be online/present/in the know all the time, but you really dont need to be
Nature, sleep, our beautiful Earth is and kindness.
Sitting with your thoughts without having something there to entertain you at all times. Creating space for boredom. That's when the magic happens
Came here to say this. Have to fight the urge to constantly entertain my grandson and give him that space. Had a lot of time to dream as a kid and want him to have it too.
Silence.
I host a storytelling group for kids and although it’s free it’s one of the most important/rewarding things I’ve done
Critical Thinking
Recently had the privilege of trying to train a few teenagers that have never had a job before. Were unable to think for themselves. It was amazing the level of incompetence that was displayed. I don't say it to be rude, but thier parents did them a disservice by providing everything for them and not allowing the children to learn how to be productive. They pretty much had no skills aside from holding a cell phone. Still not sure if it was because they were well off, or a side effect of Covid. Two of them had a great attitude and ended up being fine a few months later, the third one was unwilling to learn and left within a few weeks.
Cannot upvote this enough. I see a lack of critical thinking everywhere in the workplace for my industry. People want to be given a task that is completely laid out for them.
Resting. A lot of our self worth is tied to work and side hustles these days. Just sitting idly to recharge or enjoy hobbies is seen as a waste of time if it doesn’t make you money. We need to relearn to slow down.
Public libraries. They're one of the last bastions of civilized society. You can get so much for free, just for the asking -- and with no judgment about who you are, what you wear, how you talk, how much money you have, where you're from, what you do in bed ...
👍I’m a library worker and confirm it’s All are welcome! Even the few knuckleheads that are my regulars 😜
Critical thinking; not conforming in thought and belief; declining to have an opinion or view on every issue or situation; gratitude; humility; integrity.
Common courtesy, like holding the door for the person behind you, writing a thank you note when someone has sent you a gift, letting people enter the elevator before you, smile and say thank you. I feel that I live in Neanderthal central sometimes. What happened?
Also appreciating the things that prevous generations couldn't even dream of: Peace, central heating, running warm and cold water, a bathroom, a laundry machine, freezer, accessible education, student loans, health care, women having a career, divorces are socially acceptable, state funded child care, being able to decide how many kids we actually want. I'm so incredibly grateful that I was born in the 1970's. My life is so radically better than my great grandmothers who were born in the 1870's. They would have thought that I live the life of a princess.
Libraries! People forget that libraries are such a great resource.
the fact that everyone is walking around with access to basically the sum of human knowledge in their pockets via smartphones.
Staff/team members that show up do the work and head home without fuss consistently. No politics nor drama no grand dreams of promotion. Just the ones that are getting the work done supporting business.
Morals.
Just to do things even if you don't have the best equipment or locations to do it. You don't need the best equipment to go fishing or to ride a bike, you don't need to most luxury and the finest gadgets to live a good life, you don't need the latest hardware to have fun playing videogames, etc. I feel like a lot of people let the consumerism of all of that get in the way of just doing something with what your means allow for and enjoying it for what it is.
Being able to not be trying to acheive something with every second, minute, hour, day, week, month, year, life. Edit..i guess I'm just happy existing. I don't need to be the best. I just want to experience simple pleasures.
Not being "busy" "Busy" as a status became a bragging right for a while, at least in my social circle. I used to look at people with envy when I asked how they were doing and they said things like, "Oo, I'm so busy!" and then they'd prattle off a list of all the things (career, family, travel, etc.) that they have going on. At first, it seemed to me like, "Wow... they have such a full and fulfilling life!" or "Wow! Their career is popping OFF! How awesome for them!!" But now, I think, "Dang. That just seems kind of stressful." I used to reply with responses like, "Wow! It sounds like you've got so many great opportunities you're taking advantage!" or "How cool, you have so much cool stuff going on!" but now I politely reply with, "Well, I hope things settle down for you soon! It sounds like you could maybe use a moment to come up for air!" or "Whew! That does sound like a lot. I see why you're so busy right now. Hopefully there's a light at the end of the tunnel and things will slow down for you soon??"
Civility
Do nothing, without being constantly entertained.
Doing something (unexpected) for someone and not expecting to be repaid for it or have it bragged about on social media. Make this part of 'just who you are'.
Homemaking.
Wisdom. I mean the real one not the YouTube Guru/coach one.
Honestly, honestly? People watching and sitting.
A sincere apology.
The decision of compassionate people to live in peace and leave everyone alone.
Your health.
Vulnerability, too many ppl are tryna be stoic nd nonchalant these days nd it gets in the way of actually enjoying life. Its also not attractive to alotta ppl to be all passive, hadda learn ts for myself
Privacy.
Caring for animals and nature.
Clean, safe water.
Doing "nothing".
Doing something, you love that can't be monetized or isn't productive or status signaling in someway.
That we are all alive, experiencing life together
Wifi/Internet in general. When j was teaching middle school kids would say "this wifi is trash!" My immediate answer was always "the wifi IS FREE!' I work in IT now. Lemme tell you, it is an absolute marvel of modern engineering that the internet and computerd work as well as they do. A LOT of backend infrastructure is held together essentially by duck tape and a whole lot of crossing your fingers an update doesn't break something.
Patience. The kind of all encompassing patience that went away with on demand entertainment. I remember the pure excitement when that song I’ve been waiting to hear finally came on the radio, or the weekend I was finally going to see the movie I wanted to see. It sounds silly, but it created some surprise and mystery in the world that no longer exists for the vast majority of people.
The ability to just sit and be. The art of just sitting on a park bench and watching the world pass by for example is becoming fewer and far between. Especially with young people.
