I really never have believed times improved, and i am almost positive things will only get worse.
30 years ago we had a future to look to, the unshittified internet, great music, affordable land/housing, affordable durable cars, people actually interacted in real life, no social media trash. Now, we have billionaires and LLMs. I don’t see how anyone can possibly think times are better or going to improve.
Yes, everyone will say “civil rights improved” and yes thats maybe the only thing that has changed, however it’s getting taken away every day again so I don’t think you can even use that point anymore.
For the middle aged white American or…? Even then, the question seems to mean more as words than as an actual inquiry. It’s just too big of a question for it to mean anything. 30 years ago different brown people were getting bombed, for instance!
I wanted to post that we were in the hight of the cold war 30 years ago but then I calculated and now I am sad
Yes, the ozone hole is healing, we have less lead in the environment coming from leaded fuel, cars in general have become more fuel efficient, there are plenty of things that are way better now, than 30 years ago.
There is great music being made here in 2025, though the general music taste has stagnated for a long time.
Medical procedures have absolutely got better, as has tech in general, in 1995 we used CRT monitors with our computers, we used ball mice that constantly needed to be cleaned.
This is just some of the things that have improved.
Thank you. It’s hard to see what’s better sometimes but I have definitely benefited from a surgery that was “dark ages” 30 years ago.
Yeah, currently there is so much negativity on the news that it is easy to forget the good stuff that does happen.
we used ball mice that constantly needed to be cleaned.
I still use one. Though, it is the Logitech Trackball, but it still needs to be cleaned, like the old school mice.
1995? For me, personally, I’d say some things are better, some are worse. I was struggling to get by on $8.60 an hour back then, couldn’t live on my own so I had a room-mate. I was still a year away from the tech job that would crack open my real career and bring me where I am today.
1996 - first tech job, income doubled+ overnight. Got my own first place. Commuting between Portland and Chicago every 2 weeks for a year. Feels like that was when my life really started.
2025? Still working in tech, married 14 years, 6 figure salary, bought a house 4 years ago. OTOH - 2 heart attacks, congestive heart failure, cancer scare in the past 2 weeks. Looks like they got it all, but I need to back in 6 months for a re-check.
Good luck at your next appointment! 🤞
Melanoma? They can get all that shit pretty reliably these days. I just passed my last 6mo check and I’m back on yearlies.
If not melanoma then good luck, fellow traveler. Fuck cancer.
15 polyps and 2 actual tumors. :(
If there’s anything better now than 30 years ago it’s science, technology and medicine combined to make better treatments for cancer and other diseases. The 6-month checkup is good news (from my experience), then it will be yearly. Good luck!
The big one (30mm) they not only removed, but they tattooed the spot where they took it from for future checks.
So now I can legit say “Yes, I have a tattoo… no, I won’t show it to you!” LOL.
You are hilarious! Glad you have a sense of humor. Not that it’s a contest but I got you beat… I have 4 dots! Lol
well things are certainly better for me…
Yee, unquestionably IMO. There is of course plenty of fucked up shit but we are doubtless better off in America, on the whole, than in 1995.
Yeah, definitely better, but for me personally. I… had a shitty childhood.
Times are looking tough right now but the pendulum can swing back at any moment. And when it does we won’t be starting back at square one. Might be a few years and a few wars until then. Maybe just an arms race and the odd proxy war. No way to know. All we can do is resist and wait.
I don’t think they are at all.
Look up medical advancements over that time.
True, but the population in industrialized societies have become less and less healthy at the same time. We have Ozempic, but we also have 30% of Americans with prediabetes.
When was the last time you saw someone with Polio? Or someone die of sepsis?
30 years ago most people weren’t yet on the internet, there was very little entertainment media, you couldn’t use online accounts for most stuff, and most people didn’t have online bill paying. 30 years ago I helped bring my company online as the first full investment company, and my bank was still rare for doing online bill paying.
30 years ago, most of the US were in denial over climate change, renewable energy was expensive and there were no practical EVs.
Idk what you mean about entertainment media because sitcoms were all the rage. And while the U.S. was in denial about climate change they were also emitting far fewer ghg and climate change was much less evident
They were also in denial that sitcoms were, for the most part, terrible.
Since it hasn’t been mentioned, one thing that I am truly thankful for that we have improved since the 1990s is public smoking. Not having to be prepared for the reek of cigarettes in virtually every public space is such a big win.
Hell, in 1990, which is 35 years ago, you could still smoke on airplanes in the US. Airplanes! Can you imagine flying back then? Your neighbor could light up and there was nothing you could do but sit there and stew in the smoke stream. I’m glad I never had to experience flying with smoke but I had my fair share of being forced to sit in smoking sections of restaurants until my teenage years.
Thats true, it stank!! And non smoking was never a truth ha
The (true) joke at the time was that it was like a swimming pool with a little corner marked “no peeing zone”.
That all depends on the people. Many numbers in many places are far better than they were three decades ago. I could make a list, but so can you, so why bother.
Medical technology has greatly improved. More people survive cancer, aids, surgery is far less invasive, and better medications.
Technology in general is getting better.
We have a faster internet. I love having access to so much information. Sure, there are far more gullible fools who believe in all manner of silly stuff but I feel the internet has done more good than bad.
Life expectancy has gone up about 2 years since 1995 (from 76 to 78). Not a massive difference TBH.
Look at that dip right before 2020! Wonder why America dipped so much lower. Surely, face-masks as a way to prevent the spread of infectious disease wasn’t suddenly a controversial issue!
The one grape I have with the medical technology thing is the fact that if I used any of it I would be in debt for the rest of my life which would be longer because of the technology
Half the technology only prevents death, but doesn’t necessarily give you quality of life, so they can keep it. It’s the pharmaceutical advancements that have had the biggest QoL impact on me, and thankfully generics have been reasonably affordable.
Maybe you’ll get lucky and get a recall or a class action lawsuit
The internet allowed to stupid to find each other far too easily and spread far too much bullshit.
Depends who you ask. Things are better for the LGBTQ+ community. Still not as they should be, but I see a generation of kids now who are accepting, whereas 30 years ago, it was the worst thing anyone could accuse you of.
You say that civil rights may go away, but we do have them right now, and as our kids get older, they might not be so willing to take them away.
Yeah, that’s a big one in the US. Being a queer person in the 90s was almost exile from my social circle. There were some gay guys and lesbians were accepted on the perifery, but homophobia reigned.
