Do you think the world/society today is better or worse than it was in the 1980s?

[kc8]

Hello,

Apologies if this isn't in the right section!

I'm writing a piece of fiction which involves a character who grew up in the 70s/80s. I was born at the tail-end of the 80s, so I don't remember anything of it, and I was wondering if people here might be able to help me.

My main question is - Do you think the world/society today is better or worse than it was in the 1980s, and why? (from a serious, philosophical point-of-view!)
Obviously, now we have better technology (TVs, computers, internet, etc) and medical advances, but my focus is more on society.
I'm particularly interested in the opinions of people who were teenagers in the 1980s.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

[memoman]

Re: Do you think the world/society today is better or worse than it was in the 1980s?

During the late seventies and eighties their was unrest with the introduction of a conservative goverment for some while their was a resurgence of stike action from power workers (power blackouts to consumers) coal workers and this spread of course to other industries.margret thatcher's goverment tried to tackle the mining industry but with the closure of less productive pits.resulting strike action by the miners cause conflicts with the police force who were left with the task of keeping pickets and protest gatherings under control but some police offices took law and order in to unacceptable extreemes causing yet more trouble.In the end the closure of further pits meant that the miners strike was not going to save the very pits that thatcher wanted closed and thus many people lost their jobs.

[memoman]

Re: Do you think the world/society today is better or worse than it was in the 1980s?

To get to the point although the 80's was fueled with political discomfort and people suffered with strike action.Modern society has different problems.With unrest over imigration,The enviroment,the rise in the cost of living.for examples.I stilled prefered the 80's.It was more turbuent. with more strike action.Modern society has more problems with for example teenage obessity with all the time kids spend on games consoles and other such indoor activities.In this day and age more parents keep kids from playing outside due to the rise in knife crimes ,the rising drug culture,more guns on the streets,and the fear of rape or murder.So in someways todays society is more dangerous,the 80's more militant.But this all has to be kept in to some sort of perspective afterall the risks you encure depends on the area you live in.And your age as well.

[Kiop]

Re: Do you think the world/society today is better or worse than it was in the 1980s?

Hi kc8 – your project sounds interesting and as I was born in 1969 and spent my entire teenage years in the 1980’s (your target group, lol) I will try and help you all I can.

My answer to your question, is that I definitely feel that the world/society is far worse now than it was in the 1980’s. Let me now explain my reasons for this (where do I start?):-

Since the 80’s I have seen society deteriorate quite rapidly. Yes – technology may have moved on quite a bit but this has also had a major negative impact. Today’s society appears to be obsessed with communication – what with mobile phones and the Internet, etc. The youth of today (as well as many not so young) must be under an intense pressure to keep in constant contact with their friends and family, having to report their every move for fear of not doing so turning them into social pariahs and being shunned (or is that now “dissed”) by their peers.

Today’s society is a very much “I want in now” type of society and people are no longer prepared to wait for certain luxuries and now have the easy option of taking out loans, either from banks or on credit cards, etc as credit as become so easy to obtain. This results in debt misery for millions, and after personally working for six years as a debt specialist I have witnessed first-hand the devastating impact and misery debt can have on people’s lives.

The Internet has made obscene materials available to even the youngest eyes – it is not difficult to find free pornography if you look for it. The net has also made it easy to verbally abuse, attack and threaten people while at the same time allowing the perpetrators total anonymity. And then there is the wealth of websites out there that contain illegal images and material, and other sites that give implicit instructions on how to make bombs, drugs, weapons and all manner of evil things.

Standards have also lowered considerably on TV. Many pop music videos feature scantily-clad girls, vulgar gyrating and suggestive/obscene lyrics. Since the introduction of satellite/cable TV and the multitude of channels they provide, the use of foul language on our screens is much more rife, as are scenes of nudity and gross irresponsibility – whole channels and programmes now dedicated to such things, and even some channels that show soft-core pornography movies without the need for further subscriptions or anything that can be stumbled across quite innocently. Again, all anonymous and therefore easy and tempting for those so-minded to view such stuff, regardless of age or impressionability.

And of course technology is destroying family life. Everybody is far too busy these days on their laptops, PDA’s, X-box, mobile phones, mp3 players or multi-channel plasma HD-TV’s to have time to sit and chat with their families and friends anymore. Many families no longer have the time or inclination to even eat together anymore.

