The past may have been simpler and happier, but it was not better

There is a familiar complaint heard at family gatherings, in television studios and on social media feeds these days: the world is falling apart.
Wars rage in places such as Iran, Lebanon, Africa’s Sahel region and Ukraine. Heavily armed states and militias compete for power, influence and territory. Immigration has become a source of political anger in Europe, the US, Canada and Australia. Faith in mainstream political parties has weakened. Populists thrive on public frustration. White-collar workers fear that artificial intelligence may replace them. Climate disasters seem to strike every season.
It is no wonder that, for many young people, the future appears uncertain, bleak and exhausting. Against this backdrop, nostalgia has become fashionable. Many people look back at the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s through rose-tinted glasses and conclude that the past was not only simpler and happier, but also better.
It was not.
The danger lies in “golden age thinking” — the belief that the best days are permanently behind us. That mentality encourages pessimism and hopelessness, especially among the young.
As someone who has lived the better of his life in “the past,” it was certainly simpler. Before smartphones and social media, people lived quieter lives. They spent more time speaking to one another, sometimes across garden fences, instead of staring at screens. Neighborhood playgrounds were crowded with children. Young people disappeared outdoors for hours without parents worrying about their safety. News arrived at fixed hours through newspapers or evening radio or TV bulletins, not every minute through notifications.
There were fewer distractions and less information overload. The average person did not have to wade through dozens of spam emails, short videos, memes and political arguments on WhatsApp groups before breakfast. For better or worse, ordinary people shared nothing about their vacations, personal lives or children’s achievements with strangers. Life moved at a slower pace.
In many countries, there was also greater social stability. Lifetime employment was not unheard of. A worker could join a company in their 20s and retire from the same place decades later. New technologies often created more jobs than they destroyed despite fears of mass layoffs. Laborious factory work gave way to office work. Starting in the 1950s, entire industries grew around electronics, computers, aviation, finance and telecommunications.
The collapse of Soviet communism settled the long-running debate over the merits of capitalism, free markets and globalization. The world seemed to be opening up rather than closing down. Air travel became steadily cheaper. International trade expanded rapidly. Western pop culture flourished. Hollywood, TV networks and music companies had enormous audiences and huge revenues, producing stars from Harry Belafonte to Khaled, whose fame and appeal crossed continents.
The international media also enjoyed greater public trust, not to mention profitability. While bias certainly existed, there were fewer accusations of “fake news,” fewer conspiracy theories and less political tribalism surrounding journalism. Social media had not yet fragmented public discourse into millions of competing arguments and podcasts.
People’s expectations were often more modest as well. A middle-class life did not seem to require yearly vacations, constant and costly upgrades of electronic devices or carefully curated online lifestyles. Many people, including my family and friends, were satisfied with far less material consumption than is considered normal today.
And yet, despite all this, the past was not a better time.
One reason is simple: medicine. Millions of people alive today would not have survived in earlier decades. Treatments for cancer, heart disease, diabetes and countless other conditions have improved dramatically. Vaccines (think shingles) prevent or diminish the risks associated with diseases that once terrified entire societies. Surgical procedures are safer, less painful and more sophisticated. Premature babies survive in far greater numbers. Elderly people live longer and remain active for longer.
Even where cures do not exist, quality of life has improved enormously in all but the poorest countries. Hearing aids, joint replacements, advanced pain treatments, antidepressants, mobility devices and home-care services allow people with ailments or disabilities to live fuller and more independent lives. In earlier generations, many people simply suffered in silence. 

Nostalgia is a great comfort but, if history is any guide, optimism and curiosity are what move societies forward.

Arnab Neil Sengupta

The same applies to life expectancy. Across much of the world, people today live significantly longer than their parents and grandparents did. Infant mortality has fallen sharply. Extreme poverty has declined globally over the past few decades, despite recent setbacks and inequalities.
Travel and communication have also been transformed beyond recognition since my childhood. Long-distance travel was once prohibitively expensive and available mainly to the wealthy. International phone calls were costly luxuries even until the 1990s. Today, a student in Riyadh can video call relatives in London instantly and cheaply. Families separated across continents can remain emotionally connected in ways previous generations could scarcely imagine.
Knowledge itself has expanded dramatically. Modern computing power and space telescopes have deepened humanity’s understanding of the universe. Scientists can now study black holes, distant galaxies and planetary systems with astonishing precision. The application of AI, despite the fears surrounding it, is accelerating medical research, language translation and scientific discovery, to name just three fields.
Modern forecasting technologies have also saved countless lives. In the past, tsunamis, hurricanes and typhoons often struck populations with little or no warning. Today, satellites, sensors and advanced climate models allow governments to evacuate millions of people before disasters arrive.
Equally important, many injustices that once remained hidden are now exposed. Domestic violence, workplace abuse, corruption and discrimination often went unreported in earlier decades because victims lacked platforms and institutions willing to listen. Social media can be harmful and addictive, but it has also made it harder for powerful people to conceal wrongdoing.
Nostalgia also tends to overlook unpleasant realities. The supposedly “golden” decades were not free from fear or instability. The Cold War carried the constant threat of ideological subversion and nuclear annihilation. Terrorism existed long before the present era. Racism, sexism and discrimination were more openly accepted in many societies. Mental health problems were often stigmatized instead of treated.
Even economy-wise, the past was far from an era of stability. Inflationary pressures, oil shocks, currency devaluation and recessions repeatedly disrupted ordinary lives. Many countries experienced political violence, authoritarian rule, communist insurgencies or severe restrictions on freedom.
What has changed most is that modern technology continuously exposes humanity to every crisis, everywhere. A war, riot, flood or economic panic instantly enters millions of homes on the opposite side of the planet through smartphones and screens. Earlier generations were often protected from this relentless stream of breaking news simply because they did not know about every international problem in real time.
None of this, of course, means that today’s fears are unjustified. The concerns about conflict, AI-driven job losses, immigration tensions and climate change are real. But every generation, especially the one that lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis and the protracted Cold War, has faced its own anxieties and uncertainties. The euphoric “end of history” period following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was an exception, not the rule.
To sum up, the past was indeed simpler and, in some ways, it was happier too. But it was not better. Humanity today is healthier, more informed, more connected and more capable than at any previous point in history. The challenge for younger generations is not to yearn for a world they never lived in, but to build a future that preserves the best elements of the past while overcoming its many limitations.
Nostalgia is a great comfort but, if history is any guide, optimism and curiosity are what move societies forward.

• Arnab Neil Sengupta is a senior editor at Arab News. X: @arnabnsg