You're viewing a single thread.
Like the "nobody wants to work anymore" phrase, there's a version of this post for pretty much every generation.
The constant variables are the age of the author and audience with whom it resonates, not the specific changes between the two time periods.
In 6-8 years or so we'll see a new version about TikTok and late night sessions with ChatGPT doing your homework as the good ol' days that have now been ruined by adulthood.
People coming of age with the harsh realities of life will lament their loss of childhood until humanity's final days.
The constant variables are the age of the author and audience with whom it resonates, not the specific changes between the two time periods.
People coming of age with the harsh realities of life will lament their loss of childhood until humanity’s final days.
I agree with your sentiment, but a possible evolution is that "the happiest time of your life" has gradually pushed younger. Young adulthood used to be that sweets spot people would be nostalgic about. You had a low skill (and low expectation) job and a cheap apartment. You got paid decently and multiple pathways for upwards mobility were available. Marriage and home ownership were obvious futures for you in the years ahead. You had the freedom of adulthood to make your own choices, without having the weight of the entire rest of your life on your shoulders. Your friends were all in similar situations. Nostalgia was around drinking too much on a beach during sunset or around a campfire in the middle of a forest. Perhaps traveling to distant destinations for simple exploration and adventure in one friend's clapped out (and paid off) car.
Now, as in the meme posted, the "ideal" nostalgia is being under the umbrella of your parents. Your parents roof. Your parents money. You not able to make adult choices for yourself.
I suspect people view their childhood and/or late teens through rose colored glasses, they remember the isolated moments of joy without the surrounding context, I remember being stressed about exams, unsure about the future, unsure of even my own identity, plenty of other concerns, but sure I enjoyed a few sleepovers and gaming sessions with friends but when we're remembering those days fondly it is from a safe perspective knowing all those concerns were resolved in a positive way, a survivorship bias, those that "failed at life", became homelessness/suicide(drugs etc), aren't here to reminisce with us all about the "simpler" times.
People are always determined to be unhappy. Of course there's reasons to be unhappy about the state of the world today but it's not as if 2015 was a gold period of human history either.
On average things were definitely worse in the past. I would definitely not want to live in the 1950s for example.
It's not like it was fantastic back then, but i remember in 2016 people claimed it was the worst year ever and it will never get better, because some rich people died.
everything was better when you were 13.
until humanity’s final days.
Damn those last kids, they'll never know what we had to deal with!!