People have become very paranoid and frightened since the 80’s, feeling it is no longer safe to be out on the streets after dark anymore. The media and the Government simply add to this paranoia with their obsession with health and safety and are turning this country into a nanny state – what with government guidelines on what we should and shouldn’t eat or drink, if we should smoke or not, how much exercise we should take, etc, etc. Kids are told not to climb trees and do many other things that are just part of a normal childhood for fear of accidents/injuries – yes, even childhood is being turned into something that shouldn’t be enjoyed. Slowly, but surely, our civil liberties are being taken away from us and it is no longer deemed right or appropriate to have an opinion anymore, let alone state it for fear of being abused or ostracised. Freedom of speech is disappearing rapidly.

Community spirit is also vanishing quickly and it is now not uncommon for many people not to even know who their neighbours are let alone even speak to them.

Yes, there have been advances in medical science which is a good thing, but the bad side of this is that it has only added even more fuel and ammunition to the government’s ridiculous obsession with health and safety. I read on a trusted and bona fide website recently that even if a cure was found for heart disease and cancer it would do absolutely nothing to improve the life expectancy of the population as we would simply just die of something else instead.

Life is so fast today compared to what it was in the 80’s – everybody is in such a rush. I suppose that is one reason why sat-nav’s have become so popular – people have no time to get lost going to places anymore. I always thought that part of the fun of going somewhere strange was getting lost! Too many deadlines these days, and far too much pressure.

So, I am pretty pleased I grew up in the 80’s when life was much more simple and laid back, the government was less insane and there was much more respect and much higher standards. You wouldn’t believe the times I say to my wife that this world has gone crazy and how I would hate to be a teenager today.

I could go on and on but don’t want to turn this into more of a rant than it has already become, lol. There are a lot of other examples I could have used, but they would be deemed to be ‘controversial’ and not suitable for an open, family forum such as this.

Society is going backwards. On the surface, with all this ‘wonderful’ new technology it may appear that we are going forwards, but you only have to open your eyes and ears a little and undertake a bit of research to realise what is really going on. I despair at society and sadly realise things will only get a lot, lot worse.

One final philosophical point to muse on: Society is only a concept; you can never go out and meet society – all you will ever meet is individuals.

Now, I’m off to bolt my doors, draw my curtains and put the electric fence and security cameras on.

Hope this has helped

[scotchmist]

Re: Do you think the world/society today is better or worse than it was in the 1980s?

Hello, as I was born in 1966 and was in my prime during the 80's, I hope i can offer a more impartial view than Kiop!!

Firstly, yes, people, in particular children, were more active. There were no computers, well not domestic user friendly ones anyway, and post 1982 we only had 4 TV channels for most of the 1980s. The streets were always heaving with children playing in the neighbourhood in Glasgow where I was brought up and I assume it was the same for the rest of the UK as there was not the hysteria that the British media has cultivated suggesting that there are evil paedophiles on every street-corner. Legislation around this theme was far more relaxed therefore anyone could be a Boy-Scout Leader/Youth Supervisor/Baby Sitter etc. Therefore organisations such as the cubs/scouts/brownies/boys brigade were all thriving. All my friends were members of such organisations and we were also involved in Church youth clubs, badminton clubs etc.

Pub-culture was very much a feature of the 80's and don't believe the **** our hopeless Labour government comes out with regarding "Binge DRinking".....this phenomenon was HUGE in the 1980's.....eveybody got drunk in the 1980's and you could enjoy your hangover without any guilt!!
Everybody went out to the pub mid-week and at the weekend and you could smoke in pubs without feeling guilty....yes people were aware of the health risks but as our friend has stated things were more relaxed in the 80s......until....AIDS !

This illness terrified people when it entered the public consciousness in 1982. As there was so little research around AIDS people just stopped having sex for a while!

There was a great expectation of a technological revolution in the 1980s and of course it happened. People had a real thirst for technology and with the advent of the 1990's people were obsessed with the future, there was less nostalgia in the 1980s. Everybody wanted a cd player, video recorder....and no Kiop, pornography was not invented in the noughties....yes it is more easily accessible these days, but there was a huge blackmarket industry in mucky videos in the 1980s and if you knew the right people you could get your hands on anything. I saw my first hard-core video when I was 15.

To sum up, people were probably more sociable in the 1980s and legislation made our existence more relaxed and guilt-free. People were in debt in the 80's. Some kids were rude and disrespectful in the 80s. Politicains were **** in the 80's. There were health issues in the 80's.....so putting the IT revolution to one side and the fact that we have no car industry or any manufacturing industry for that matter....things haven't actually changed a lot.

Hope this has been of assistance!

