How things have changed . ( and not for the better )

[nickb]

Acid was easily available at 50p a tab in 1974. I miss those days.

 

[presta]

I think every generation spends the first half of their life eagerly learning new things and lapping up new experiences, then the second half mourning the loss of everything that mattered to them as the next generation pulls it all apart. When I was a kid in the '70s we used to spend holidays staying with family in Leeds where I was born and my father grew up. I used to sit at the dinner table wide-eyed listening to my father talk about how he hardly recognised some areas as they'd changed to so much, and it all seemed so exciting to a boy from small-town Essex. Now when I go back and see everything I knew gone, I know how he felt.

I think the baby boomers probably had the best years though. Since the industrial revolution, the period from 1950 to 2000 were the golden years, and I think life will now get harder as climate change and the consequences of living high on the hog increasingly start to bite. The future will be about climate, pandemics, the rise of right wing extremism, and wars over resources and refugees.

 

[fossyant]

Stop moaning about computers and stuff. I've got you weirdo bike people to talk too.

 

[vickster]

Stop moaning about computers and stuff. I've got you weirdo bike people to talk too.

indeed and on a computer and stuff no less

 

[chris667]

I am lucky to know some young people through my volunteering activities.

They are far more energetic, hard working and nicer than I was at their age.

Change is good.

 

[ClichéGuevara]

I am lucky to know some young people through my volunteering activities.

They are far more energetic, hard working and nicer than I was at their age.

Change is good.

I totally agree. I've had experience working with a number of youth groups, and they've all really impressed me with their enthusiasm and work ethic, as well as their manners.

 

[mustang1]

The internet is now a commodity that we, especially kids, cannot live without. Us oldies will say the internet is rubbish and life was better without it.

But what about other commodities. Take those Calor gas tanks. Remember those? Gas supply is better these days, no? Unless we want to go back to that. And rolling back many years, fhere was a time when electric lighting was not normal but these days we have LED lamps. Even on our bikes!

How about water supply? A watering-well versus on-demand water through your humble tap! And its hot too!

A refrigerator. Air conditioning. Heated swimming pools. Every food item from around the world in every season.

I cannot wait for the 4 day working week to be the norm! Quieter electric cars becoming more popular. Less wars being fought around the world.

Sure, there are plenty of things which are pathetic and will get worse (see my various thread on trivial things that annoy me) but overall, it is better. Diabetes and obesity are worse, but other aspects of health have improved tremendously.

So, we will see, but I am very much in a positive light.

 

[a.twiddler]

This Be The Verse
BY PHILIP LARKIN
They furk you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.

But they were furked up in their turn
By fools in old-style hats and coats,
Who half the time were soppy-stern
And half at one another’s throats.

Man hands on misery to man.
It deepens like a coastal shelf.
Get out as early as you can,
And don’t have any kids yourself.

That's just the quote I was about to use! Doesn't mean you have to have a miserable outlook on life. You could conclude that either Philip Larkin was just a miserable sod, or he was being ironic for the sake of reaction. Most people do their best (even if they beat themselves up about it years later). Kids don't come with instructions. Ultimately, they don't belong to you. Somehow, the vast majority of parents manage to turn out reasonably well balanced independent humans who can make their own way in the world.
Unfortunately, the world being what it is, it's the ones who don't that we get to hear about. Good news doesn't sell papers.

 

[BoldonLad]

IMHO, the problem with being a parent is, by the time you have learned how to do it, it is too late

 

[a.twiddler]

IMHO, the problem with being a parent is, by the time you have learned how to do it, it is too late

This, apparently is what grandparents are for. Unfortunately we are programmed to ignore advice when we are young and have to find things out the hard way, and not just about parenting. Quite often, by the time you are older, and they have gone with the wind, you realise the things that they did for you. Cue for a thread titled "I wish I had listened to my parents". Or maybe not. We have strayed from the "Fings Ain't Wot They Used To Be" premise of the OP.

 

[gavroche]

In thirty years these will be the good old days!

it’s easy to live life looking in the rear view mirror, was life really that much better? in the 70’s and 80’s we had Thatcherism, 3 day week, endless strikes, IRA bombing campaigns. I know right now things are challenging, but they were challenging in the early ‘90’s and after the crash of 2007. I’m optimistic things will get better, rather than worse. My glass is (just) half full.

I think you missed the context of my thread. I was talking about parental education, not the state of world.
In my case, it was in the 50's and 60's.

 

[fossyant]

Oops post deleted, sorry mods.. old folk and...

Remember the outside toilets ! Lurvely !

 

[BoldonLad]

This, apparently is what grandparents are for. Unfortunately we are programmed to ignore advice when we are young and have to find things out the hard way, and not just about parenting. Quite often, by the time you are older, and they have gone with the wind, you realise the things that they did for you. Cue for a thread titled "I wish I had listened to my parents". Or maybe not. We have strayed from the "Fings Ain't Wot They Used To Be" premise of the OP.

Yes, I am a grandparent now…..

 

[Smokin Joe]

I remember when I was a kid and pensioners had a good understanding of the world. These days they fill their heads with Daily Mail style nonsense about how kids are badly brought up. They think that kids are no longer made to do chores and all kids can play with phones at the table.

You must have been living on a different planet to me. I remember pensioners (And most people over 40) having no understanding at all of youth culture in the sixties and seventies. In fact most adults back then seemed a right out of touch and miserable bunch, much more so than their modern counterparts.

 

[Brandane]

You must have been living on a different planet to me. I remember pensioners (And most people over 40) having no understanding at all of youth culture in the sixties and seventies. In fact most adults back then seemed a right out of touch and miserable bunch, much more so than their modern counterparts.

That may be part of the problem now. When I was young, we were rebellious, independent, and loved experimenting. With drugs, drink, the opposite sex, fast cars, motorbikes, travel, whatever... And our parents and grandparents were outraged! We had rock and roll, punk rock, illegal substances, and all sorts of good new stuff going on, that the oldies couldn't handle.

As an earlier poster said, the youth of today are mainly hard working and well mannered. And bland. Like their music, bland. So bland that they like stuff WE listened to in the 70s and 80s. No way would I have listened to my parent's music or vice versa! They drive bland cars that all look the same, and drive them to their bland office to do their bland jobs putting bland information into a bland computer. No more factories, no ship yards, no merchant navy, no anything of any interest to anyone with a bit of adventure.

Bollox to all that blandness. I'm so glad I was young during a period when it was great to be young. I went to sea 2 months after my 16th birthday, flew out to Abadan, Iran, to join my first ship and had the time of my life for the next 4 years. I wasn't always an angel, but I learned a lot about life. Most 16 year olds I see these days are treated like children. By their parents and the state. And this is progress?? All elements of risk are being squeezed out of their lives to the point of stupidity. I know of parents who rush home from work during their lunch break just to make sure that their "children" aged 14 and 12 are out of bed, and have eaten something. At that age I was perfectly capable of going to the fridge and sorting some lunch for myself. In fact at 14 I had a job during school holidays, which paid for my first bike, a Puch Alpine. Still reaping the rewards of that 48 years later. As I said in an earlier post, the world is going into reverse and future generations are welcome to it....