What's changes to the world / society have you encountered in your life?

Skill Magill!

Being only 27 I haven't encountered much at all.

I've witnessed:

Peace on the island of Ireland (1999, GFA).
9/11 and war and unrest in the Middle East and Asia.
Introduction of the Euro and abolition of the Punt.
Enlargement of the EU.
The state visit of the monarch of England (IMO a huge and symbolic event).

and that's all of significance really.

How old are you and what have you witnessed in your life?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I'm approaching 75 and have I've seen more than I should have.

This is the Olwans Forum!!!!

Skill Magill!

Allan Fat Bandana wrote: »

I'm approaching 75 and have I've seen more than I should have.

This is the Olwans Forum!!!!

Ah I know. It's why I asked it here.

Most posters here will have seen much more than I.
My dear late grandmother who passed in 2007 was born in 1922, she always had great stories of her youth, the war, rations, hardship etc.

My uncle (a German man) said that we are the first generation of Europeans who hasn't experienced war in several hundred years.

EdgeCase

The standout ones for me, other than the list the OP has already mentioned were probably same-sex marriage being introduced. I know it was a relatively minor tweak to civil partnership, but there was something rather profound in how that day felt.

EdgeCase

Skill Magill! wrote: »

My uncle (a German man) said that we are the first generation of Europeans who hasn't experienced war in several hundred years.

Not all of Europe was entirely war free: Bosnia and the rest of Former Yugoslavia spring to mind. I remember visiting Dubrovnik and Montenegro and really feeling quite stunned by the fact that a war had literally been fought there not that many years ago and there were still people wandering around with war injuries, especially in Montenegro - amputees and so on. I had some rather eyeopening chats that were more like something from 1930s/40s Europe than modern times.

Skill Magill!

EdgeCase wrote: »

Not all of Europe was entirely war free: Bosnia and the rest of Former Yugoslavia spring to mind. I remember visiting Dubrovnik and Montenegro and really feeling quite stunned by the fact that a war had literally been fought there not that many years ago and there were still people wandering around with war injuries, especially in Montenegro - amputees and so on.

Of course ! Maybe I should have elaborated, the EU / EEA then.
Croatia is in the EU now though and they might have had spillover of trouble.

EdgeCase

Skill Magill! wrote: »

Of course ! Maybe I should have elaborated, the EU / EEA then.
Croatia is in the EU now though and they might have had spillover of trouble.

They and fairly direct action. Dubrovnik was shelled.

looksee

Communications. As a child our only contact with the outside world - apart from going out and actually experiencing it - was a radio and newspapers, and only a Sunday newspaper was bought in our house. I think I was about 12 or 14 before we got a phone, but it was used sparingly, with permission, and not before 6pm.

Then in my early 20s I went abroad and my only contact with home was a 5 days each way letter. In the 5 years I was away there were two phone calls to me and one from me home. The one from me required considerable organisation - I had to book the call at the local school (where my husband was working - and wait 8 hours while it was booked and routed through I think Kinsasha to up country Kenya.

Then we came back to Ireland in 1973 and applied for a house phone. After three years the government said that everyone on the waiting list would have a phone within 12 months, and we did, so we had waited 4 years to get a phone. Still an expensive business and calls were kept short and in the evenings where possible.

Then I learned to use a computer in about 1997 when I went to college as an adult student, then the internet and emails - I seem to remember I sent my first email in about 2006, would that be right? The first one from my own computer in my own office anyway. My first mobile phone - a Nokia which lasted me about 10 years - one of those orange coloured ones. And only about 2 or 3 years ago a smart phone. And now we communicate the whole time with phones and laptops and tablets and skype and whatsapp (except I have taken exception to them because they want even more info from me) and talking to people all over the world any time you feel like it.

EdgeCase

I certainly don't remember the 1970s but even from the 1990s onwards there's been an absolutely huge sea change in communication.