[darren]

Re: Do you think the world/society today is better or worse than it was in the 1980s?

socitey was better in the 80's for sure.

at least there was none of this P C rubbish.

kids could play in the schoolyard bruise themselves and not have to worry about being sued.

and over the last 30 yrs people now are not as nice.

back in the 80;s people where more friendly.

remember i grew up in the troubles in northern ireland but even at its worst people where nicer.

you could even leave your front door open,and unlocked and you would come back hrs later and nothing would have been nicked.

now you you have to keep your door closed for fear of being robbed.

and now kids have no respect for authority,parents etc.

when i was young if you gave cheek to your parents you knew about it.
im stil afraid o the police and im 35.


yes the 80's where better for sure.
kids now have to much and don't appreciate it.

[Seventies Child]

Re: Do you think the world/society today is better or worse than it was in the 1980s?

As a child in the 70's and a teen in the 80's, I would go back tomorrow. Things are way too complicated these days. Nothing is easy. Everything is done by computer and I think there are far more mistakes than there ever were. Kids don't seem to play out like we did. We were outside in the sun (Without sun lotion) covered in bruises, scratches and dirt and having fun. If a policeman told you off then what he said was the law and you accepted it. Your parents were the boss and No meant No. So were teachers. I was terrified of the cane but, there are no deterrents in schools these days. No respect for Authority these days. Children these days seem to grow up quicker and seem to dress older than their years. There is too much worshipping of celebrities too. Bring back the 70's.

[sixtyten]

Re: Do you think the world/society today is better or worse than it was in the 1980s?

I concur with the above statement

[Seventies Child]

Re: Do you think the world/society today is better or worse than it was in the 1980s?

Crikey, how many times did I say "these days"

[Wil]

Re: Do you think the world/society today is better or worse than it was in the 1980s?

Being born in '64 I can't say what it was like being an adult in the '70s and (for a bit of) the '80s and when I look back at what was going on in Britain during those times it can seem pretty depressing. But as a kid it was great. We really were outside all the time and while I'm sure as an 8 year old in '72 I would have thought that 24/7 kids TV, the net, mobiles etc, computers and consoles were all great ideas, now I can see that they really aren't.

What I see now are a lot of people worried about everything they were back then - money, jobs, housing and their kids growing up well. I don't think society is any worse but I think that the popular culture around us is.

[fatpizzaman]

Re: Do you think the world/society today is better or worse than it was in the 1980s?

Well, I am 41 years old and I don't think the world is a worse place today than it was back in the past decades.

Every part of modern society has its good and bad points. In the 70's and 80's there were strikes, power cuts, starvation in Africa, dictator presidents (Idi Amin and Pol Pot come to mind). Kids and teens were insolent and untrusting of authority (remember the show Grange Hill?). Scantily clad women danced on prime time TV shows (remember Pan's People, Hot Gossip & Legs and Co?), there were mass murders done in the name of God (remember the Jonestown massacre in Guyana?), there was social and political tension between the UK and Ireland (which is STILL going on today - just give the Irish their country back for god's sake!), complaints about the values of young person's TV (Dr. Who in the mid-80's, Grange Hill, The Goodies), music being obtained for free (remember home taping and Warner Music in the UK threatening to withdraw advertising in music magazines which sold cassette tapes?), drugs and sleaze (the Kray brothers, Brock Landers, Patti Hearst, cocaine being glamourised by J.J. Cale and Eric Clapton).

As I am a nudist, I am glad to see attitudes towards social and public nudity in the UK becoming more relaxed to come into line with the likes of Europe as well as the World Naked Bike Rides and several docos that the BBC and Channel 4 have produced like "Diary of a Teenage Nudist", "My Daughter The Teenage Nudist", "Horizon: What's The Big Deal About Nudity", "Naked London", "Hidden Lives, Naked Parents", and "Going To Work Naked". When I was 8 years old, the BBC aired a documentary on prime time called "Let's Go Naked" about the lifestyle in England and the south of France where there is a whole city on the Reveira called Cap d'Agde that attracts hundreds and thousands of tourists a year including families.

I think communication technology like social network sites, instant messaging like Skype, Google Talk, Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger are great to connect with friends as well as people who live long-distance and you can talk to for free without having to pay tons of cash for long distance calls (hands up how many think it's funny to say "It doesn't cost much to keep in touch").

Music today is no more **** or brilliant than it was in previous decades, the only difference is that up until the early 80's music technology was not so advanced as it is now so the superstars had to have some talent in order for record labels to sign them. Today's music that often gets pushed into the top 40 is not very organic and relies too much on technical gimmicks for the kids to buy it, but there is plenty of good talent out there that the record labels have not signed which people can get for next to nothing on sites like iTunes, MySpace and YouTube.

