When things get tough, when you’re backed into a corner, it can feel like the whole world is full of darkness and nothing more. It’s then easy to think that practically every aspect of life on Planet Earth has been going downhill since the Good Old Days (whenever that mythical era might have been).
The truth is that certain aspects of life have definitely improved over the decades; others, in turn, have certainly gone the other way, quality-wise. Internet users from around the globe pitched in with their opinions about the things that have consistently been getting worse over time, sharing their thoughts on r/AskReddit. They touched on topics from social media to housing costs and beyond.
Scroll down to read their thoughts, and let us know which of these posts you agree with, dear Pandas. What do you personally think has gone completely downhill in recent years and why? Tell us all about it in the comments.
#1
The quality of politicians in the United States. And most of the rest of the world. The majority are power hungry, money hungry people who shouldn't be representing the people of their country/state in the first place. The few good ones are powerless to do anything against the crooked majority.
Image credits: bcdnabd
Bored Panda got in touch with Sam Dogen, the author of 'Buy This, Not That: How to Spend Your Way to Wealth and Freedom' and the founder of the Financial Samurai blog, to hear his thoughts about the most important factors contributing to our quality of life. He also shared his insights about optimism and gratitude in times of economic turbulence.
Above everything else, Sam said that health should be our priority. "Health is absolutely the main thing that will decline and hurt the quality of your life if you don’t focus on it. Therefore, you have to be dedicated to eating properly and exercising regularly, especially over the age of 30," he noted.
"You cannot just wing it like you did as a teenager or a healthy 20-something years old eating pizza all day. Your waistline will expand and you’ll find more and more health issues pop up as you get older."
However, there are certain advantages to getting older. You start getting a different perspective on life. "Your confidence will naturally grow as you get older and gain more wisdom. As a result, you will feel less insecure, less shy, and have more courage to live the life that you want. Remember, your financial independence number is not ready if you don’t have the courage to change a suboptimal situation!"
#2
Science denial is out of control
Image credits: The_Ivy_Hawke
#3
Cost of living
Image credits: AmbeRed80
According to Sam, the author of 'Buy This, Not That,' experience really is the greatest teacher. "Further, as you build more wealth and grow your income, your fear of running out of money also declines. As a result, you can take more risks and not worry as much about what your friends, colleagues, and bosses think. The best benefit of being financially independent is to be able to speak your mind when you see something wrong. Also, I spend a lot more time being a creator, without fearing ridicule. It is so freeing!"
Though the current economic situation might seem bad, it's important to take a broader view of things. Calm down. Zoom out. Realize that there will always be ups and downs, but the general trend is towards progress, growth, and improvement. These tough times aren't here to stay.
"Things may seem more difficult now as the stock market declines and layoffs increase. However, know that over the long term, economic progress is always up and to the right. Things will inevitably rebound and get better. Your goal is to survive through the downturn so that when the upturn it inevitably comes, you will benefit," Sam told Bored Panda.
"This means having 6-12 months' worth of living expenses to hold you over, just in case you lose your job and lose alternative income sources. The average bear market lasts about 12 months. Then, brighter days inevitably appear," the financial expert said.
"In a capitalistic society, people are always looking to find ways to make things better, cheaper, and faster. As a result, there will be continuous innovation in the name of profits. The key is to be thankful for what we already have and to appreciate how far we’ve come over the past 10, 20, 30, and 100 years! Don’t take the good things in our life for granted."
#4
YouTube. 2 unskippable ads with every freaking video. And more throughout. I’m honestly surprised if there’s only 2.
Image credits: SaltedCaramel01
#5
Life and perception. As i get older and learn more I consistently yearn for “the old days” but I’m not actually yearning for old days…I’m merely wishing I could go back to when I didn’t know anything about how life and the world actually operates. Youthful perception is usually more optimistic.
Image credits: S0n0fthunder
#6
Google. It's so hard to search for anything, even if you use quotes and boolean operators you get garbage results almost entirely unrelated to your query. It used to be much better years ago.
Image credits: Zoutaleaux
It’s perfectly fine to recognize the fact that something has lost quality over time. That’s simply acknowledging the truth for what it is. It’s another thing entirely to constantly live within those feelings of anger and disappointment and regret—that, simply put, is incredibly unhealthy.