I mean, even going back to the early 2000s we were struggling with WAP on mobiles and astronomically expensive mobile data and now we just take it for granted that we've a pretty powerful computer with a broadband connection in our pockets. The speeds that my mobile phone gets on 4G are significantly higher than what Telecom Eireann would have used to connect a medium sized town 25 years ago.

We were going through some old stuff in boxes at home and one of my younger relatives found a CallCard and actually didn't 'get' why you would ever want a card that was used for operating a payphone. It just made no sense to him as a concept. It was just 'old time stuff'. It's not all that long ago it was the height of modern telecommunications technology.

Even go back a few years ago and most Irish people did not have a credit card or a visa / MasterCard debit card. A lot of us just had a Laser card which was utterly useless online and didn't work very well outside Ireland. I can't imagine life without Visa and Visa Debit now. I get irritated if I can't pay for things with my watch!

Jellybaby1

The best changes are medical improvements:

When I was very young in the 50's many of our neighbours had large families, 8, 10, 15, 17 children. Women were worn out long before they were 40. By the time I was getting married in the 70's women had more choice regarding family planning as the contraceptive pill was available.

In 1954 - first human kidney transplant
In 1967 - first human heart transplant.
In 1963 - first human liver transplant
In 1963 - first human lung transplant

And lots more besides i.e. vaccines etc.

Steve

2018 - Skill Magill! got banned as a troll....

looksee

Well granted it was a bit of a gift of a question to the O&Os, looking for the 'I remember when' answers, it is quite interesting, to some of us at any rate.

We (in family conversations) have discussed before whether my granny - 1890(ish) to 1972; my mother - 1921 - 2014; or my sister and myself - 1940s to date had seen the most change in society in their lifetimes. Its hard to say. Gran saw staggering changes in the role of women, transportation and living and health standards. After that it was development of those themes until computers came along. Computers didn't really impinge on my mother's life, where they have on mine and my sister's. And if for some reason computers and internet were to fail we would be plunged back a lot further than the 20th century, so dependent are we on them.

Prior to the first world war the biggest changes were in transport, and most people living in a small town or village would not really have seen any appreciable difference in their lifestyle, during their lifetime, to that of their parents.

Jellybaby1

Steve wrote: »

2018 - Skill Magill! got banned as a troll....

Surely not for the OP? Anyway, its an interesting subject for us elder lemons.

looksee

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

Surely not for the OP? Anyway, its an interesting subject for us elder lemons.

More to do with being a rereg I think.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

looksee wrote: »

More to do with being a rereg I think.

Hence my initial glib reply. He never hides his identity very well.


I don't think there's any aspect of everyday life that I haven't seen changed since the 40s. I think even the attitudes and values of the average person have changed immensely.

Transport, communications, medicine, science, broadcasting, politics and religion have changed beyond anything we could have imagined 70 years ago.

looksee

In the 40s there was transport. Trains, cars, ships. It was not inconceivable that a person could get to another part of the country or even world. There was communication, letters, some phones, telegraphs.

I have a postcard written by my mother when she was 14/15 saying that she was coming home the next day from her job, by bus, she would change in some place and get another bus.

I started secondary school when I was 11 (in England). I walked about a kilometer to get a bus, into the city about 5 miles, a short walk and another bus about 4 miles to near the school. Coming home was a slightly longer trip as the route took me all the way into the city where I changed at the center and did the 6 or so miles home. I don't recall this ever being a bother to me. Well - there was one time as I was coming home, the return bus brought me nearer to home and dropped me off only a street away from where I lived. This one evening the bus slowed to a stop for no apparent reason just before the stop and the driver was cursing in a fairly good natured sort of a way. My pet dog was in the middle of the road, barking at the bus to stop and, red faced, I had to get off the bus and haul the dog onto the pavement...evidently she knew I was coming.

But yes, all that travelling around with no phones to know what time the bus might arrive, no way of communicating if there was a delay. In some ways this was an advantage as you didn't start worrying about people because they were a couple of minutes late and hadn't called, you just waited till they arrived. It was really a good deal less stressful.

