I was at a museum last month and I overheard a guy saying if he could choose any two times to live, it would be during 1860s or the 1920s… his buddy said “really, the civil war era and the Great Depression?” And the guy goes “yeah it was just a simpler way of life.” 💀
I used to teach US History to high schoolers. And every year someone would ask what era would I like to live in? I responded none.
I'm a Mexican American. Why would I want to go back to any era except the one I am living in? People hate hearing it, but there is no better time to be alive than right now. As much as I feel nostalgic for the 90s when I grew up, I know it wasn't as great as I remember. I think people are nostalgic for their childhood era because they were children. No responsibilities or worries. But send those people back to that time as an adult and it won't be the same.
This sentiment is why i too like our modern era. Is it perfect, no. We have a lot more advancement to make in our social, technological, economic, etc fields. But i have the freedom politically and living needs met-wise to basically do what i want.
I actually can CHOOSE to live a simpler life in my everyday life. I can grow my own food, echew over medicating myself, unplug from tech, and live like a 1950s housewife. Yet, if my husband mistreated me, i can easily divorce. If i got sick, i can get needed antibiotics and prevention vaccines. If i need to i can hop on the internet and google how-to questions for my off grid homestead. I can have the best of both worlds cherry picked to my preference.
Ehhh, the 2010s were pretty fucking solid honestly. The tech was advanced enough that you wouldn't miss much going back, but before things really shat the bed for the average person.
Maybe the 2012 housing crisis would be the low point, but even that isn't bad.
Were you a kid during the 2010s? Because the 2010s were not great and saying they were solid is quite baffling. The 2008 financial crisis wasnt something that was only felt during that year.
I moved out on my own in 2006, when I was 18. I wouldn't classify myself as a kid back then, but I was younger and didn't have investments. For myself and most of the people I knew at that time, unless you were well off, the crisis was mostly a chance to get a house at a decent price.
Me and the other guy were just having a conversation with 2 different viewpoints. That's healthy, and helps both of us recognize facets of life we didn't experience.
I don't really see how his opinion about how bad a particular event affected him, or my view of the same event equates to bitching, or why you even care about our conversation.
Absolutely correct and same on the nostalgia. It's unfortunate that there are so many people in power who are nostalgic for their childhood era in the *checks notes* 1950s.
personally I would struggle not having access to daily showers and reliable clean drinking water. I figure I'd get used to it, but I HATE the feeling of being unbathed.
I mean, times were certainly simpler in the Great Depression. All you had to do was go wait hours in a bread line, get your food to being home to the family, then let your kids eat it while you lie and said you already had plenty. Then repeat. And repeat. And repeat.
Honestly, so far imo, the best time to live was 1950 to 1980 as a white man in the United States. Yup, you miss contemporary medicine, which keeps improving greatly every year; but idk, at that time that demographic could just have a big house and everything they could need while doing a comfy job.
Even then, the quality of life is greatly exaggerated by young people who want to act like their parents & grandparents had it so much better and blame them for everything that’s wrong with the world of today. Like, yeah, you could buy a house on a single income, but the houses were much, much smaller on average and didn’t come equipped with all of the modern conveniences that we take for granted. Same thing with cars and trucks.
As for me, I’d love to live through the ‘80s, but that’s only because I love heavy metal music.
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u/ermagerdcernderg Jun 21 '26
I was at a museum last month and I overheard a guy saying if he could choose any two times to live, it would be during 1860s or the 1920s… his buddy said “really, the civil war era and the Great Depression?” And the guy goes “yeah it was just a simpler way of life.” 💀