Life was more chilled in the past?

nyarlothothep

Maybe its a case of rose tinted goggles but re-watching back to the future I was thinking that in 1985 life was more chilled out and simpler. For example when you woke up in 1985 the world consisted of your backyard and hometown. Now its the entire globe as you're just a click away from the internet. While the net is cool it just seems like the pace of life is in hyper overdrive, the long hours work culture, constant computing, job insecurity, huge debts, just seems that in the past things were more stable and just bit more laid back, excluding the threat of nuclear war. Also I think there was less of a callous culture, or that people weren't as wantonly ruthless, of course I wasn't really conscious then and there was the greed is good mantra but it seems to have flowered to encapsulate the general ordering of daily life.

oncevotedff

nyarlothothep wrote: »

Maybe its a case of rose tinted goggles but re-watching back to the future I was thinking that in 1985 life was more chilled out and simpler....

Man I wish I was 23 again too.

Affable

nyarlothothep wrote: »

Maybe its a case of rose tinted goggles but re-watching back to the future I was thinking that in 1985 life was more chilled out and simpler. For example when you woke up in 1985 the world consisted of your backyard and hometown. Now its the entire globe as you're just a click away from the internet. While the net is cool it just seems like the pace of life is in hyper overdrive, the long hours work culture, constant computing, job insecurity, huge debts, just seems that in the past things were more stable and just bit more laid back, excluding the threat of nuclear war. Also I think there was less of a callous culture, or that people weren't as wantonly ruthless, of course I wasn't really conscious then and there was the greed is good mantra but it seems to have flowered to encapsulate the general ordering of daily life.

I don't know about chilled. But it was certainly more stable. Economically and culturally. We have headed towards an instant gratification culture.
Driven, IMO, by the economic philosophies behind it. It has changed the football league, the music industry, TV and ads, politics and the headline/spin culture, food, even relationships and divorce/break up/teen pregnanancy/promiscuity rates. Not to mention conusmerism and the amount of crap we buy that we don't need. Job insecurity is also a by product, as is people and governments living on borrowed money to appear wealthier. Everything's gone short term and IG. But, a fine wine needs to mature, tea needs to brew, cheese needs to mature. And there's an analogy there with life. We need to slow down.

Noffles

Anything I've seen about that era on Irish tv looks like the sixties in any other country!! No wonder it was chilled!

nyarlothothep

Affable wrote: »

I don't know about chilled. But it was certainly more stable. Economically and culturally. We have headed towards an instant gratification culture.
Driven, IMO, by the economic philosophies behind it. It has changed the football league, the music industry, TV and ads, politics and the headline/spin culture, food, even relationships and divorce/break up/teen pregnanancy/promiscuity rates. Not to mention conusmerism and the amount of crap we buy that we don't need. Job insecurity is also a by product, as is people and governments living on borrowed money to appear wealthier. Everything's gone short term and IG. But, a fine wine needs to mature, tea needs to brew, cheese needs to mature. And there's an analogy there with life. We need to slow down.

yes I have the same view. The question is will people just shrug and say enough or have they adapted so much that this is now the "normal" way of life? It seems people are very willing to tolerate a huge amount of bs just to "get ahead."

Affable

nyarlothothep wrote: »

yes I have the same view. The question is will people just shrug and say enough or have they adapted so much that this is now the "normal" way of life? It seems people are very willing to tolerate a huge amount of bs just to "get ahead."

You really think we've become a load more ruthless?

I guess human nature is at it is, but you're right. No excuse for shaping the culture so people turn out a certain way perhaps.

What do you think people do/tolerate to get ahead?

Manach

I don't think it was that chilled. To me there was the anxiety in many peoples minds about nuclear weapons and what seemed to be the brinkmanship about there deployment in Europe.

On the positive side, the TV was better.

nyarlothothep

Affable wrote: »

You really think we've become a load more ruthless?

I guess human nature is at it is, but you're right. No excuse for shaping the culture so people turn out a certain way perhaps.

What do you think people do/tolerate to get ahead?

I guess the business is business attitude would be part of it. I've never liked that phrase as it sounds tautological. The terms in the phrase aren't defined so business could mean anything. Therefore you can justify any kind of behaviour whether its really justified or not. So in an extreme case someone could just hire a hitman to kill their competitor and say business is business. My impression is that its used to excuse a lot of crass, ruthless or generally self serving behaviour. I find that things have become a lot more brash, vulgar and inhuman as a result. Musically, filmically, the cynicism and lack of optimism is endemic and its not for any kind of positive change or in reaction to anything.

Aside from that rant I guess people took out huge loans to buy houses, expensive degrees etc and now they're in a world of debt. Once you're in debt you're owned. Its seems rash to get into that situation unless you're fairly certain you can handle it and feel comfortable with it. Its the fact that people bought houses when the prices were so high that I think was ridiculous, it was a circus. It also seems strange to me that people equate their identities with their jobs so much so that when they go unemployed they have nothing at all to do.

silverharp

I heard this song the other day and was saying to myself, man I wished I'd grown up then. But seriously debt is a bitch, its like collectively everybody stood up in the cinema to get a better view and made it worse for everyone else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cJOevhjS20

Affable

nyarlothothep wrote: »

I guess the business is business attitude would be part of it. I've never liked that phrase as it sounds tautological. The terms in the phrase aren't defined so business could mean anything. Therefore you can justify any kind of behaviour whether its really justified or not. So in an extreme case someone could just hire a hitman to kill their competitor and say business is business. My impression is that its used to excuse a lot of crass, ruthless or generally self serving behaviour. I find that things have become a lot more brash, vulgar and inhuman as a result. Musically, filmically, the cynicism and lack of optimism is endemic and its not for any kind of positive change or in reaction to anything.

Aside from that rant I guess people took out huge loans to buy houses, expensive degrees etc and now they're in a world of debt. Once you're in debt you're owned. Its seems rash to get into that situation unless you're fairly certain you can handle it and feel comfortable with it. Its the fact that people bought houses when the prices were so high that I think was ridiculous, it was a circus. It also seems strange to me that people equate their identities with their jobs so much so that when they go unemployed they have nothing at all to do.

That, and the stuff I described earlier can be linked to the USA. IMO they have been responsible for a lot of negative changes in the world. But people do tend to consciously or subconsciously follow them