New Home

My grandmother used to say that the biggest thing that improved her life the most was the washing machine (a manually operated twin tub, at first - it was a million times better than having to break the ice in the stream at wintertime to wash the laundry), she thought it was something that should have earned its inventor a place in Heaven. Also, a sewing machine, and much later, a fridge. It's not that the former two didn't exist, it's the fact that they all eventually became just about affordable, even for someone with only a small income. The fridge is still being used and still works quite well (not by her, unfortunately).

looksee

Agreed on the washing machine. My mother (in the house i lived in up to age 10) had a 'copper' in the kitchen - a copper tub with a gas flame heater under it that the bedding and clothes were boiled up in. They were then hoisted out, put into a galvanised tub outside to rinse then put through the mangle which also lived outside. The clothing was moved around in the water with a poncher (sp?) It looked like a copper bell on a vertical handle, but it had a bottom to it and holes for the water to flow through. You used it a bit like a potato masher. What a labour. She got a twin tub at the next house.

Edit, no it was not a twin tub, it was a single tub with a mangle attached. I had forgotten that!

Samuel Vimes

Being in my 50's I have seen a lot of changes both social and technical.
Apart from all the obvious big ones some smaller quirkier ones come to mind.
The use of prepare processed food, years ago people cooked , not just heated a meal in a microwave but actually cooked.
Health fads would also be one, the explosion of the Gym culture, where so many people go the gym on the way to or from work.
I suppose lifestyle has just evolved and I'm not saying its a bad thing but it has changed dramatically over a very short space of time.

looksee

Prepared food, yes. Processed not so much, or at least food that is processed is a good deal better than the older ideas of processed. For people living on their own a decent meal ready to heat can be much more satisfactory than the waste that is involved in cooking for one.

Samuel Vimes

looksee wrote: »

Prepared food, yes. Processed not so much, or at least food that is processed is a good deal better than the older ideas of processed. For people living on their own a decent meal ready to heat can be much more satisfactory than the waste that is involved in cooking for one.

I know that feeling, cooking for one can be a tiring drag.

Jellybaby1

My very elderly relatives usually buy ready meals from M & S. If I was living alone I probably would consider them as well.

Graces7

Samuel Vimes wrote: »

I know that feeling, cooking for one can be a tiring drag.

You can cook for two, plate and freeze one meal. I use the simpler ready meals maybe once a week as a treat. Else batch cook easy meals

Jellybaby1

Graces7 wrote: »

You can cook for two, plate and freeze one meal. I use the simpler ready meals maybe once a week as a treat. Else batch cook easy meals

That's what I do now in my 60's. But my 90's relatives and friends don't have the interest in cooking for one.

Corca Baiscinn

looksee's and EdgeCase's points re changes in the way we communicate remind me of how young people find it odd that an older generation ever managed to make arrangements to meet and then find each other prior to mobile phones. It was perfectly simple - under Clery's Clock, outside the cinema or whatever but if your date/friend was late you never knew whether they had missed their bus or you were being stood-up! These days any arrangement seems to involve a plethora of whatsapps or calls. think we had to be less fickle; make an arrangement and stick to it!

New Home

Corca Baiscinn wrote: »

looksee's and EdgeCase's points re changes in the way we communicate remind me of how young people find it odd that an older generation ever managed to make arrangements to meet and then find each other prior to mobile phones. It was perfectly simple - under Clery's Clock, outside the cinema or whatever but if your date/friend was late you never knew whether they had missed their bus or you were being stood-up! These days any arrangement seems to involve a plethora of whatsapps or calls. think we had to be less fickle; make an arrangement and stick to it!

And everyone had a watch, too, just for telling the time (or, at most, the day of the month).

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Jellybaby1 wrote: »

That's what I do now in my 60's. But my 90's relatives and friends don't have the interest in cooking for one.

Usually I cook for both of us (normally two different meals though) but several times a week I cook for just myself. I don't mind and find it easy to rustle up a dinner for one from scratch, without waste. A chicken fillet in the oven or a steak on the pan, a few potatoes in the pressure cooker and some veg in the streamer. Always fresh and tasty.