Seeing problems and rising to the challenge to solve them is one thing. Grumbling about the state of the world and how awful everything is compared to way back whenever is another.
According to Professor Suzanne Degges-White, from Northern Illinois University, nostalgia helps us feel about the present by connecting us to the past. However, she told Bored Panda earlier, living just in the past can be detrimental.
“Nostalgia can help us feel better about ourselves and more in control of current situations if we're able to channel that positivity into concrete actions or a reframed mindset about the present. However, when we begin 'living in the past,' we may be inviting into our lives less than optimal mental wellness and potentially compromised physical wellbeing, too," she told us.
"When we succumb to memories of how things 'used to be' and refuse to address the 'what is,' we may find ourselves overwhelmed by our current conditions and less able to manage current challenges," the professor said.
#7
I work in healthcare and I would have to say the hospitals themselves have gotten progressively worse. It’s at the point that I would not want to get sick and have them take care of me. Hospitals are purely trying to make as much profit as possible and it is at the expense of the hospital staff and patients. It’s honestly horrifying.
Image credits: thebryceisright1
#8
Instagram. We don't need reels. We don't need Mark to ruin it like facebook.
Image credits: vontdman
#9
Movie selection on Netflix.
Image credits: PotentialAnything213
"It's often memories of home and the people who surround us that keeps us able to deal with significantly concerning or dangerous conditions. For instance, letters from home can be a lifeline for those who are engaged in warfare far away from what they consider 'home,'" she said.
"It's when we become stuck in our memories of people who have died, places or times in our lives when things were 'easier' or 'better' that invites in the negative effects of nostalgia. When we are unable to make decisions about a current challenge or get stuck in memories of better times from the past, we can sink into a state in which we kind of 'tune out' of the present and ignore very real threats or opportunities in the now."
#10
Disney World.They keep increasing the prices on everything, adding additional charges while cutting back on experiences. The guests are coming in with sh*ttier, more entitled attitudes because they've paid so much.
You can't just go to any park on any day during your visit, you need to make a park reservation for each park you want to visit before you go, an extra hoop to jump through on your vacation - wasn't this supposed to be relaxing?
The free complementary FastPass system has now become paywalled into the Genie+ system, (which is extra ghoulish because Robin Williams never wanted the Genie to be used for marketing purposes). You can now use the "lightning lane" to get on rides faster... For a price. And without that lightning lane access, you'll have to wait hours in line, meaning you get on less rides during your visit.
The whole experience just sucks now. It used to be fun and relaxing... Now it's just anxiety inducing.
Image credits: boomerthemoose
#11
The internet.I remember when it started. Bulletin boards were the thing. Inspired, interested people from around the world talking.
And then websites. Any fool could throw up some HTML and have a little website talking about their cat and their favourite video games.
Java chat rooms. Flash games. Game forums. 4chan. It was the wild west. You could post anything, anonymously, view anything, freely.
It's all gone now. And it's getting worse and worse.
Image credits: shaidyn
#12
Cinema in general. One crappy remake of a 1980s movie after another, and live action remakes of stuff that was popular in the 80s and 90s. Cinema peaked back then, and now it's just ripoffs and awful remakes as far as the eye can see.
Image credits: LuchadorMonkey
What this means is that our quality of life can suffer if we’re constantly thinking just about the past, ignoring the present, and hoping that things were ‘better’ just like in the Good Old Days. One solution to this mindset would be to balance out our nostalgia with a sense of gratitude for the things that surround us now, in the present.
“Gratitude can start with the basics—enough food to eat each day, a job that pays you enough to keep a roof over your head, people in your life who care about you and to whom you matter. Recognizing that not everyone in life has been as fortunate as you have and acknowledging your accomplishments is the best way to begin. Making a 'gratitude list' really does help us see our lives in a whole new way if we are committed to acknowledging the way our lives have been touched by success."
#13
Drivers. Why the hell don't you people use your turn signals?#14
The cost of living in the UK.I'm still working the same job I was five years ago, and my partner has actually had multiple promotions so our incoming money has, if anything, gotten better. But whereas five years ago we were able to pay all the bills, get what the kids needed and still have a little spare for luxuries like meals out / family trips, now we are failing to make ends meet even with multiple cut - backs. We've cancelled everything non-necessary, the kids can't even go to their dance classes or after school stuff anymore, we have got my 74 year old grandma helping out with childcare and we're raiding the discount section of food stores for bargain meals most weeks. It's not great being here at the moment.