The environmental affairs have been pushed to the forefront a lot more, but I have no respect for people like Al Gore who uses it as a drawcard to get more votes into political office. Climate change is actually a naturally recurring thing that happens in a cyclic manner throughout the history of this planet, but with our impact on the natural environment we are accelerating the changes before they are ready to take place.

Kids safety is no less or more important than it was in past decades. I dislike all this namby-pamby cotton-wooling of kids refusing to let them play in the park by themselves or walk home from school on their own because of a 'paedophile behind every tree' nonsense. There is no rise in the crime rate of child molestors, it has just become more televised than before when sex was a taboo thing for kids to talk about. I once walked home from school by myself when I was 10 years old which was 3 miles away from where I lived and I didn't get accosted by anyone.

I am however glad to see that cigarette advertising and public smoking has become less liberal than in the past. As a former smoker, I gave up the habit in 2003 and I absolutely despise it now and wish I had never taken it up in the first place. In Australia, it is forbidden to smoke in public buildings (especially pubs and nightclubs) and if you must light up then you must do so within 6 feet of the front of the building or face hefty fines.

Anyway, that's my rant on things.

[darren]

Re: Do you think the world/society today is better or worse than it was in the 1980s?

As a child in the 70's and a teen in the 80's, I would go back tomorrow. Things are way too complicated these days. Nothing is easy. Everything is done by computer and I think there are far more mistakes than there ever were. Kids don't seem to play out like we did. We were outside in the sun (Without sun lotion) covered in bruises, scratches and dirt and having fun. If a policeman told you off then what he said was the law and you accepted it. Your parents were the boss and No meant No. So were teachers. I was terrified of the cane but, there are no deterrents in schools these days. No respect for Authority these days. Children these days seem to grow up quicker and seem to dress older than their years. There is too much worshipping of celebrities too. Bring back the 70's.

yes i feel kids now are to quick to want to grow up.
Kids now i feel are more interested in staying in to play computers than go out like er did as kids.

kds now wear to much make up and wear froen up clothers.

And i feel things now are to complicated.
i feel people now seem to have less time for each other than people now who are in there thirties and older.

yes i prefer the old days when i grew up than to now.
yes i was a kid in the seventies and a teen in the eighties just like you

[80sChav]

Re: Do you think the world/society today is better or worse than it was in the 1980s?

I liked the 1980s, even though it had many a pitfall and was rough (like at School) growing up, but I like Today for the changes we have had! The Internet, 24 hour Shopping, New devices etc but I miss the 1980s and the 2Community" it had , where people new one another well and you new everyone in your home Town and it was thriving with indvidual shops. i think it'd be too tricky to pick as both have good and very bad sides to them, sadly.

[darren]

Re: Do you think the world/society today is better or worse than it was in the 1980s?

I liked the 1980s, even though it had many a pitfall and was rough (like at School) growing up, but I like Today for the changes we have had! The Internet, 24 hour Shopping, New devices etc but I miss the 1980s and the 2Community" it had , where people new one another well and you new everyone in your home Town and it was thriving with indvidual shops. i think it'd be too tricky to pick as both have good and very bad sides to them, sadly.

Yes for me todats society even with all the technology online shopping etc is not as good as in my youth in the eighties.
when i was growing up over here in the eighties i had bombs going off in my town and in nortyhern ireland regular.
But i remember clearly neighbours cared about each other.
iremember us being all able to leave our front doors open and u just knew no one would ever go in and steal things.
people i found where friendlier back then.

yes it was far rougher and dangerous back then over here where iam than it is here now but id give it up for a friendlier community etc.

[80sChav]

Re: Do you think the world/society today is better or worse than it was in the 1980s?

Yes for me todats society even with all the technology online shopping etc is not as good as in my youth in the eighties.
when i was growing up over here in the eighties i had bombs going off in my town and in nortyhern ireland regular.
But i remember clearly neighbours cared about each other.
iremember us being all able to leave our front doors open and u just knew no one would ever go in and steal things.
people i found where friendlier back then.

yes it was far rougher and dangerous back then over here where iam than it is here now but id give it up for a friendlier community etc.

Indeed Darren. I think most it's truly fair to say most law abiding people feel and would want to give up what you say for what used to be. I just think njow society has many thing's so wrong with it. school's are one main thing I think. Kids learn nothing to the level we did and can get a job in whatever as a result aS well some (a minority) have no respect for authority but that is "Pigeon Holing" as i'm sure still 70/80% of Kids todaya re knid and caring etc but I try to avoid saying all are bad because it's just not truly true.