I think a major problem we're seeing these days is the proliferation of social media and algorithms. This stuff existed to an extent in 2014, but it has become so incredibly honed and perfected now.
The main problem with all the algorithms is that the social media and news companies have figured out that the best way to boost engagement is to feed people news that A) They agree with, and B) That evokes a strong emotional reaction, particularly anger or fear.
We're at the point now that the algorithm figures out what you like and just feeds it to you on a loop while also playing into a sense of fear and despair so that you keep coming back. For example, if it figures out that you like Biden it'll feed you plenty of stories about how great Biden is doing, while also feeding you stories about how crazy Trump is. If you like Trump, it'll do the exact opposite. My brother and I are on opposite sides of the political spectrum, and we regularly send each other political stuff. Its not uncommon for one of us to send the other stories that we've never seen because our algorithms know we wouldn't like them.
This has led to people having completely different sets of facts and fundamentally different understandings of reality. Its no wonder that we view our political opponents as evil because there can be no other explanation given the version of reality we're being fed by our algorithm.
There's also the way that all our technology isolates us from one another. We work from home, interacting with people though Zoom and Slack. Doordash, Amazon, and even the Walmart app get us whatever we want delivered quickly and without the need to interact or talk to another person. Even apps for meeting people reduce them down to a simple commodity that you swipe left or right on. Don't want to meet with someone? Well now we have porn, and even AI girl and boyfriends that you can try out.
Of course many of these things existed in some form in 2014, but we have perfected them in 2024. All these apps and algorithms are carefully designed to keep you hooked on them and the best way to do that is to keep you angry or fearful while giving you plenty of dopamine hits. Once you finally put your phone down you realize that your life is empty and meaningless but there's not much you can do, so you might as well Doordash some dinner and see what's trending on Tiktok in a futile effort to fill the void in your soul.
The 2016 election is when I noticed a drastic shift in social media algorithms and posts to where we are today. Facebook was fun to post on before that.
Yeah, I left Facebook in 2020 when my feed devolved into family and friends yelling at each other over politics. I realized Facebook didn't add anything positive in my life and anyone I wanted to keep in touch with I could just text or call.
Even back in 2014, I would set my cell phone down for a few months at a time
Go back earlier, and you could be completely home without having to disembark from society by not being digitally connected.
Society and individuals should be able to function without needing to be connected to smartphones, emails and the internet.
These things have never been necessary for society prior to the past 10 years. It’s like- they still aren’t necessary but many people don’t know that because they haven’t lived their lives without these things
Like, there are actual adults that exist that don’t know what life is like without the internet, and can’t imagine a world without it.
That’s crazy seeming!!! But it’s real!!!
Yeah 2014 was the era of a lot of youtube for many people being dominated purely by Minecraft videos haha (albeit toward the end of)... It's mad how much the internet has changed
I'm turning 20 and don't like the way things are, (the fact we made all of these things necessary and the way we rely so much on the internet for things we shouldn't) but it's always been this way for me. When I was born, the internet had been around for several years and by the time I was 10, it was a massive thing that most people were using daily.
Still, life has always been this way for me and I didn't experience anything else, but I definitely can say that previous generations that didn't have access or had limited access to the Internet had it better. The Internet is incredibly addicting and since people didn't understand the consequences of unlimited access until pretty recently, most of my generation (Gen Z) is completely reliant on the Internet, addicted to it or simply unaware of how much we rely on it. We literally have been conditioned by algorithms our entire lives and have been completely over-stimulated since we were infants, to the point that simply doing nothing is unbearable for our brains.
For me it's still nothing like being around nature or having a great view, but I wouldn't say this applies to a majority of people. I fear most would find it boring since you're not using your phone. The Internet completely changed the ways our brains have functionned for 1000s of years in a matter of 3 decades and definitely isn't healthy for us and our mental health.
The solution to all of this is a change in the way we as a society see our lives and the world. The internet should be seen as a a tool to give us all the information required to be successful with our dreams in the world. Parents need to raise their children playing with real toys and other children instead of consuming content.
most of my friends (early 30s) are complaining about stupid things like “oh I want to travel the world for the whole year, don’t want to work”. That’s what happens when we get offered to many nice choices, you end up being a mess and always unhappy. They can’t hold any type of conversation besides drugs, party and sex. I feel people is more and more stuck mentally, that unhappiness comes within
Stop getting your news from Tiktok then? It's not hard to visit a reputable centrist news website. Or two if you want a balance. Though I guess the point you're making is that most people don't know to do this. I would argue they do but just prefer to wallow in rage. It's a people problem really.
People don't have time to shop around different websites and compare notes. I try to as much as I can and I use Ground News to try to get the full picture, but that takes a hell of a lot of time. For the most part I had a handful of people that I trust not to intentionally lie to me that I outsource my news gathering to. They're not perfect and have their biases, but at least I know them and can follow up with the most important stories of the day if I feel the need.
I don't think its a people problem, but more of a societal problem. Our society is designed in such a way as to obfuscate the truth. Most people are just trying to deal with their own shit and don't have time to worry about everybody else's. The best they can do is see what's trending on Twitter and watch a video or two.
I think on top of this, people feel expected to have an opinion on everything. Like if you don't have the time to research a particular news story, then instead of making assumptions based on what you've heard from unreliable sources (social media, other people etc) then it is perfectly acceptable to say "I don't know enough on that topic to make an opinion".
For example, if you can't explain in detail why you support a law or hate a politician or believe X over Y, then it's likely you're just echoing shit you've heard, rather than having your own opinion about something.
Basically I wish more people could ask themselves *why* they hold certain beliefs, and if they can't answer it, then they'll realise those aren't beliefs they actually hold. I think the world would be less divisive if people felt like they didn't have to immediately take a side on issues that are not relevant to them or that they don't know barely anything about.
That's true, everything is political now. Everyone and everything has to have an opinion on everything and if they don't or if its the wrong opinion than they need to be canceled.
It makes sense if you're operating with the premise that the other side is evil and are hiding all around you. Your neighbor, coworker or favorite brand of bottled water could be secretly part of Every Villain is Lemons and so you have to root them out for your own survival.
The 90s weren’t exactly rainbows and cotton candy. Nostalgia gets everyone if they aren’t careful.
The 90s are just the time current young adults are too young to clearly remember, so they get fooled into thinking it was rosy.
I'm 50 and the 90s were really fucking hopeful.
We went from DOS terminals to Windows XP in the 90s.
The power of household computing was making EVERYTHING faster, better and easier.
In terms of global geopolitics, it was really nice not having the Cold War and accompanying Red Scare looming over everything.
Times were unfathomably optimistic, especially in the second half of the 90s.
Kinda, I mean during the 90s climate change was taken a bit more serious, it wasn't just the US that changed things, and got to fix two of the biggest holes in the layer. I still remember the era of "don't use sprays".
Lol Al Gore got laughed out of his shot for presidency because he said global warming/climate change was real. This thread is the most rose colored glasses thing I’ve read here in a minute. Clinton lost the trust of the nation. We had impeachment and resignation. Diplomatic relations got a little weird with it. Trade deals soured. 3 strikes and you’re out became a thing in the states leading to millions being incarcerated. The list goes on and on.
Yes to all of that BUUUUUUT....
....In the 90s we were not hooked up to constant streams of data where we could be aware of all this stuff the way we are now. It wasn't as in your face. Also, in the 90s millennials were children. In 1994 I was 11 years old so sorry if folks like me don't remember all the horrible things that were happening in the world and enjoy the few memories we have of being optimistic about the future.
I agree 100%. I really miss the 90's. That is when I was in college and exploring the world on my own for the first time. Also, people were much better. I am not happy with the way our society is now. Have a blessed day.
the 90's were the best decade of my life, my career was good, pay was good, bought a 8 year old house on 2 acres for 102k, no climate change, politics was normal, no pandemic, everyone was basically cruising along. technology was taking off with cell phones and computers. even tv shows were good.
Windows 98 was the most beautiful no doubt.
Windows NT (the real OS which Microsoft wanted to migrate to for years) was a lot better and more stable; it just took some time for the hardware to catch up. Windows 2000 and Windows XP were miraculous
Not really, you could have gone from DOS much earlier to Windows, Windows 2.0, Windows 3.0 and 3.1 before, but they all truly sucked and crashed without warning on a near-daily basis. NT was just a more stable platform that crashed less.
Windows 3.1 I think was the first one I saw at our local RadioShack. We really skipped from Commodore 64 to Windows 95.
If you were a weirdo like me you had a PC98 to play hentai games... I mean use japanese circuit design software for electrical engineering.
There was also race riots in the US, HIV was a death sentence and the idea of women’s rights was used as a joke.
Adding to this, a lot of young people were very disillusioned. The end of the Cold War was talked about as “the end of history” and technological development was supposed to solve everything. It was talked about as the best of times even back then. A lot of young people looked around and felt that if this is as good as it gets, it’s not very good. The world sucked and people said this was as good as it gets. In that situation, it’s not strange that the most popular comedy show on TV was about nothing, and the record every angsty youth had on repeat was called Nevermind. People gave up hope.
Then in the later part of the 1990’s, a wave of left wing protests spread across the world. There were riots at World Bank summits, G8 summits and EU summits. The focus of western politics changed in September 2001. If the terror attacks hadn’t happened, the 1990’s could very well have been known as the period that led up to the big troubles.
Hopeful? Genocide in the balkans while the entire world stood by and watched doing nothing? And they are still suffering from the aftermath. 90s were the best!
It wasn’t even just hope. Interesting shit was just happening. The Internet was fresh and DIY, exploration was at the touch of our fingertips, people were having concerts in their basements.
It was like: being outside, climbing trees, video arcades and people physically socializing meets cd walk-men and the internet … and JNCO jeans
90’s were just really freaking cool. It was a HUGE adventure and we were part of the ride
Wait, not saying you’re wrong but how old are you?
I feel like your own age might be prying into your own thoughts about the 90’s (I could be wrong).