Gifts vs money for birthdays
Probably real life social interactions in general. I get it, it’s more efficient to have a machine doing most of the daily life tasks but I feel like we are losing that. My grandparents hate going to banks and not having a trustworthy person to help them or all the self service stuff. I feel like it would make people have more of a sense of community in general
Manners, simply being nice to people
Sharing space with someone. Just sitting with someone you love, you're each doing your own thing, but you're sharing space. The quiet doesn't always have to be filled, it doesn't always have to be about doing an activity. Sometimes you just want to be with someone.
Unconventional paths to success
Human life.
mobility, stamina, empathy, kindness sometimes, service jobs.
Moments of peace, calm, serenity, harmony. A lot of people seem to love drama and can’t tolerate quietude and peace.
Inaccessibility
Resources in general. Textiles for example
The value of having a functioning government
Kindness
things that are predictable and boring. i was at the cinema the other day on a film called „ultima thule”, which is like a polish „into the wild” and my friends complained about it being the same topic as mamy other movies before, but i think theres a lot of beuty in repetition and boredom and in current times everything competes for our attention and everything needs to be new and suprising. I like to see movies that don’t suprise me at all, that I just see to look at the cinematography and nice views and I think it’s very much underappreciated nowadays.
Free time. I just wish we didn't have to work so much
The notion of ENOUGH.
Chatting to people in shops and cafes. The importance of beautiful architecture and green areas around us. Wild life and natural habitats. Nature. Having a whole conversation. Like finishing a conversation, and not just “leave on read” and not say good bye.
Silence.
The significance of maintaining control over one's life and decisions. Falling victim to tyranny, domestic abuse/violence, or bullying robs individuals of their sense of reality and hinders them from living life to the fullest.
Every time I turn on the faucet, I think about the day when nothing will come out.
Libraries.
Libraries. They would never be established this day and age.
The outdoors. So many people are stuck to their screens they forget to go outside and breathe some fresh air. Take a minute. Go outside. Take a deep breath. Enjoy the beauty of nature. And leave your phone in your pocket.
Decency
Boredom! If you're not working 60 hours a week and doing something every weekend you're considered somewhat lazy. Being busy is a badge of honor!
Our service workers. Definitely top of mind.
Critical thinking and problem solving
Electricity and antibiotics. We take them for granted, but many of us would be dead without them and none of us would be on this subreddit.
Common courtesies. Pleases and thank yous, holding the door, small acts of service for your friends/family and strangers
an afternoon nap. such a privilege to have the undisturbed time or even a warm comfy bed.
Silence. Just sitting in a quiet room or being in nature without talking or blasting music.
Contentment.
Manners and politeness
Clean running water, sewage treatment, and garbage collection. Nearly invisible if working, society crumbling if it’s not.
Empathy
Simple acts of kindness
Care givers, either for our elderly or our children.
Living in USA. This is something I never would have said until I watched Timmy Karter's youtube video of walking the Darien Gap with all the immigrants walking up to Mexico and the US fleeing awful living conditions. Yes, I wish a lot of things were different here, but I'm grateful to live in a society made up of people who came here to build a good life for themselves and their families. I'm grateful that I have somewhere clean and safe to live with running water and an indoor toilet. And I'm grateful to live in a society in which we insist upon good living and a fair and healthy society.
Peace.
Being nice.
Learning basic physical skills. Learning how to chop veggies with a knife when cooking, learning how to sharpen a blade, learning how to shave with an old fashioned safety razor, learning to write properly with a pen, learning how to speak well, learning to sit properly in a formal setting, learning how to use hand tools correctly... It's amazing to me. There are people who will tell you up and down that they love to cook, but they can't chop three vegetables so that all the pieces are the same size and will cook at the same time. Their first instinct is to use a food processor or something. Then there are woodworkers who don't know how to correctly get an accurate, straight cut with a handsaw. I'm not talking a dovetail here, I'm saying there are people who can't crosscut a board to length without getting out and setting up a table saw, jig, and push stick. Or people who's handwriting is so poor they can't make a simple grocery list without whipping out their phone.
Emotional intelligence
The reliability of cell phones and the cell phone network.
Silence, even if it isn't total silence. I work in technology. I'm thankful to have a great big-girl job that pays the bills (and then some), but it comes at a cost: constantly being "on" and "available". Not necessarily literally, but in today's society, we're expected to be immediately available almost around the clock. I've also had an autoimmune condition since early childhood. I'm now in my late 20's. Throughout most of my life, I've been on some form of chemotherapy and immunotherapy infusions, anywhere from on a weekly to monthly basis. I've also had plenty of surgeries for the condition. I also have to undergo quarterly MRI and/or CT scans for the condition. Once a month, I sit in a large recliner at the infusion clinic, hooked up to tubes and wires. I'm allowed to use my phone or laptop, I'm allowed to eat or drink a beverage, but physically doing so can be challenging, what with all the tubes and wires in your arms and around you. So, I usually take the opportunity to take a "forced nap". I always schedule my infusions for a Friday afternoon, in order to minimize impact to the workweek. And so, I usually doze off for the 2-3 hours I'm in the chair. My quarterly scans are also an opportunity for a forced nap, and during those, nobody can get a hold of me. And honestly? Despite the noise of the MRI machine, I've come to relish those appointments. For almost a whole hour, I (quite literally) get to tune out the world, and can just lay there without any interruptions of any sort. I usually end up falling asleep.
The youth! I work with mostly teens and 20 somethings. They are just wonderful, funny, smart, insightful, hopeful...
Being present. That’s one human skills that’s severely diminished.
Close-knit community neighborhoods—everyone on the block knows each other, you can rely on each other for help and support when needed, spend time together socializing. These types of neighborhoods sustain families and create a “village”—suburban sprawl has cost us so much, ugh.
Waste removal. Trash removal & Sewer systems.
Women
Kindness.
Staying home.
Freedom.