Was life just better back then?
I’m 15 so right in the middle of adolescence. I don’t know… each time I look at the latest news or watch old media or look at forums or go on social media I can’t help but get this feeling of dread that the world was better, or at least happier than it is now. Especially on the internet. I would’ve loved to be on a decentralised internet with different forums & niche communities where I could find cool people just like me instead of one or two big social media giants that track you wherever you go & is filled with extremist, racist or perverted content and people who criticise your every move or opinion. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so isolated in a world that is constantly connected.
Not to mention AI where it’s becoming even more difficult to differentiate between human and robot, where artists are losing their jobs to machines because companies are so soulless and inhumane that they’d ruin the livelihood of someone who is passionate about their work for a cheap & quick machine. Right when it’s my time to grow up and be an adult, I live in fear that I’ll just be replaced by a robot who can do what I can do ten times better and ten times quicker.
I read posts & articles of people being depressed & unmotivated because of the state we’re in. A lot of the time i just feel hopeless knowing there’ll probably be no point in me doing anything I’m passionate in because everybody will just be consuming machine generated content anyways. What’s the point?
I imagine how cool it would’ve been to come home from school and log onto your favourite forum or chat room or whatever where you could just chat & hang out with people you already knew because you’ve been on the site so much.
I don’t want to be one of those 16 year olds who are like ‘I was born in the wrong generation. my generation is so lazy waaaah I hate modern things the 1960s was better than now people had more respect then’ but I often wish I could’ve been born say 30 years ago where computers & digital technology was so new and we didn’t rely on phones and screens in general so much. I feel like I’ve missed out on the golden age of the internet and now we’re in this monstrous stew of toxicity, artificial content & misinformation.
Am I looking at things through rose tinted lenses? Was the world just happier then? I feel hopeless
Not to mention AI where it’s becoming even more difficult to differentiate between human and robot, where artists are losing their jobs to machines because companies are so soulless and inhumane that they’d ruin the livelihood of someone who is passionate about their work for a cheap & quick machine. Right when it’s my time to grow up and be an adult, I live in fear that I’ll just be replaced by a robot who can do what I can do ten times better and ten times quicker.
I read posts & articles of people being depressed & unmotivated because of the state we’re in. A lot of the time i just feel hopeless knowing there’ll probably be no point in me doing anything I’m passionate in because everybody will just be consuming machine generated content anyways. What’s the point?
I imagine how cool it would’ve been to come home from school and log onto your favourite forum or chat room or whatever where you could just chat & hang out with people you already knew because you’ve been on the site so much.
I don’t want to be one of those 16 year olds who are like ‘I was born in the wrong generation. my generation is so lazy waaaah I hate modern things the 1960s was better than now people had more respect then’ but I often wish I could’ve been born say 30 years ago where computers & digital technology was so new and we didn’t rely on phones and screens in general so much. I feel like I’ve missed out on the golden age of the internet and now we’re in this monstrous stew of toxicity, artificial content & misinformation.
Am I looking at things through rose tinted lenses? Was the world just happier then? I feel hopeless
Reply 1
Humanity peaked at the end of the 90s and early 00. It's been downhill since like 2004
Reply 2
As someone that grew up predominantly pre-internet, I don't know that things were necessarily significantly better back then. A bit calmer, yes.
I think the main difference now is that you are constantly being bombarded with things to think and potentially worry about. In the 80's and 90's you might read about something in the paper, or hear about it on the news, but you weren't being asked to engage with stuff 24/7 with is pretty gruelling. Add to that things like COVID, brexit, Trump, Musk, climate change, AI, recessions etc and you just have an endless laundry lists of things that it seems like you should keep on top of. The reality is you have little or no control over any of it, which is pretty much the same that it has always been.
I think the main difference now is that you are constantly being bombarded with things to think and potentially worry about. In the 80's and 90's you might read about something in the paper, or hear about it on the news, but you weren't being asked to engage with stuff 24/7 with is pretty gruelling. Add to that things like COVID, brexit, Trump, Musk, climate change, AI, recessions etc and you just have an endless laundry lists of things that it seems like you should keep on top of. The reality is you have little or no control over any of it, which is pretty much the same that it has always been.
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