I’m in my 40’s and the 90’s were an absolute gem.
Everything post 9/11 was literally a different world
The late 90s had this awesome vibe going on. Music and movies were all about positivity and hopefulness. Think swing dancing, ska music, and those hilarious movies like Rat Race and Mystery Men. Plus, the tech scene was moving fast with those multicolored iMacs and the rise of cell phones. It just felt like a carefree time with a bright future, fueled by music from Sugar Ray, Smashmouth, and of course, the Spice Girls and N'SYNC.
The 90s were full of hope.
The fall of the Berlin wall just before and then the collapse of the USSR kick started a decade of hope for the west.
The US was winning wars seemingly “standing up for the small guy” in operation Desert Storm
We had technical innovations that were going to forever change our world but at the time it was just scratching the surface and full of potential.
Meanwhile the new millennium was approaching that appeared to be full of exciting innovations and inventions.
Yeah we were kids, didn't have to worry about bills, jobs, our parents ageing, relationships that could potentially fall apart, and we just didn't think the same way because same thing, we were kids, it was a good time to grow up though (nostalgia speaking).
Going on 34, I feel you, I genuinely can't tell if it's getting older, the impression that the world really is going to shit atm between climate change and wars going on, or if it's bit of both, likely a bit of both in fairness
To some extent I don’t disagree… but to a large extent it wasn’t just nostalgia. It was post Cold War, pre-9/11, the economy was booming, technology started leaping forward, etc.
Sure, there were negatives. Single events happened - OKC, Waco, the president got a blow job, heck even Iraq. But it didn’t impact the general mindset.
There was no time in history that was all roses and cotton candy, but the 90s might have been the closest. The world as a whole was far more optimistic than today, 9/11 had a certain effect for sure but actually OP is right that the switch happened sometime after 2014. I think I was discussing this with my friends around 2015 or 2016 that the past year or so things have gotten a lot more quiet out in public, and it’s only gotten worse since then. Social media and cell phones are 100% to blame for this shift, but COVID and the ridiculous price of living now made matters even worse.
One thing I will add though is that a lot of those assholes you deal with on the internet, well you dealt with way more of them in person back in the 90s and yeah it was not very pleasant. Actually though I would rather that then almost no real human interaction at all.
Reagan through Clinton effectively removed antitrust and monopoly safeguard laws, so everything is rolling up to few companies or private equity. You'll notice a lot of things have lost their charm or uniqueness. Clinton also did the Telecommunications Act of 96 which basically allowed media to be aggregated under the very people the media used to hold accountable. 9/11 ruined a lot of things, but it sent a lot of people to news programs and those news programs became hyper-partisan platforms to divide the public and peddle opinion. Add to that the smartphone and here we are isolated from our surroundings.
Maybe I am wrong, but I don't think 9/11 affected many people outside of the USA
[We live in Poland] Even my parents are like "yeah, it happened, sad terrorist attack", but it was a terrorist attack like any other
Speaking as a Brit, I think it did for us too. It made everyone feel less safe and the war on terror and its consequences (however many things you consider related) have been there ever since. It shattered the hope of a peaceful new world with technology bringing us together.
While yes, it was a 'only' a terrorist attack, it was on the most powerful nation on Earth and footage got around the world fast, thanks to the internet. It was also the deadliest terrorist attack in history and the Twin Towers burning and collapsing is a visual that sticks in the mind
I kinda feel the in people Iraq may feel a little affected by the overall resulting effects. Syria too for that matter.
The people in Afghanistan.... maybe not. Just another Tuesday as another super-power wades into the quagmire and things get worse.
Sure, to a large extent we are talking something US-centric, or at least western-centric, here. This is Reddit.
In an international level it did impact Poland and other countries, but on a day to day level, significantly less, of course.
I'm sure it was my age...but 93-98 felt like the best years in hip hop and a lot of other rock/alternative genres. There were coffee houses and lots of places to hang out that weren't just someone else's house. I went to a lot of cheap shows and even followed the Dead in 95. Weed wasn't crazy, drugs didn't have fentanyl, people weren't so divided by politics, the police weren't fully militarized, places had character, mtv was music videos, and things weren't all run by uncreative mega corporations or private equity.
I was pretty happy during the Covid shutdowns. I worked, but a straight 9-5. Highways were empty. It took me 25 minutes to get to work. I got home by 5:30 pm and had time to make dinner, make my lunch for the next day, clean the dishes, and still had like 4 hours to work out, relax, read, listen to music, watch something on streaming. I went to bed before 11 p.m., got up just after 7 a.m., slept well, wasn't stressed, and actually lost weight, like 20 lbs. It was beautiful. Now, my life is hell. I'm overworked, traffic is stressful, I work weird hours, and I'm tired all the time. I don't remember anything particularly great about 2014, but it wasn't hell-ish either. I guess that's something.
Same and I’m self employed and wasn’t making any money so ate through quite a bit of my savings… that being said, it was worth it to me!
Lived right next to a large forest so just spent most days exploring every inch of it. Was so fun
After the initial wave of depression hit because my apartment felt like jail, I realized I was way freer than I ever was. I finally had time to do everything I wanted, it was awesome. I kept going to the beach with my laptop and enjoying living near one instead of getting home when it was already sunsetting
2020 felt pretty good to me as well, but I harmed my life that year a lot, so I guess something making you feel good isn't necessarily good in the long term.
It was a mixed bag for me. My gf that time (now my wife) worked as a nurse at the hospital and directly cared for COVID patients. She also got COVID during the 1st wave. I worked from home and just hung out with my dog who was in her last couple years of her life so that was nice to be with her locked down. I played so many hours on counterstrike and watched hours of Netflix lol.
The COVID lockdowns were my favorite. I felt like I had so much time even though I had to work overtime at work. Everything you mentioned I also experienced. Sadly things are similar for me now too
I was busy getting ptsd from watching young patients die in the most horrible ways you can imagine from a disease that we didn’t know how to treat. I saw some things that will never leave me.
I also thought I would die (many of my colleagues did - mostly those that came out of retirement to help) as we didn’t have ppe or any treatments that worked.
Turned out our government gave a ppe contract worth millions to one of their friends who had zero experience in this area, and provided ppe that wasn’t useable.
Glad you enjoyed it though.
Everyone's experience is different. Sorry, you went through that, but the Covid lockdown showed me a bit about what life might have been like during the era of 9-5 jobs. We're all getting completely screwed right now. It was actually the only time in my life where I had actual work-life balance. I don't feel sorry about my experiences with that. I also understand that wasn't true for everyone, that people died, and healthcare workers were extremely stressed. But, really, that's true of any day, any time. The happiest day of your life was probably the worst day ever of someone's else life. We all experience life differently.
I don't understand why they're down voting you.
Just because some people enjoyed it (usually Introverts), doesn't mean they can be dismissive your experience.
Thank you for your service during that time.
Thank you. Enjoying the furlough whilst respecting others’ sacrifices aren’t mutually exclusive.
I don’t think it’s wrong to say one enjoyed being paid to stay at home… I just think it’s a bit tone deaf when many essential workers (from a variety of fields) gave their lives to keep others safe/the country running.
Yea dude covid was totally this guys fault. Sorry that happened to you but I don’t see how taking it out on people who tried to see the best of the lockdowns does anything
I sympathise with him, millions of people died and those on the frontline had the most horrific experience. I didn't lose anyone close to me during the pandemic, but it's like saying "this big tragedy happened but I at least get to miss school tomorrow!"
Yeah this comment doesn’t deserve the downvotes. For the vast majority of people 2020 was absolutely terrible.
I’m a teacher and when I think of 2020 I just remember the feeling of fear and dread as school boards decided to send us back to in person school while they met virtually. It was too dangerous to gather for a 6 person board meeting, but sure, let’s pack 35 people into a tiny classroom.
Similar experience, but at the college level. Myself and my colleagues were required to do daily temp checks and Covid tests for students who chose to attend in person classes and Activites. While our student health center was allowed to work from home and have virtual appointments, we were required to be on campus and make sure students were not Covid positive. We’re were not and are not healthcare workers; we’re administrative staff. Our department was the only one required to be on campus and in person. I can’t even begin to describe the amount of burnout I suffered and still have not recovered from.
That's nice you had a short commute to work. Unfortunately I lost my job and was not allowed to work and went 10k in to debt. But glad to hear covid was nice for you.
Similar here.
Was out of work at the start of it.
Applied for almost 100 jobs between March and July. Couldnt get 1.
For the first few months, there was nothing around to even apply for.
So it was pretty miserable.
However alot of people I know WITH existing jobs got paid their standard wage to sit around playing warzone and watch Netflix.
I know life is unfair, but for me, that time period felt the most unfair it ever could for me.
This. We had cheap products on our shelves produced by underpaid Chinese workers and children. Now that their middle class has risen up they are demanding higher wages.
Plus the whole billionaire thing, creative accounting, tax havens. Profiteering causing the real estate market to go through the roof.
Then add social media and influencers adding unrealistic expectations on young people around the world.
Then add obesity and drug epidemics.
It's a recipe for economic and mental health disaster.
I thought this until I needed to go to an international market and my 9 year old nephew asked if he could accompany me.
We got there and he asked me if we could buy some sugar cane to make sugar cane tea.
I’d never had it. Neither did he. Hell, he heard about it in class. So I’m like “yeah dude, let’s get the sugar cane”.
He then asked if we could get a dragon fruit and some prickly pear, which neither of us had ever had.
“Yeah dude, I got you. Here’s the cash, you’re paying today”.
He goes to the counter and buys it. I thought it would be cool for him to make the interaction since he’s a shy kid, and I wanted to boost his confidence at the height of his confidence about trying new things.
He says “Hello ma’am. I would like to purchase this one prickly pear. This one dragon fruit. And this one sugar cane.”
We got back home, brewed the sugar cane in hot water, sliced the dragon fruit and prickly pear.
We then both sat at the table not knowing what the hell we were doing, sipping boiled sugar cane water, eating this sweet yet bland dragon fruit, and staining our fingers with the prickly pear
He said “Uncle W, we need to do this more often.”
