Well I personally can't think of many in all honesty. Those diseases that would have killed in a week might now be curable but that wholly depends on if you can see a doctor in time. Or get an ambulance. Or seen at the A&E. What use is having an antibiotic to cure you in a week if you can't see the doctor to give it you for three or more? What good is it if they've got the supplies to treat you in a hospital if you can't get looked at? They may as well not have them, at least people in the 50s wouldn't have depended on stuff as it wouldn't have been there to depend on!Jack400 wrote: ↑06 Dec 2022, 18:42 Not one thing is an improvement in modern life? Really? Disease that would have killed are now destroyed with a week of antibiotics. Streets that were empty - because (1) few could afford a car and (2) they were film sets (each car costs money)! Children that knew how to behave? A local paper used to print extracts from 10, 25, and 50 years ago. One item from 1955(?) Was an item encouraging the youth to plant trees in order to encourage pride in the area - and reduce vandalism. Not sure if it sounds too idyllic to me,!
Streets aren't film sets, my dad assures me that the streets when he was young were nothing like today's. No chip papers, fast food, chewing gum all over the place, he said you could walk barefoot and used to. I won't even walk in my wellies by our bus stop, the floor is awful, full of old cigarette ends and gum. I don't think we have a street sweeper anymore unfortunately.
Yes children were better behaved. They aren't now as there are no deterrents or consequences. My aunt works in a school and was complaining that the kids were like wild things, they had climbed ladders to remove the light coverings to use as sledges, while the teachers were there and could do nothing. Do you really think kids in the 80s and earlier would have got away with that? Even in the 90s we wouldn't have been allowed to behave like that. Not sure why planting trees to encourage pride in a area is a negative thing, that sounds like a positive to me. A pity more people don't take pride in where they live.
The Internet is a good invention for the most part, but it's got it's downsides. Taking away pen and paper jobs, automating everything and putting things online only. Social media and smartphones are terrible inventions and a lot of modern technology seems to be a case of just because it can be done doesn't mean it should be. Frost on the inside of windows is nothing, I've had that myself this week. I can't think of anything that's an actual improvement to be honest. Paper books completely outdo screens. Petrol cars are far more useful than electric rich men's toys. Food tasted much better when it wasn't a flavour-free "improvement". TV was better when it only had 3 or 4 channels, which I watched, compared to the hundreds available now, which I don't. Phones were better when people could only talk into them then put them down instead of doing so much they're permanently glued to them. Don't get me started on the music...
Maybe it's just me but I don't see any improvements there.