Image credits: username_pressure
#15
The quality of furniture.Unless you want to spend $10k, you cant really get something that will last 50+ years.
Image credits: epidemica
#16
America/western world humanity.Despite people being annoyed at the ‘woke’, actual value of the individual and respect to an enjoyable and ‘free’ life is deteriorating in western societies.
I mean look at ‘quiet quitting’, people are being told they’re soft and not hard working for wanting fair hours and work loads.
Americans need to work for 75-80% of their waking life to afford to survive.
Other countries it’s still around 35-45%.
That’s unreasonable.
We should be finding ways for everyone to have more leisure time and less ‘productive’ time in our finite lives.
Here in Australia it’s been announced that the government is letting retired aged people work more hours, to make ends meet. Not raise the pension- ‘let’ them work more- when they’re retired- from working…
Image credits: Un-interesting
#17
Housing costs.
Image credits: Xixiiiiiii
#18
Vehicles. I’m an auto body tech, and seeing the difference in build quality between newer and older vehicles is astounding. My daily drive is 35 years old, when something goes wrong with it, I know i can fix it because it’s built to be repaired. When a friend calls and asks if i can take a look at their newer vehicle, everytime i’m working on it I feel like it was just meant to be used until it breaks and then thrown away. It makes me very sad.#19
Advertisements. Not only the quality of advertisements, but frequency has skyrocketed. For example, when you watch a basketball game, these jerks put an ad in between free throw attempts. Everything is presented by Company XYZ, everything has some sort of advertisement connected to it, and it is infuriating.
Image credits: will_bartnik
#20
The coverage of polarized political views in the news in order to draw in readers.#21
Pretty much all appliances and devices. TV's, stereos, washing machines, blenders, microwave ovens, etc, used to be really sturdy and last forever. Now they look bad, feel flimsy and crappy, are easily broken, and most of the times aren't as good as the older stuff. My pet peeve is music devices. Used to be you could buy a portable boombox or small stereo and it would sound pretty good and last for years and years. Not anymore unless you spend money to buy a higher-end model.#22
Airlines
Image credits: Thezombieman
#23
Air quality
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#24
Perception of people as you grow up. When you’re a little kid, you think adults can fix things. Then, as you get older, you realize that they don’t fix things very well.
Image credits: vampirelionwolf
#25
Restaurants. The really nice ones have maintained a high standard, but the middle of the road places have really tanked in terms of service and food quality while jacking up prices. It’s just not worth it to eat out unless you’re either just going for cheap bar food or going out somewhere really nice.
Image credits: ndennies
#26
Health insurance#27
Main star wars movies
Image credits: DavosLostFingers
#28
People.A whole series of factors have led to the average person being less morally principled.
The best example of this is on dating. Rather than pairing up with someone and putting your eggs in that basket, people have started playing a numbers game. 70 years ago “dating” meant that you were in the early stages of seeing ONE person. The whole idea of being exclusive was a given. It’s why people trusted each other more and relationships lasted longer. It’s because the question they were asking wasn’t “how does this person compare to the three other people I’m dating?” but rather just a simple “do I like this person?”.
I don’t say this as a complaint, but rather an observation: this dynamic makes people unhappy, used and disconnected, regardless as to whether they’re the dumped or the dumper. It’s not that relationships fail, is that people don’t have the courage to commit to one at a time. They fear being alone so much, they they never allow themselves to truely be at risk of being fully alone; so they keep backups. Because they never risk this, they’re never fully with someone, at least in the early stages. They also know because they have a backup, the other person probably does to. So the whole idea of growing together is rivalled by whether they can just jump ship to the backup. This is an awfully gamified way of forming relationships.
I could talk about work practices, friendships being temporary, political opinions dividing people and people promoting fake representations of themselves, but the bottom line is that most people seem to have become a lot more cowardly than they used to be. The dating culture is a prime example of this cowardice.
#29
Mainstream network television programing
Image credits: Just_Credit_4913
#30
Online dating
Image credits: lindsayerin1
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