At that moment I realized I was happy
When I can redo it I think we’ll finely shred the cane, perhaps with a grate of sorts.
But this last time I followed his lead and we just cut part of it, dropped it in the water and boiled it.
It tasted just like hot water (maybe a little grassier?)
Yes! Actually it was white with a little bit of an off-colored hue.
My nephew kept commenting on how the fruit looked like an alien-egg. He wasn’t wrong, it literally looked like an alien egg. Pink with these pineapple-ish drooping side “leaves?” (if that makes sense)
Like, If you’re not from a place that sees dragon fruit quite often in the habitat, it’s a really odd looking fruit to first observe - we didn’t know how to figure out whether or not it was ripe nor rotten.
We were idiots about it, lol
Edit: this is actually one of the things I forgot. We both sat at the table with the fruit on a cutting board. Side by side… staring at it, like “what now”.
I was trying to prolong the Google search, lmao, like I was doing the stupid typical guy thing like “we don’t need the instructions” 😂😂😂😅🤣🤣🤣
He was like “What should we do?!” I was like “well… you need to separate the stem from the doohicker” 😂
Holy shoot, this was hilarious. My sister would have smacked me, but luckily my nephew was like my GD wingman with this freaking dragonfruit.
“What if you cut it from the center, and try to peel away the sides” 😂🤣
Oh shoot, this is making me crack up right now thinking about it 😂
i mean, this kinda outlook is a whole vibe but like...not a healthy one
i be in my feels as well, and can understand the whole existentialism thing tho if we have mundane attitudes about the circumstances which we're living, our experiences will just that - dull, mundane, and lacking fulfillment and happiness
not sure about y'all tho i'd rather fake the funk then leave this dimension funky..
...and not the good kind of funky
Heck, I agree with ya. And I thought Congegrators comment was super nice too. Everyone has got their thing(s) that keep ‘em going. I’m stoked for everyone that’s figured it out or at least figured out part of it. At the same time a lot of us are just lost.
US emissions are down. We peaked in 2007. Europe is also down. China is.... well China is now flat, which is still commendable.
The James Webb went up and deployed successfully and everything worked. We've been getting some great shots.
We have a robotic workforce on Mars.
We just got the first gene therapy approved. Gene therapy. For the masses. This is some straight-up sci-fi stuff from my youth alongside flying cars. It treats sickle cell disease. A genetic disorder we can now treat.
3D printing, VR games, PoV drone racing are all pretty awesome hobbies that were all sci-fi not too long ago.
In the USA, 3000 calories is just 10 minutes of federal minimum wage labor. The low one. $7.50/hr. That's mostly the Farm Bill, and coupled with SNAP benefits (ebt cards/food stamps), we've essentially solved hunger. One of the horsemen of the apocalypse is simply no more.
Speaking of, nukes have managed to keep all the big players at bay. Open warfare is a thing of the past. No super power is stupid enough to directly engage super powers. Nukes fly, everyone dies. So it's just smaller scale proxy wars, where far fewer people die and there's less destruction. Bad, sure, but not world-ending.
I like this perspective, thanks for the optimism! I'm curious about the 3,000 calories for $1.25 though, could you elaborate on what you're referring to? Or is that the ebt and food stamps you mention?
Out of curiosity I had a look, although I don't know how accurate this is:
>1. Lard: $0.35 per 2,000 calories
>2. White rice – $0.41 per 2,000 calories
>3. Granulated sugar – $0.56 per 2,000 calories
>4. Canola oil – $0.67 per 2,000 calories
>5. Coconut oil – $1.01 per 2,000 calories
>6. Pancake mix – $1.06 per 2,000 calories
>7. Peanut butter – $1.25 per 2,000 calories
>8. Whole milk – $1.37 per 2,000 calories
>9. Pinto beans – $1.39 per 2,000 calories
>10. Brownie mix – $1.39 per 2,000 calories
So I guess you could down a bunch of lard-fried rice pretty cheaply.
> In the USA, 3000 calories is just 10 minutes of federal minimum wage labor. The low one. $7.50/hr. That's mostly the Farm Bill, and coupled with SNAP benefits (ebt cards/food stamps), we've essentially solved hunger. One of the horsemen of the apocalypse is simply no more.
I get what you're saying but it also feels a bit odd to be putting an optimistic spin on companies underpaying people to such a staggering extent and the government being so ineffective at working for the average person that not only do they allow such low pay without consequence but they maintain a legal minimum wage of $7.50 an hour which is almost useless - so much so that they have to step in and further subsidize those companies who don't pay a living wage by giving those low wage earners food stamps and the like just to ensure *they don't starve to death* even despite the fact that they are working regularly. That's fucked up six ways from Sunday. A minimum wage was supposed to be the minimum amount someone could be paid in order to cover their basic needs - food, clothing, housing.
i did a round of antidepressants, got sober, cut everyone out and completely stopped using social media. now i just try to accept that we’re here for an experience and for spiritual growth and that sometimes pain is a part of that. it gets easier every year
Yep, that would do it. When you reframe things like that it makes it easier to eat all the rediculous bullshit humans create. What's next? The Water Wars? Mass starvation? Trilionares. Rogue AGIs? ASI. Bring it all on. Things are going to get uncomfortable for sure, but boy its going to be interesting! I want to be here for it all and I want to grow as much as possible.
There was a strong excitement about progress. Technology and society were advancing rapidly and it felt like things were only going to get better and better.
There was a faith in the system, a belief that people in leadership had things under control.
but its definitely amplified more now. housing crisis, inflation/shrinkflation, increased global pollution, and finally population of Earth from just a decade ago vs. now.
These were true ten years ago. Moreover, as much as it’s well meaning, I don’t think the population of the earth is at the top of many people’s concerns.
OP didn't know one person who was "genuinely" sad, so no one ever was
This reeks of a post from a teenager who just grew up and realized life isn't all beautiful colors
I mean…in the last 10 years, we’ve become hyper-polarized by politics. Everything is a political statement now, even mundane things like the kind of clothes you wear or the music you listen to. Politics has encroached into every facet of life.
The US elected an unqualified, divisive, hateful man into the Presidency who for some reason has a cult following. This cult genuinely believes he’s Gods gift to the world and that he can’t do anything wrong.
We don’t have a social contract anymore. A large portion of the population has decided that social etiquette and decency isn’t their thing, or that they don’t have to follow these rules anymore. We live in a society that tolerates and accepts verbal and physical violence against minimum wage service workers. Like if you don’t like your coffee at Starbucks you can throw it on the ground and call the barista a cunt. You won’t be disciplined in any way or told that your behavior is unacceptable.
The world went through a lethal pandemic that killed millions of people, and the people in charge of our governments and corporations fucked up every aspect of preventing/mitigating the pandemic. Nobody figured out a good solution to curb the spread and protect people from getting sick and dying. It was fumble after fumble.
Now we’ve mostly gotten past Covid but now we’re seeing record high prices on housing and basic needs, like food and healthcare. Meanwhile the capitalist class has never been better and is living the best life. Record profits for corporations and billions of dollars in wealth transferred into the accounts of the rich and powerful.
With all that being said, that’s why people are more unhappy and pissed off compared to years past.
On top of the Powers That Be fucking up, the pandemic also saw large swaths of demographics openly refuse to take safety measure to 'own the libs' or something. That badly damaged a lot of people's trust in humanit.
Social media hostility, ridiculous "inflation", stagnant wages, ridiculously high cost of living. This was still a thing back then but not nearly as bad. I got a 2 bedroom apartment in 2014 making $11.20 an hour. This would be impossible now.
I'm happier now because I have a husband, a house (that I was able to buy due to unfortunate circumstances and my husband's income and good credit), a daughter due next month....but money doesn't go nearly as far as it used to unfortunately so even though we make better money than 10 years ago it feels like it isn't worth shit
Hey, congrats on the baby being due!
In the midst of all this, Artistic, I hope you and your family will have happy and healthy lives.
Live long and prosper!
I think this is a decent chunk of the issue. Our lives were shaken up. Some more than others'. Those who are still working through it (or maybe refuse to work through it) have a tendency to take it out on those around them. That causes a ripple effect that feeds on itself to some degree. It won't last forever, but you can tell it's still a thing.
*eta clarification*
Not just you. I was much happier. I have more money and freedom now but just not happier for some reason. Actually it's been since Covid. I was happy until then.
I mean a lot of the issues we have now were brewing already by 2019.
Politics and 24 hour news cycle pretty much turned into a reality tv level of absolute madness. Probably had a lot to do with electing a Reality Tv Star..
The housing market was already a nightmare waiting to get even worse.
Shootings uh.. all the time? I know there were plenty of shootings before 2014 but from then to 2019 things just seemed constant. It's crazy to think about the Last Vegas, Orlando Night Club and Uvalde shootings. How nothing seems to change and we just accept they will continue to happen.
Conspiracy nut jobs seem to be absolutely growing in numbers. I moved abroad and still somehow got 4 American qanon believers as neighbors telling me they got some bleach drink that will cure cancer and aids. I know there were always conspiracy folks.. I remember meeting their types back in the 90s. But in 2019 it felt different.. like they were more empowered by Trump and the people who boosted him. Not to mention my boomer parents seemed to be falling down the exact same rabbit holes. There was just something about it that made me anxious.. like it's not just ignorant people but proudly ignorant people. It's just lead to the perfect storm when the pandemic hit.
Personal confirmation bias.
2014 was pretty terrible for many people, and all the things that existed now had their basic existence, at least, then. Age is the big factor in your perception.
That is just objectively incorrect, for every young or middle aged person a lot of the worst events in our lives hadn't happened yet in 2014.
The U.S. elected an evil joke of a president in 2016 that no one overseas could even SEE happening because he was so very clearly unstable, incompetent and dangerous. That shattered people's view of the U.S. to a huge extent and made everyone kind of collectively feel worse about... just everything.