Maybe in another 10 years I'll have no interest in cooking but I'm dreading the thoughts of heated ready meals to be honest.


On the changes we've encountered: Got a wedding invitation yesterday with the RSVP by Text only. Hasn't society become very impersonal in many regards?

New Home

[Has anyone else noticed that Boards has gone a bit funny tonight, posting replies ahead of the post we're replying to, adding flags to the posts, and moving punctuation around in the text we've typed? Two out of three happened to me in this thread already.]

Steve

New Home wrote: »

[Has anyone else noticed that Boards has gone a bit funny tonight, posting replies ahead of the post we're replying to, adding flags to the posts, and moving punctuation around in the text we've typed? Two out of three happened to me in this thread already.]

Yeah, seems one of the rubber bands holding the site together has snapped and Easons doesn't open till Monday. :pac:

New Home

The ones from any pound shop would do until then...

looksee

How about a pair of tights?

New Home

looksee wrote: »

How about a pair of tights?

McGyver would be proud. :cool:

filbert the fox

Gone away in the last 40 years:

Smog

Lead in fuel

Asbestos

corporal punishment

Kids playing on "trolleys"

Outdoor pursuits

time

Graces7

for me it would be easier to list what has not changed... I grieve for much of it

Graces7

New Home wrote: »

[Has anyone else noticed that Boards has gone a bit funny tonight, posting replies ahead of the post we're replying to, adding flags to the posts, and moving punctuation around in the text we've typed? Two out of three happened to me in this thread already.]

try logging off then back on... works for me

I’m 57 and these are all within my living memory from the time my parents got first house phone:

Pims Department Store closes so no more virtual reality boat trips to Santa; a 1960s Christmas trumps a 20teens Christmas in Dublin!
Break-out of war in the North
Peace in the North
House phones becoming commonplace
Pedestrianisation of Grafton Street & others
Demise of Russell, Hibernian, Montrose Hotels in Dublin
Great Southern Hotels no longer part of CIE
No longer any need to wear a hat at Mass
No longer any need to say you’re going to Mass
Ireland joins EEC
Colour televisions
A new need to subdue the fact that you might go to Mass
Food becoming affordable and much greater in variety.
Decriminisation of homosexual acts.
Boeing 747
Concord arrives
Concord dies
Turbofan & turboprop engines make airplanes quieter
Ability to buy your own house phone as Telecom Eireann modernises.
Divorce
Registry Office weddings
Humanist funerals
Civil Partnership
Same-sex marriage
Artificial joints
Transplants
Flatscreen televisions
Fall of Soviet Europe & communist regime in Eastern Bloc
Fall of Berlin Wall
Day-case surgery
Day-case maternity
Coronary stents
Affordable & extremely high safe air travel
Introduction of seatbelts
Advancement of car production technology where they no longer rust
Advancement of car drivability with power steering.
Advancement of car safety with airbags
Advancement of car safety with advanced braking systems
Cars you can no longer service yourself, but are much more reliable.
3 day & less hospital stays for major complex surgery
Curability of certain cancers
Demise of hospital matrons
Biological treatments of various diseases
Dart Train in Dublin
LUAS Tram in Dublin
Libraries, housing & waste disposal being taken largely out of local authority control.
Church scandals
Child abusers being discovered & made accountable
Computerization of everything.
Internet by phone cable
Broadband
WiFi
Smart phones
Hybrid cars
Introduction of electric cars to mass market
Health & Safety
Examples of third world countries entering the modern ideological world in spite of remaining in material poverty, one example being Nepal having on its visa application form 3 choices in gender tickbox.

Count Down

When I was growing up in the 60s and 70s every green area in housing estates was taken up by kids playing football. Nowadays they're deserted.
All indoors on xbox, getting obese and unfit. :mad: I'm 58 and fitter than most of them. Lazy shower.