At 63, I do think nostalgically. Times were simpler and there was a greater connection between people. There seemed to be less anger and frustration. There wasn’t the absurdity of “cancel culture”. The focus was certainly on betterment, but it had the greater good in mind.
Now, life is much more about individual entitlement. People of all ages are literally glued to their phones. In many instances, young adults have started to lose conversational ability. Text has replaced the call. It is efficient, but the nuance is lost. The same holds true with an email. It can never beat an actual voice on the telephone.
Also, with things like friend finders and snap maps, you always know where your friends are (now). That’s not necessarily good. What if you aren’t included? You know now. You didn’t then. That can be rough on teens.
On the bright side, everyone has gained by the ease of access to information. That’s huge. Personally, age discrimination has lessened. That’s great for me. It’s nice to be considered vibrant and have the ability to attack life. When I was a teen, someone that was 63 would be looked at in wonderment, ‘You’re still alive?’ Damn. 😂
Despite what the news wants to convey, racial and cultural acceptance are dramatically better. People just interact. Cultural avoidance, for the most part, is gone. Granted the world isn’t perfect, but the chasm of the 60’s and 70’s has long since passed- mostly thanks to the efforts of our children!
And finally, “News”. Forget about the speed of access. That’s a benefit to all. It’s the content. When I grew up the news wasn’t politicized. Walter Cronkite (and others) told you what was going on. You could trust it as the truth. Now, there’s literally no such thing as “news”. The commentary is politically motivated, pseudo-factual, editorial. Nobody watches “A” channel. They watch the channel that feeds them the political news they’re comfortably hearing. That’s a massive kick in the nuts for national unity.