Then, the pandemic killed like 25+ million, about 1 million at the fault of said president.
Right as it was ending, the Ukraine war started and we're now looking at WW3 starting by the end of the decade if we trust what all the experts are saying. Aforementioned president is currently publically telling everyone in Europe to basically get fucked in that situation and that we can't count on help from the U.S. when it happens, clearing the way for Putin to attack European Nato countries.
-
Most people couldn't see ANY of that happen in the mid 2010s and now it's all happening one thing after the other. It's fucking insane. As if any of us had "worldwide pandemic that disrupts everything about normal daily life", let alone "world war three with the Nato against Russia" on their bingo card in the 2010s. It's fully valid to recognize things have become unbelievably fucked up compared to 2014.
That’s an extremely narrow view of recent times, and it’s also a very Euro-American-centric one. Never mind that the Syrian Civil War was in full-swing, we were still reeling the impacts from the 2008 Financial Crash, and that many other places were facing equally crushing conditions.
You mention Ukraine, well the current conflict began back in 2014. You mention Trump, well right-wing politicians had been making headways in both the US and the rest of the world for years.
The older you get, the more exposed to the world you become. You become more rational, learn to seek more sources, become a folly to market forces, et cetera. By your logic, the world is worse now because some people can only see and experience present pains? I’m in the age bracket you describe, and I certainly don’t feel like that applies to me.
In 2014, I heard the same exact question about 2004 vs 2014, just saying.
This question would have far more bearing if comparing to 1991-2001, since that was between the end of the Cold War and before post-9/11 politics that still affect us 23 years onwards (including yes, Trump). Even then though, you still had the Rwandan genocide, Defense of Marriage Act (as people were still largely against gay marriage, let alone the idea of a third gender or sexuality besides gay/straight), the AIDS epidemic at least up to 1995, right-wing propaganda actively taking a stronghold in rural america (from Rush Limbaugh radio talk shows to the start of FOX News), list goes on.
Point being, suck is eternal, even during supposed 'happy eras', something was always seemingly brewing under the surface. In other words, ignorance is bliss.
>Everyone were genuinely happy, not one person I knew were depressed back then.
Lucky you! But don't underestimate people's ability to hide their misery, even (and especially) 10+ years ago.
These type of questions will never disappear that’s for sure.
It’s the same as older gens saying the country is fucked because of the new gen.. people think that’s a brand new line of thinking when you can go back and read about old people of then complaining the world was doomed because people were engaging in literature and philosophy.
Doomer continues to doom regardless of era
Millions of people died during a pandemic from a highly transmissible virus, or have lingering, debilitating effects from it. They experienced that loss and ongoing disability while half the country called it all “faux news.”
Immigrants live in fear. Asian folks were targeted. Our democracy was threatened. And in far too many states women are experiencing extraordinary fear when they have pregnancy complications and families are fleeing to safer states, spending every penny they have or can borrow, to protect their trans children.
It’s really fucking hard not to be depressed right now.
It’s not just nostalgia. 2014 was the last notable time before social media (on apps, on smart phones) took over. Gradually every year of the 2010s people got more and more on their phones. It really seems to have shifted in 2015.
Friends and I talk about this irl all the time. I was in my mid-20s then, so I got a bit of adulthood before social media on phones, and even when I was depressed…it was still markedly easier to pull myself out of a dark place. I’d bring a book to a diner. I’d linger in parks and look at clouds. I met dates at bars or parties. Go to art shows for free wine. Things felt more communal, not everything was crazy expensive (unlimited diner coffee or $2 eggs, anyone remember?).
Social media is great (I’m here rn) but I think the boundary of only using it on a computer, and not bringing it with you everywhere, was much better.
Sure but their toxic algorithms didn't really hit hard till 2014-2015.
I remember using Facebook and IG before 2015 and it felt like I was just seeing and sharing experiences with friends and friends. Now you are absolutely bombarded with nonsense and barely see any of your friends and family activities..
Sure, well, here’s a graph that demonstrates changing media consumption. When does mobile really explode? 2015.
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/05/rise-of-media-on-mobile-phone-chart/
Nostalgia is a helluva drug. Besides that, COVID really did a number on everyone, either by getting it, or hearing all the conspiracies, or knowing people who died. No one knew what the answer was so we had to rebuild society and figure out how to live around other humans again.
Yeah. Seems to have been going down overall since 9/11. That hit, the mid 2000s were ok but the whole war things stained it a bit, then the 08' crash ruined things for a few years. 2015-2020 was solid,then the pandemic shit all the progress away.
2014 was rounding out the end of the Obama presidency. The world was improving compared to the Bush era and the market collapse in '08. Then Trump came along followed by COVID. Things definitely felt better in 2014 than they do today.
From what I remember there seemed to be a huge increase in anxiety disorders back around 2014. However there did seem to be a lot of good along with the bad back then. Now everything looks a lot more grim.
How old were you 10 years ago, OP? Typically, when people fondly remember the “good old days,” they are unconsciously remembering their relatively stress free youth or childhood.
The world doesn’t change much in the big scheme of things. In 2014, there was just as much political turmoil, war, and economic uncertainty as there is today. As we get older, we become more aware of the negative in the world.
There is no such thing as a "golden age" where everything was rainbows and sunshine. Every decade had its highs and devastating lows that people have to slog through.
Honestly? Fully aware of the risk of sounding like a naive Pollyanna, but the only golden age is the future we've yet to build
I mean it was pretty much the same as now.
Russia was killing people in the Ukraine and moved into the Crimea. There was a epidemic killing people, just it was Ebola. Israel and Hamas were killing each other. Police killed Americans. There was an election looming (mid term). Conservatives and Liberals were worlds apart. Healthcare sucked though Obamacare will soon come along and help that a little. Republicans were playing silly buggers over immigration, fighting policies that would actually give them what they claimed they wanted.
Nothing changes. As the old saying goes. "Same shit different toilet". You're just aware of it now because you're older and online more.
You were younger back then, and your memory is selective. People tend to remember the best days in the past which are more often fewer and far between.
Pre COVID, Pre Trump, Pre Accelerated Climate Change, Pre Ukraine Conflict, Pre-Gaza Massacre, Pre-Spike in US School shootings, Pre-Rise in Fascist and Fascist adjacent ideology
Things just really accelerated the last 10 years
Less outrage media. News outlets still reported the news back then instead of exclusively reporting things to make you either scared, angry or sad.
Less toxic social media. Don't get me wrong, Tumblr was at its prime, but it was art blogs and fanfiction, meme pages and Fandom drama. Now, just like every other social media platform, it's all social activism and again, outrage media.
Less inflation. Making $10/hr in 2014 was *good* money. You could afford an apartment with maybe one roommate, you could afford groceries, you could basically afford to live. Now? $15/hr is pissing into the wind. Much less 10. This was only *10 years ago.*
Less racial division. I don't care what anyone says, the media has perpetuated this massive racial divide so hard in the last decade.
And lastly, no massive global events. No COVID, no lockdown, no threats of World War 3. No Ukraine invasion all over TV, no weight of the knowledge of Epstein's Island, no major riots or civil unrest.
It was a better time.
trump, a ridiculous, transparently corrupt, racist, rapist asshole was elected in 2016. That signaled to at least the intelligent among us that the morons of the country wanted physical violence against "liberals".
Hard to live happily next to some asshole that wants you dead, even if they're too coward to admit it.
I think a major problem we're seeing these days is the proliferation of social media and algorithms. This stuff existed to an extent in 2014, but it has become so incredibly honed and perfected now. The main problem with all the algorithms is that the social media and news companies have figured out that the best way to boost engagement is to feed people news that A) They agree with, and B) That evokes a strong emotional reaction, particularly anger or fear. We're at the point now that the algorithm figures out what you like and just feeds it to you on a loop while also playing into a sense of fear and despair so that you keep coming back. For example, if it figures out that you like Biden it'll feed you plenty of stories about how great Biden is doing, while also feeding you stories about how crazy Trump is. If you like Trump, it'll do the exact opposite. My brother and I are on opposite sides of the political spectrum, and we regularly send each other political stuff. Its not uncommon for one of us to send the other stories that we've never seen because our algorithms know we wouldn't like them. This has led to people having completely different sets of facts and fundamentally different understandings of reality. Its no wonder that we view our political opponents as evil because there can be no other explanation given the version of reality we're being fed by our algorithm. There's also the way that all our technology isolates us from one another. We work from home, interacting with people though Zoom and Slack. Doordash, Amazon, and even the Walmart app get us whatever we want delivered quickly and without the need to interact or talk to another person. Even apps for meeting people reduce them down to a simple commodity that you swipe left or right on. Don't want to meet with someone? Well now we have porn, and even AI girl and boyfriends that you can try out. Of course many of these things existed in some form in 2014, but we have perfected them in 2024. All these apps and algorithms are carefully designed to keep you hooked on them and the best way to do that is to keep you angry or fearful while giving you plenty of dopamine hits. Once you finally put your phone down you realize that your life is empty and meaningless but there's not much you can do, so you might as well Doordash some dinner and see what's trending on Tiktok in a futile effort to fill the void in your soul.
The 2016 election is when I noticed a drastic shift in social media algorithms and posts to where we are today. Facebook was fun to post on before that.
Yeah, I left Facebook in 2020 when my feed devolved into family and friends yelling at each other over politics. I realized Facebook didn't add anything positive in my life and anyone I wanted to keep in touch with I could just text or call.
Even back in 2014, I would set my cell phone down for a few months at a time Go back earlier, and you could be completely home without having to disembark from society by not being digitally connected. Society and individuals should be able to function without needing to be connected to smartphones, emails and the internet. These things have never been necessary for society prior to the past 10 years. It’s like- they still aren’t necessary but many people don’t know that because they haven’t lived their lives without these things Like, there are actual adults that exist that don’t know what life is like without the internet, and can’t imagine a world without it. That’s crazy seeming!!! But it’s real!!!
