Whenever I watch anything from before the 80s, they always portray the people as fulfilled, happy, just having a good go at life. Do you think that’s actually what it was like? Or were people actually more unhappy with their lives before? And I’m not talking about things we have such as tech, medical advancements, etc I’m strictly referring to the happiness/fulfilled level of the average person
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I was born in 73. I was happier in the 70s because I didn’t know any better.
Anything you watch has the potential to carry propaganda. It’s likely folks had similar unfulfilling moments, just with different circumstances. And if we ever rewind the clock, we’re rewinding not only technological advancements, but civil liberties in society. Women had less rights, minorities were in more precarious conditions, etc. the lives of those people back then had their own challenges that caused unhappiness.
You can’t generalize people’s experiences. Some people will have it shitty and others will live like kings. There is too many variables.
>Whenever I watch anything from before the 80s, they always portray the people as fulfilled, happy, just having a good go at life
You have never seen anything about the two world wars and the instantly following cold war then?
Archie Bunker would like to complain to you for an hour about all the “colored” people.
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The family from Good Times would say something, too, but they have to save the girl who’s starving to death in the next apartment because all she has to eat is paint chips.
[Statistically yes](https://worldhappiness.report/ed/2019/the-sad-state-of-happiness-in-the-united-states-and-the-role-of-digital-media/)
Idk about pre 1980s, but I actually used to think the 80s was a pretty fun decade to live through.
But I read how bad fears of nuclear war were back then.
Like kids in the UK and USA having drills when they would have to go under the table or something in case there was some sort of nuclear attack.
Let’s examine the world in the ’80s
* Technology is there, but it isn’t always in your face (No cell phones)
* Housing was more affordable
* Arguably one of the best decades for music
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This is a very “where do you live?” situation. But in the western world, based on what I know of North America, I’d have enjoyed being an adult in the ’80s just because we were not always joined at the hip with phones and technology.
I grew up in the 80s and 90s. People seemed to be happier from my recollection. Once the internet and cell phones became mainstream, things started turning more negative. What I dislike the most now is that you can’t turn off your work. I remember when I would leave work, it was over until the next day. Now, you can’t escape it, emails all damn day and night for things that aren’t emergencies.
this might be a rose colored glasses question. People have a tendency to over the look the bad from the times. They only remember the good. . . shameful on how it is presented, but nonetheless here we go.
I remember crack being king on the streets, and the devastation the it is still causing to this day. source [https://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/crackcocaine/a-short-history.html](https://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/crackcocaine/a-short-history.html) for those that forgot.
The war in the falklands – for the younger people Source [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falklands_War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falklands_War)
Almost forgot about this as well [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaraguan_Revolution](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaraguan_Revolution)
the black out of New York source [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_blackout_of_1977](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_blackout_of_1977)
The steel crisis of the 1980’s with huge layoffs Source [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_crisis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_crisis)
and of the course who could forget the Regan era – that was a show on both sides of the fence. That was ushered in by Jimmy Carter and his handling of the Iran Hostage Crisis – Source [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_hostage_crisis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran_hostage_crisis)
So no – the 80’s was a struggle bus, I think the leadership was stronger and the belief as “We Americans” was better. We understood we were in it together. That was good – but there was some really bad things as well.
I think one thing that’s mostly universal is people are happy and care free and sheltered as kids so believe that time in their lives was happy for everyone
20 year olds today talk about how good life was in 2016
30 year olds talk about early the early 2000s, and so on
People were dealing with the same problems abd anxieties there just wasnt a 24 hour news cycle and social media to amplify everything.
Technology changes, people don’t. Our brains work the same way they did 50,000 years ago. It’s just an appeal to the past.
Before. But you also can’t go by propaganda and media, because as every actual adult knows they have a tendency to lie at various levels (but will always do so in some way). Studies on the matter have shown a drastic decline in people “being happy”, particularly women that have fallen the furthest, but take that however you will because I think it would be damn near impossible to accurately measure something as complicated as “happiness”. It’s damn near like quantifying “love”.
I remember the ’80’s, and yes, I think people were generally happier if only b/c all the damn technology that’s supposed to keep us interconnected but in reality keeps us all apart more wasn’t involved yet.
I don’t know, my country had a pretty bad civil war at the time, so I don’t think people were that happy then.
You… should probably watch more movies from the 70s. Start with Taxi Driver.
I imagine it’s about the same, with a slight trend towards better now
The 80s really, really sucked. The 70s began with a more wholesome, false default of family happiness.
But few, as always, tried to show reality.
Bladerunner’s great, though.
Before, because we have studies on this.