Life now compared with 20 years ago

Online shopping. EVs. Phones like supercomputers. Banking apps. Never having to queue or visit a branch for any of life’s more tedious aspects (British Gas etc.). Remote working. Massive tellies with live / on-demand everything. Gmail ffs. We are lucky to be alive. 

In 2003 we did online shopping actually including Tesco, Amazon etc but if we go back abot 25 or 30 years it was certainly not there.

Have we become happier generally? (Not us specifically who may have grown happier from the content of middle age, but human beings living in the first world)

If my getting better you mean we can do things on our phone or in front of a computer screen that used to involve going somewhere - shopping banking going to the library meeting girls (or boys) debating gossiping etc etc then yes life is more convenient.  I am not convinced it is richer though.

The juke box in your pocket that plays pretty much all the music ever recorded is pretty fooking cool though and would have been a  fantasy come true to my music loving teenage self.

life was better prior to the mass adoption of smartphones. less convenient certainly, but overall better

the internet being everywhere all the time has had mainly deleterious effects on society, culture and the nature of interpersonal relationships

You’ve only just felt lucky to be alive? Statistically you’ve beaten the odds simply by being conceived*, gratitude from the word go to exist for a split second on this ridiculous rock. 

 

*this is not a diss at your mum, btw. I have no idea what she looks like.

Is Tarrant still sentient? I imagine he’s hoping to see out his days quietly. Nell McAndrew is absolutely smokin’

I think overall Chimp is right. There’s just too much connection and pressure from SoMe. The apps have really ramped up the pressure for dating and people who are single (for whatever reason) are seen to have “failed” since they should just be using the apps. It must be exhausting having to meet so many “matches”. 
 

With a bit of luck the next few years will rinse out enough millennials for some sort of normal order to be regained.

20 years ago, as a 25 year old I was still able to get a mortgage to buy a property in London.