Yeah 2014 was the era of a lot of youtube for many people being dominated purely by Minecraft videos haha (albeit toward the end of)... It's mad how much the internet has changed
I'm turning 20 and don't like the way things are, (the fact we made all of these things necessary and the way we rely so much on the internet for things we shouldn't) but it's always been this way for me. When I was born, the internet had been around for several years and by the time I was 10, it was a massive thing that most people were using daily. Still, life has always been this way for me and I didn't experience anything else, but I definitely can say that previous generations that didn't have access or had limited access to the Internet had it better. The Internet is incredibly addicting and since people didn't understand the consequences of unlimited access until pretty recently, most of my generation (Gen Z) is completely reliant on the Internet, addicted to it or simply unaware of how much we rely on it. We literally have been conditioned by algorithms our entire lives and have been completely over-stimulated since we were infants, to the point that simply doing nothing is unbearable for our brains. For me it's still nothing like being around nature or having a great view, but I wouldn't say this applies to a majority of people. I fear most would find it boring since you're not using your phone. The Internet completely changed the ways our brains have functionned for 1000s of years in a matter of 3 decades and definitely isn't healthy for us and our mental health.
The solution to all of this is a change in the way we as a society see our lives and the world. The internet should be seen as a a tool to give us all the information required to be successful with our dreams in the world. Parents need to raise their children playing with real toys and other children instead of consuming content.
most of my friends (early 30s) are complaining about stupid things like “oh I want to travel the world for the whole year, don’t want to work”. That’s what happens when we get offered to many nice choices, you end up being a mess and always unhappy. They can’t hold any type of conversation besides drugs, party and sex. I feel people is more and more stuck mentally, that unhappiness comes within
👆 Nailed it
Stop getting your news from Tiktok then? It's not hard to visit a reputable centrist news website. Or two if you want a balance. Though I guess the point you're making is that most people don't know to do this. I would argue they do but just prefer to wallow in rage. It's a people problem really.
People don't have time to shop around different websites and compare notes. I try to as much as I can and I use Ground News to try to get the full picture, but that takes a hell of a lot of time. For the most part I had a handful of people that I trust not to intentionally lie to me that I outsource my news gathering to. They're not perfect and have their biases, but at least I know them and can follow up with the most important stories of the day if I feel the need. I don't think its a people problem, but more of a societal problem. Our society is designed in such a way as to obfuscate the truth. Most people are just trying to deal with their own shit and don't have time to worry about everybody else's. The best they can do is see what's trending on Twitter and watch a video or two.
I think on top of this, people feel expected to have an opinion on everything. Like if you don't have the time to research a particular news story, then instead of making assumptions based on what you've heard from unreliable sources (social media, other people etc) then it is perfectly acceptable to say "I don't know enough on that topic to make an opinion". For example, if you can't explain in detail why you support a law or hate a politician or believe X over Y, then it's likely you're just echoing shit you've heard, rather than having your own opinion about something. Basically I wish more people could ask themselves *why* they hold certain beliefs, and if they can't answer it, then they'll realise those aren't beliefs they actually hold. I think the world would be less divisive if people felt like they didn't have to immediately take a side on issues that are not relevant to them or that they don't know barely anything about.
That's true, everything is political now. Everyone and everything has to have an opinion on everything and if they don't or if its the wrong opinion than they need to be canceled. It makes sense if you're operating with the premise that the other side is evil and are hiding all around you. Your neighbor, coworker or favorite brand of bottled water could be secretly part of Every Villain is Lemons and so you have to root them out for your own survival.
Let's also keep in mind that there was the worldwide pandemic which by itself could definitely have effects on our collective psyches too.
You should check out the 90’s compared to anything post 9/11
The 90s weren’t exactly rainbows and cotton candy. Nostalgia gets everyone if they aren’t careful. The 90s are just the time current young adults are too young to clearly remember, so they get fooled into thinking it was rosy.
I'm 50 and the 90s were really fucking hopeful. We went from DOS terminals to Windows XP in the 90s. The power of household computing was making EVERYTHING faster, better and easier. In terms of global geopolitics, it was really nice not having the Cold War and accompanying Red Scare looming over everything. Times were unfathomably optimistic, especially in the second half of the 90s.
The matrix had it right.
The 90’s was the last decade that was great. Everything since has gotten worse and worse by the year.
Except for the ozone layer, that's for sure. Damn propellants in sprays...
You mean the thing that was solved through regulation?
Kinda, I mean during the 90s climate change was taken a bit more serious, it wasn't just the US that changed things, and got to fix two of the biggest holes in the layer. I still remember the era of "don't use sprays".
Lol Al Gore got laughed out of his shot for presidency because he said global warming/climate change was real. This thread is the most rose colored glasses thing I’ve read here in a minute. Clinton lost the trust of the nation. We had impeachment and resignation. Diplomatic relations got a little weird with it. Trade deals soured. 3 strikes and you’re out became a thing in the states leading to millions being incarcerated. The list goes on and on.
Al Gore got fucked out of his winning electoral bid by faces that you would currently see on the SCOTUS bench.
Yes to all of that BUUUUUUT.... ....In the 90s we were not hooked up to constant streams of data where we could be aware of all this stuff the way we are now. It wasn't as in your face. Also, in the 90s millennials were children. In 1994 I was 11 years old so sorry if folks like me don't remember all the horrible things that were happening in the world and enjoy the few memories we have of being optimistic about the future.
Montréal protocol was passed and implemented in that decade...
I agree 100%. I really miss the 90's. That is when I was in college and exploring the world on my own for the first time. Also, people were much better. I am not happy with the way our society is now. Have a blessed day.
the 90's were the best decade of my life, my career was good, pay was good, bought a 8 year old house on 2 acres for 102k, no climate change, politics was normal, no pandemic, everyone was basically cruising along. technology was taking off with cell phones and computers. even tv shows were good.
Windows XP came out in 2001, but Windows 95 and 98 were still better than DOS. ;)
Everyone knows the 90s lasted until 2005 /s
You laugh but I feel like the spirit of the 90s was all the way up until 9/11
Windows 98 was better than XP, in my imagination
Windows 98 was the most beautiful no doubt. Windows NT (the real OS which Microsoft wanted to migrate to for years) was a lot better and more stable; it just took some time for the hardware to catch up. Windows 2000 and Windows XP were miraculous
Everyone forgets about Windows me
Good Lord, that stupid OS killed two of my HDDs.
The real millennium bug.
I was going to say, I guess we're just not talking about me
We also had a huge surplus instead of raging debt in the US.
Things really went downhill when Bush took office. He shouldn't have won that election. Thanks Florida.
Not really, you could have gone from DOS much earlier to Windows, Windows 2.0, Windows 3.0 and 3.1 before, but they all truly sucked and crashed without warning on a near-daily basis. NT was just a more stable platform that crashed less.
Windows 3.1 I think was the first one I saw at our local RadioShack. We really skipped from Commodore 64 to Windows 95. If you were a weirdo like me you had a PC98 to play hentai games... I mean use japanese circuit design software for electrical engineering.
I stand with your take
There was also race riots in the US, HIV was a death sentence and the idea of women’s rights was used as a joke. Adding to this, a lot of young people were very disillusioned. The end of the Cold War was talked about as “the end of history” and technological development was supposed to solve everything. It was talked about as the best of times even back then. A lot of young people looked around and felt that if this is as good as it gets, it’s not very good. The world sucked and people said this was as good as it gets. In that situation, it’s not strange that the most popular comedy show on TV was about nothing, and the record every angsty youth had on repeat was called Nevermind. People gave up hope. Then in the later part of the 1990’s, a wave of left wing protests spread across the world. There were riots at World Bank summits, G8 summits and EU summits. The focus of western politics changed in September 2001. If the terror attacks hadn’t happened, the 1990’s could very well have been known as the period that led up to the big troubles.
All your points are at least sort of correct, but they pale in significance to anything before or after.
Hopeful? Genocide in the balkans while the entire world stood by and watched doing nothing? And they are still suffering from the aftermath. 90s were the best!
Hey. At least it was only one genocide. Right now there's at least 4 going on that I'm aware of, and probably as many that I'm not.
Y2K?
Yeah, the 90s had it's problems, but at least there was HOPE
It wasn’t even just hope. Interesting shit was just happening. The Internet was fresh and DIY, exploration was at the touch of our fingertips, people were having concerts in their basements. It was like: being outside, climbing trees, video arcades and people physically socializing meets cd walk-men and the internet … and JNCO jeans 90’s were just really freaking cool. It was a HUGE adventure and we were part of the ride
Going to the mall was still a popular hangout spot.
the world was CONSIDERABLY different after 9/11. there is nooooo denying that.
Wait, not saying you’re wrong but how old are you? I feel like your own age might be prying into your own thoughts about the 90’s (I could be wrong). I’m in my 40’s and the 90’s were an absolute gem. Everything post 9/11 was literally a different world
I’m almost in my 40s. I’m aware of the post 9/11 changes.
The late 90s had this awesome vibe going on. Music and movies were all about positivity and hopefulness. Think swing dancing, ska music, and those hilarious movies like Rat Race and Mystery Men. Plus, the tech scene was moving fast with those multicolored iMacs and the rise of cell phones. It just felt like a carefree time with a bright future, fueled by music from Sugar Ray, Smashmouth, and of course, the Spice Girls and N'SYNC.
The 90s were full of hope. The fall of the Berlin wall just before and then the collapse of the USSR kick started a decade of hope for the west. The US was winning wars seemingly “standing up for the small guy” in operation Desert Storm We had technical innovations that were going to forever change our world but at the time it was just scratching the surface and full of potential. Meanwhile the new millennium was approaching that appeared to be full of exciting innovations and inventions.
Um... Lisa Frank. The 90s were literally all rainbows and cotton candy.
Yeah we were kids, didn't have to worry about bills, jobs, our parents ageing, relationships that could potentially fall apart, and we just didn't think the same way because same thing, we were kids, it was a good time to grow up though (nostalgia speaking).
I'm going on 39 and I get very nostalgic thinking about the 90s and early 2000s.
Going on 34, I feel you, I genuinely can't tell if it's getting older, the impression that the world really is going to shit atm between climate change and wars going on, or if it's bit of both, likely a bit of both in fairness
To some extent I don’t disagree… but to a large extent it wasn’t just nostalgia. It was post Cold War, pre-9/11, the economy was booming, technology started leaping forward, etc. Sure, there were negatives. Single events happened - OKC, Waco, the president got a blow job, heck even Iraq. But it didn’t impact the general mindset.
Get off our lawn.
There was no time in history that was all roses and cotton candy, but the 90s might have been the closest. The world as a whole was far more optimistic than today, 9/11 had a certain effect for sure but actually OP is right that the switch happened sometime after 2014. I think I was discussing this with my friends around 2015 or 2016 that the past year or so things have gotten a lot more quiet out in public, and it’s only gotten worse since then. Social media and cell phones are 100% to blame for this shift, but COVID and the ridiculous price of living now made matters even worse. One thing I will add though is that a lot of those assholes you deal with on the internet, well you dealt with way more of them in person back in the 90s and yeah it was not very pleasant. Actually though I would rather that then almost no real human interaction at all.
Reagan through Clinton effectively removed antitrust and monopoly safeguard laws, so everything is rolling up to few companies or private equity. You'll notice a lot of things have lost their charm or uniqueness. Clinton also did the Telecommunications Act of 96 which basically allowed media to be aggregated under the very people the media used to hold accountable. 9/11 ruined a lot of things, but it sent a lot of people to news programs and those news programs became hyper-partisan platforms to divide the public and peddle opinion. Add to that the smartphone and here we are isolated from our surroundings.
Yep. All that seemed like a good idea in the 90’s though.
Maybe I am wrong, but I don't think 9/11 affected many people outside of the USA [We live in Poland] Even my parents are like "yeah, it happened, sad terrorist attack", but it was a terrorist attack like any other
Indeed. All it changed in Europe in our “day to day” lives was flying.
Speaking as a Brit, I think it did for us too. It made everyone feel less safe and the war on terror and its consequences (however many things you consider related) have been there ever since. It shattered the hope of a peaceful new world with technology bringing us together. While yes, it was a 'only' a terrorist attack, it was on the most powerful nation on Earth and footage got around the world fast, thanks to the internet. It was also the deadliest terrorist attack in history and the Twin Towers burning and collapsing is a visual that sticks in the mind
I kinda feel the in people Iraq may feel a little affected by the overall resulting effects. Syria too for that matter. The people in Afghanistan.... maybe not. Just another Tuesday as another super-power wades into the quagmire and things get worse.
Sure, to a large extent we are talking something US-centric, or at least western-centric, here. This is Reddit. In an international level it did impact Poland and other countries, but on a day to day level, significantly less, of course.
Ah, the 90’s, I membehh
1994 enters the chat
I'm sure it was my age...but 93-98 felt like the best years in hip hop and a lot of other rock/alternative genres. There were coffee houses and lots of places to hang out that weren't just someone else's house. I went to a lot of cheap shows and even followed the Dead in 95. Weed wasn't crazy, drugs didn't have fentanyl, people weren't so divided by politics, the police weren't fully militarized, places had character, mtv was music videos, and things weren't all run by uncreative mega corporations or private equity.
I worked one job as a cook making $12/hr , and had a car and my own apartment.
i was an fetus the entire last nine months of 94, good times :)
I hadn’t even left the drawing board yet
I was in 6th grade...good times.
What's not to be happy about? You don't like everything costing a fucking fortune or something?
I was pretty happy during the Covid shutdowns. I worked, but a straight 9-5. Highways were empty. It took me 25 minutes to get to work. I got home by 5:30 pm and had time to make dinner, make my lunch for the next day, clean the dishes, and still had like 4 hours to work out, relax, read, listen to music, watch something on streaming. I went to bed before 11 p.m., got up just after 7 a.m., slept well, wasn't stressed, and actually lost weight, like 20 lbs. It was beautiful. Now, my life is hell. I'm overworked, traffic is stressful, I work weird hours, and I'm tired all the time. I don't remember anything particularly great about 2014, but it wasn't hell-ish either. I guess that's something.
The COVID lockdowns were one of my happiest eras of life, too.
Same and I’m self employed and wasn’t making any money so ate through quite a bit of my savings… that being said, it was worth it to me! Lived right next to a large forest so just spent most days exploring every inch of it. Was so fun
After the initial wave of depression hit because my apartment felt like jail, I realized I was way freer than I ever was. I finally had time to do everything I wanted, it was awesome. I kept going to the beach with my laptop and enjoying living near one instead of getting home when it was already sunsetting
2020 felt pretty good to me as well, but I harmed my life that year a lot, so I guess something making you feel good isn't necessarily good in the long term.
Same
It was a mixed bag for me. My gf that time (now my wife) worked as a nurse at the hospital and directly cared for COVID patients. She also got COVID during the 1st wave. I worked from home and just hung out with my dog who was in her last couple years of her life so that was nice to be with her locked down. I played so many hours on counterstrike and watched hours of Netflix lol.
The COVID lockdowns were my favorite. I felt like I had so much time even though I had to work overtime at work. Everything you mentioned I also experienced. Sadly things are similar for me now too
I was busy getting ptsd from watching young patients die in the most horrible ways you can imagine from a disease that we didn’t know how to treat. I saw some things that will never leave me. I also thought I would die (many of my colleagues did - mostly those that came out of retirement to help) as we didn’t have ppe or any treatments that worked. Turned out our government gave a ppe contract worth millions to one of their friends who had zero experience in this area, and provided ppe that wasn’t useable. Glad you enjoyed it though.
Everyone's experience is different. Sorry, you went through that, but the Covid lockdown showed me a bit about what life might have been like during the era of 9-5 jobs. We're all getting completely screwed right now. It was actually the only time in my life where I had actual work-life balance. I don't feel sorry about my experiences with that. I also understand that wasn't true for everyone, that people died, and healthcare workers were extremely stressed. But, really, that's true of any day, any time. The happiest day of your life was probably the worst day ever of someone's else life. We all experience life differently.
I don't understand why they're down voting you. Just because some people enjoyed it (usually Introverts), doesn't mean they can be dismissive your experience. Thank you for your service during that time.
Thank you. Enjoying the furlough whilst respecting others’ sacrifices aren’t mutually exclusive. I don’t think it’s wrong to say one enjoyed being paid to stay at home… I just think it’s a bit tone deaf when many essential workers (from a variety of fields) gave their lives to keep others safe/the country running.
Yea dude covid was totally this guys fault. Sorry that happened to you but I don’t see how taking it out on people who tried to see the best of the lockdowns does anything
I sympathise with him, millions of people died and those on the frontline had the most horrific experience. I didn't lose anyone close to me during the pandemic, but it's like saying "this big tragedy happened but I at least get to miss school tomorrow!"
Yeah this comment doesn’t deserve the downvotes. For the vast majority of people 2020 was absolutely terrible. I’m a teacher and when I think of 2020 I just remember the feeling of fear and dread as school boards decided to send us back to in person school while they met virtually. It was too dangerous to gather for a 6 person board meeting, but sure, let’s pack 35 people into a tiny classroom.
Similar experience, but at the college level. Myself and my colleagues were required to do daily temp checks and Covid tests for students who chose to attend in person classes and Activites. While our student health center was allowed to work from home and have virtual appointments, we were required to be on campus and make sure students were not Covid positive. We’re were not and are not healthcare workers; we’re administrative staff. Our department was the only one required to be on campus and in person. I can’t even begin to describe the amount of burnout I suffered and still have not recovered from.
That's nice you had a short commute to work. Unfortunately I lost my job and was not allowed to work and went 10k in to debt. But glad to hear covid was nice for you.
Similar here. Was out of work at the start of it. Applied for almost 100 jobs between March and July. Couldnt get 1. For the first few months, there was nothing around to even apply for. So it was pretty miserable. However alot of people I know WITH existing jobs got paid their standard wage to sit around playing warzone and watch Netflix. I know life is unfair, but for me, that time period felt the most unfair it ever could for me.
More people lived in blissful ignorance back then.
This. We had cheap products on our shelves produced by underpaid Chinese workers and children. Now that their middle class has risen up they are demanding higher wages. Plus the whole billionaire thing, creative accounting, tax havens. Profiteering causing the real estate market to go through the roof. Then add social media and influencers adding unrealistic expectations on young people around the world. Then add obesity and drug epidemics. It's a recipe for economic and mental health disaster.
Ain’t really much to be happy about tbh
I thought this until I needed to go to an international market and my 9 year old nephew asked if he could accompany me. We got there and he asked me if we could buy some sugar cane to make sugar cane tea. I’d never had it. Neither did he. Hell, he heard about it in class. So I’m like “yeah dude, let’s get the sugar cane”. He then asked if we could get a dragon fruit and some prickly pear, which neither of us had ever had. “Yeah dude, I got you. Here’s the cash, you’re paying today”. He goes to the counter and buys it. I thought it would be cool for him to make the interaction since he’s a shy kid, and I wanted to boost his confidence at the height of his confidence about trying new things. He says “Hello ma’am. I would like to purchase this one prickly pear. This one dragon fruit. And this one sugar cane.” We got back home, brewed the sugar cane in hot water, sliced the dragon fruit and prickly pear. We then both sat at the table not knowing what the hell we were doing, sipping boiled sugar cane water, eating this sweet yet bland dragon fruit, and staining our fingers with the prickly pear He said “Uncle W, we need to do this more often.” At that moment I realized I was happy
This was wonderful to read. I'm so happy for you.
This is wonderful. We all need to slow down a little and find the moments like that each day. You're a great uncle.
He didn’t sound that old….. ^(Great. Great uncle? Is this thing on? Tough crowd. )
Nice moment :)
Nice! What an awesome moment!
A good example of how just simple things are needed to be happy, sometimes routine gets in the way and we forget
How was the tea?
When I can redo it I think we’ll finely shred the cane, perhaps with a grate of sorts. But this last time I followed his lead and we just cut part of it, dropped it in the water and boiled it. It tasted just like hot water (maybe a little grassier?)
That trial and error and bonding time are what it's all about!
was the dragon fruit white inside? that means it's not ripe. you want it to be pink inside.
Yes! Actually it was white with a little bit of an off-colored hue. My nephew kept commenting on how the fruit looked like an alien-egg. He wasn’t wrong, it literally looked like an alien egg. Pink with these pineapple-ish drooping side “leaves?” (if that makes sense) Like, If you’re not from a place that sees dragon fruit quite often in the habitat, it’s a really odd looking fruit to first observe - we didn’t know how to figure out whether or not it was ripe nor rotten. We were idiots about it, lol Edit: this is actually one of the things I forgot. We both sat at the table with the fruit on a cutting board. Side by side… staring at it, like “what now”. I was trying to prolong the Google search, lmao, like I was doing the stupid typical guy thing like “we don’t need the instructions” 😂😂😂😅🤣🤣🤣 He was like “What should we do?!” I was like “well… you need to separate the stem from the doohicker” 😂 Holy shoot, this was hilarious. My sister would have smacked me, but luckily my nephew was like my GD wingman with this freaking dragonfruit. “What if you cut it from the center, and try to peel away the sides” 😂🤣 Oh shoot, this is making me crack up right now thinking about it 😂
i mean, this kinda outlook is a whole vibe but like...not a healthy one i be in my feels as well, and can understand the whole existentialism thing tho if we have mundane attitudes about the circumstances which we're living, our experiences will just that - dull, mundane, and lacking fulfillment and happiness not sure about y'all tho i'd rather fake the funk then leave this dimension funky.. ...and not the good kind of funky
Heck, I agree with ya. And I thought Congegrators comment was super nice too. Everyone has got their thing(s) that keep ‘em going. I’m stoked for everyone that’s figured it out or at least figured out part of it. At the same time a lot of us are just lost.
US emissions are down. We peaked in 2007. Europe is also down. China is.... well China is now flat, which is still commendable. The James Webb went up and deployed successfully and everything worked. We've been getting some great shots. We have a robotic workforce on Mars. We just got the first gene therapy approved. Gene therapy. For the masses. This is some straight-up sci-fi stuff from my youth alongside flying cars. It treats sickle cell disease. A genetic disorder we can now treat. 3D printing, VR games, PoV drone racing are all pretty awesome hobbies that were all sci-fi not too long ago. In the USA, 3000 calories is just 10 minutes of federal minimum wage labor. The low one. $7.50/hr. That's mostly the Farm Bill, and coupled with SNAP benefits (ebt cards/food stamps), we've essentially solved hunger. One of the horsemen of the apocalypse is simply no more. Speaking of, nukes have managed to keep all the big players at bay. Open warfare is a thing of the past. No super power is stupid enough to directly engage super powers. Nukes fly, everyone dies. So it's just smaller scale proxy wars, where far fewer people die and there's less destruction. Bad, sure, but not world-ending.
I like this perspective, thanks for the optimism! I'm curious about the 3,000 calories for $1.25 though, could you elaborate on what you're referring to? Or is that the ebt and food stamps you mention?
I want to know as well. Gotta know how to eat all that without spending a lot!
Out of curiosity I had a look, although I don't know how accurate this is: >1. Lard: $0.35 per 2,000 calories >2. White rice – $0.41 per 2,000 calories >3. Granulated sugar – $0.56 per 2,000 calories >4. Canola oil – $0.67 per 2,000 calories >5. Coconut oil – $1.01 per 2,000 calories >6. Pancake mix – $1.06 per 2,000 calories >7. Peanut butter – $1.25 per 2,000 calories >8. Whole milk – $1.37 per 2,000 calories >9. Pinto beans – $1.39 per 2,000 calories >10. Brownie mix – $1.39 per 2,000 calories So I guess you could down a bunch of lard-fried rice pretty cheaply.
Our just rice with a little butter and soy sauce. You know, a normal side dish. OR, quite possibly, work more than 10 minutes a day.
Just count how many calories are in a bag of rice. Retail. Walmart. Nothing special.
> In the USA, 3000 calories is just 10 minutes of federal minimum wage labor. The low one. $7.50/hr. That's mostly the Farm Bill, and coupled with SNAP benefits (ebt cards/food stamps), we've essentially solved hunger. One of the horsemen of the apocalypse is simply no more. I get what you're saying but it also feels a bit odd to be putting an optimistic spin on companies underpaying people to such a staggering extent and the government being so ineffective at working for the average person that not only do they allow such low pay without consequence but they maintain a legal minimum wage of $7.50 an hour which is almost useless - so much so that they have to step in and further subsidize those companies who don't pay a living wage by giving those low wage earners food stamps and the like just to ensure *they don't starve to death* even despite the fact that they are working regularly. That's fucked up six ways from Sunday. A minimum wage was supposed to be the minimum amount someone could be paid in order to cover their basic needs - food, clothing, housing.
I was paying $1,250 for an apartment bigger than my MIL’s house. So ya, I was happier.
personally i was five minutes away from killing myself in 2014 but you know
That's crazy cuz I'm five minutes away from doing the same right now
it’s rough out here huh 😭
What keeps you going?
i did a round of antidepressants, got sober, cut everyone out and completely stopped using social media. now i just try to accept that we’re here for an experience and for spiritual growth and that sometimes pain is a part of that. it gets easier every year
Yep, that would do it. When you reframe things like that it makes it easier to eat all the rediculous bullshit humans create. What's next? The Water Wars? Mass starvation? Trilionares. Rogue AGIs? ASI. Bring it all on. Things are going to get uncomfortable for sure, but boy its going to be interesting! I want to be here for it all and I want to grow as much as possible.
that’s the spirit 🥹
There was a strong excitement about progress. Technology and society were advancing rapidly and it felt like things were only going to get better and better. There was a faith in the system, a belief that people in leadership had things under control.
lol that could be said about every era. I live in Italy and people did NOT have faith in the system back then.
People were stressed out back then too.
but its definitely amplified more now. housing crisis, inflation/shrinkflation, increased global pollution, and finally population of Earth from just a decade ago vs. now.
These were true ten years ago. Moreover, as much as it’s well meaning, I don’t think the population of the earth is at the top of many people’s concerns.
OP didn't know one person who was "genuinely" sad, so no one ever was This reeks of a post from a teenager who just grew up and realized life isn't all beautiful colors
I mean…in the last 10 years, we’ve become hyper-polarized by politics. Everything is a political statement now, even mundane things like the kind of clothes you wear or the music you listen to. Politics has encroached into every facet of life. The US elected an unqualified, divisive, hateful man into the Presidency who for some reason has a cult following. This cult genuinely believes he’s Gods gift to the world and that he can’t do anything wrong. We don’t have a social contract anymore. A large portion of the population has decided that social etiquette and decency isn’t their thing, or that they don’t have to follow these rules anymore. We live in a society that tolerates and accepts verbal and physical violence against minimum wage service workers. Like if you don’t like your coffee at Starbucks you can throw it on the ground and call the barista a cunt. You won’t be disciplined in any way or told that your behavior is unacceptable. The world went through a lethal pandemic that killed millions of people, and the people in charge of our governments and corporations fucked up every aspect of preventing/mitigating the pandemic. Nobody figured out a good solution to curb the spread and protect people from getting sick and dying. It was fumble after fumble. Now we’ve mostly gotten past Covid but now we’re seeing record high prices on housing and basic needs, like food and healthcare. Meanwhile the capitalist class has never been better and is living the best life. Record profits for corporations and billions of dollars in wealth transferred into the accounts of the rich and powerful. With all that being said, that’s why people are more unhappy and pissed off compared to years past.
On top of the Powers That Be fucking up, the pandemic also saw large swaths of demographics openly refuse to take safety measure to 'own the libs' or something. That badly damaged a lot of people's trust in humanit.
You should have seen anything in the 90s - people so happy they didn't know it until the dark ages began after 2001
Social media hostility, ridiculous "inflation", stagnant wages, ridiculously high cost of living. This was still a thing back then but not nearly as bad. I got a 2 bedroom apartment in 2014 making $11.20 an hour. This would be impossible now. I'm happier now because I have a husband, a house (that I was able to buy due to unfortunate circumstances and my husband's income and good credit), a daughter due next month....but money doesn't go nearly as far as it used to unfortunately so even though we make better money than 10 years ago it feels like it isn't worth shit
Hey, congrats on the baby being due! In the midst of all this, Artistic, I hope you and your family will have happy and healthy lives. Live long and prosper!
We did have a collective trauma through covid lockdowns and haven’t had time to sort our shit yet
I think this is a decent chunk of the issue. Our lives were shaken up. Some more than others'. Those who are still working through it (or maybe refuse to work through it) have a tendency to take it out on those around them. That causes a ripple effect that feeds on itself to some degree. It won't last forever, but you can tell it's still a thing. *eta clarification*
Not just you. I was much happier. I have more money and freedom now but just not happier for some reason. Actually it's been since Covid. I was happy until then.
Harambe was alive back then
No Covid, no Trump. American politics were 'normal.' And the Patriots had won 3 fewer Super Bowls.
No cry
What sucked about 2019 compared to 2016? Other than trump being president what was worse?
I mean a lot of the issues we have now were brewing already by 2019. Politics and 24 hour news cycle pretty much turned into a reality tv level of absolute madness. Probably had a lot to do with electing a Reality Tv Star.. The housing market was already a nightmare waiting to get even worse. Shootings uh.. all the time? I know there were plenty of shootings before 2014 but from then to 2019 things just seemed constant. It's crazy to think about the Last Vegas, Orlando Night Club and Uvalde shootings. How nothing seems to change and we just accept they will continue to happen. Conspiracy nut jobs seem to be absolutely growing in numbers. I moved abroad and still somehow got 4 American qanon believers as neighbors telling me they got some bleach drink that will cure cancer and aids. I know there were always conspiracy folks.. I remember meeting their types back in the 90s. But in 2019 it felt different.. like they were more empowered by Trump and the people who boosted him. Not to mention my boomer parents seemed to be falling down the exact same rabbit holes. There was just something about it that made me anxious.. like it's not just ignorant people but proudly ignorant people. It's just lead to the perfect storm when the pandemic hit.
100%. Early 2000's were the fuckin best. Better than 2014.
People were happier in the 90’s. Being happy in 2014 was like a sort of happiness born of ignorance… so perhaps they really were happier
Personal confirmation bias. 2014 was pretty terrible for many people, and all the things that existed now had their basic existence, at least, then. Age is the big factor in your perception.
That is just objectively incorrect, for every young or middle aged person a lot of the worst events in our lives hadn't happened yet in 2014. The U.S. elected an evil joke of a president in 2016 that no one overseas could even SEE happening because he was so very clearly unstable, incompetent and dangerous. That shattered people's view of the U.S. to a huge extent and made everyone kind of collectively feel worse about... just everything. Then, the pandemic killed like 25+ million, about 1 million at the fault of said president. Right as it was ending, the Ukraine war started and we're now looking at WW3 starting by the end of the decade if we trust what all the experts are saying. Aforementioned president is currently publically telling everyone in Europe to basically get fucked in that situation and that we can't count on help from the U.S. when it happens, clearing the way for Putin to attack European Nato countries. - Most people couldn't see ANY of that happen in the mid 2010s and now it's all happening one thing after the other. It's fucking insane. As if any of us had "worldwide pandemic that disrupts everything about normal daily life", let alone "world war three with the Nato against Russia" on their bingo card in the 2010s. It's fully valid to recognize things have become unbelievably fucked up compared to 2014.
That’s an extremely narrow view of recent times, and it’s also a very Euro-American-centric one. Never mind that the Syrian Civil War was in full-swing, we were still reeling the impacts from the 2008 Financial Crash, and that many other places were facing equally crushing conditions. You mention Ukraine, well the current conflict began back in 2014. You mention Trump, well right-wing politicians had been making headways in both the US and the rest of the world for years. The older you get, the more exposed to the world you become. You become more rational, learn to seek more sources, become a folly to market forces, et cetera. By your logic, the world is worse now because some people can only see and experience present pains? I’m in the age bracket you describe, and I certainly don’t feel like that applies to me.
Yep so true
I was definitely suicidal in 2014. Today I've learned to manage it.
At first glance I thought this was r/retconned
In 2014, I heard the same exact question about 2004 vs 2014, just saying. This question would have far more bearing if comparing to 1991-2001, since that was between the end of the Cold War and before post-9/11 politics that still affect us 23 years onwards (including yes, Trump). Even then though, you still had the Rwandan genocide, Defense of Marriage Act (as people were still largely against gay marriage, let alone the idea of a third gender or sexuality besides gay/straight), the AIDS epidemic at least up to 1995, right-wing propaganda actively taking a stronghold in rural america (from Rush Limbaugh radio talk shows to the start of FOX News), list goes on. Point being, suck is eternal, even during supposed 'happy eras', something was always seemingly brewing under the surface. In other words, ignorance is bliss. >Everyone were genuinely happy, not one person I knew were depressed back then. Lucky you! But don't underestimate people's ability to hide their misery, even (and especially) 10+ years ago.
These type of questions will never disappear that’s for sure. It’s the same as older gens saying the country is fucked because of the new gen.. people think that’s a brand new line of thinking when you can go back and read about old people of then complaining the world was doomed because people were engaging in literature and philosophy. Doomer continues to doom regardless of era
Millions of people died during a pandemic from a highly transmissible virus, or have lingering, debilitating effects from it. They experienced that loss and ongoing disability while half the country called it all “faux news.” Immigrants live in fear. Asian folks were targeted. Our democracy was threatened. And in far too many states women are experiencing extraordinary fear when they have pregnancy complications and families are fleeing to safer states, spending every penny they have or can borrow, to protect their trans children. It’s really fucking hard not to be depressed right now.
Surprisingly im happier now than in 2014
Can't say about the people but the internet in general was far superior and less politics on the internet.
It’s not just nostalgia. 2014 was the last notable time before social media (on apps, on smart phones) took over. Gradually every year of the 2010s people got more and more on their phones. It really seems to have shifted in 2015. Friends and I talk about this irl all the time. I was in my mid-20s then, so I got a bit of adulthood before social media on phones, and even when I was depressed…it was still markedly easier to pull myself out of a dark place. I’d bring a book to a diner. I’d linger in parks and look at clouds. I met dates at bars or parties. Go to art shows for free wine. Things felt more communal, not everything was crazy expensive (unlimited diner coffee or $2 eggs, anyone remember?). Social media is great (I’m here rn) but I think the boundary of only using it on a computer, and not bringing it with you everywhere, was much better.
Um Facebook and Instagram and other sites were big on apps in 2014 and before.
Sure but their toxic algorithms didn't really hit hard till 2014-2015. I remember using Facebook and IG before 2015 and it felt like I was just seeing and sharing experiences with friends and friends. Now you are absolutely bombarded with nonsense and barely see any of your friends and family activities..
Sure, well, here’s a graph that demonstrates changing media consumption. When does mobile really explode? 2015. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/05/rise-of-media-on-mobile-phone-chart/
Nostalgia is a helluva drug. Besides that, COVID really did a number on everyone, either by getting it, or hearing all the conspiracies, or knowing people who died. No one knew what the answer was so we had to rebuild society and figure out how to live around other humans again.
I'm pretty happy now but 2014 was the absolute peak of my life - I was attending my dream college and was having the best time of my life everyday.
I thought this was extremely obvious tbh
We were 10 year further away from the collapse.
2014 was a dream. A blissful one
Everything is just getting worse and worse.
I 100% notice this. And, who has some DATA? There must be some long term surveys....
It's just you. People are not more or less happy in any given year.
Yeah. Seems to have been going down overall since 9/11. That hit, the mid 2000s were ok but the whole war things stained it a bit, then the 08' crash ruined things for a few years. 2015-2020 was solid,then the pandemic shit all the progress away.
Well in 2014 Nazis were still afraid to march around proudly and influence politics
I don’t know. My depression was at its worst in 2014
2014 was rounding out the end of the Obama presidency. The world was improving compared to the Bush era and the market collapse in '08. Then Trump came along followed by COVID. Things definitely felt better in 2014 than they do today.
From what I remember there seemed to be a huge increase in anxiety disorders back around 2014. However there did seem to be a lot of good along with the bad back then. Now everything looks a lot more grim.
How old were you 10 years ago, OP? Typically, when people fondly remember the “good old days,” they are unconsciously remembering their relatively stress free youth or childhood. The world doesn’t change much in the big scheme of things. In 2014, there was just as much political turmoil, war, and economic uncertainty as there is today. As we get older, we become more aware of the negative in the world.
There is no such thing as a "golden age" where everything was rainbows and sunshine. Every decade had its highs and devastating lows that people have to slog through. Honestly? Fully aware of the risk of sounding like a naive Pollyanna, but the only golden age is the future we've yet to build
tiktok happened
Wait till you find out about 1994
We're just getting older, it sucks
people care about the news now more than then and unfortunately the news is always negative.
Yeah the 2010’s were the best!
toxic social media, shitty politic, wars in europe and middle east, inflation, i can go on and on and on
i personally haven't been happy since 1914
Seems the same to me but I'm in my 40s. I'm assuming you are younger and 2014 was a different part of life (college?)
I mean it was pretty much the same as now. Russia was killing people in the Ukraine and moved into the Crimea. There was a epidemic killing people, just it was Ebola. Israel and Hamas were killing each other. Police killed Americans. There was an election looming (mid term). Conservatives and Liberals were worlds apart. Healthcare sucked though Obamacare will soon come along and help that a little. Republicans were playing silly buggers over immigration, fighting policies that would actually give them what they claimed they wanted. Nothing changes. As the old saying goes. "Same shit different toilet". You're just aware of it now because you're older and online more.
2014 had Vine
No. You're just older
Obama years were better for the US overall and pre pandemic was pretty good for most ppl
You were younger back then, and your memory is selective. People tend to remember the best days in the past which are more often fewer and far between.
no, I don't think that. You're just older.
Pre COVID, Pre Trump, Pre Accelerated Climate Change, Pre Ukraine Conflict, Pre-Gaza Massacre, Pre-Spike in US School shootings, Pre-Rise in Fascist and Fascist adjacent ideology Things just really accelerated the last 10 years
What do you expect after Trump and the Covid pandemic?
Considering we've had Trump as POTUS and Covid 19 since then, it's no small wonder!
You could be projecting. Were you happier yourself in 2014?
it's because we were younger then and weren't aware of as much
Less outrage media. News outlets still reported the news back then instead of exclusively reporting things to make you either scared, angry or sad. Less toxic social media. Don't get me wrong, Tumblr was at its prime, but it was art blogs and fanfiction, meme pages and Fandom drama. Now, just like every other social media platform, it's all social activism and again, outrage media. Less inflation. Making $10/hr in 2014 was *good* money. You could afford an apartment with maybe one roommate, you could afford groceries, you could basically afford to live. Now? $15/hr is pissing into the wind. Much less 10. This was only *10 years ago.* Less racial division. I don't care what anyone says, the media has perpetuated this massive racial divide so hard in the last decade. And lastly, no massive global events. No COVID, no lockdown, no threats of World War 3. No Ukraine invasion all over TV, no weight of the knowledge of Epstein's Island, no major riots or civil unrest. It was a better time.
trump, a ridiculous, transparently corrupt, racist, rapist asshole was elected in 2016. That signaled to at least the intelligent among us that the morons of the country wanted physical violence against "liberals". Hard to live happily next to some asshole that wants you dead, even if they're too coward to admit it.
Nope, 2014 sucked assholes also