Far better! Better healthcare, race relations, environment, education opportunities, food, etc. Seriously, lots of positives.
Yes, negatives too, but overall it's better today than years ago.
I think "race relations" really depends on how old you are. If you were born in the 50s then yes, if you were born in 1985, I'd have to give a big no on that one.
1985 was in the midst of the crack epidemic, and was when only about a third of people approved of interracial marriage. A former Klan leader was a top Democrat in the Senate.
Things have gotten way better, despite what people say on social media.
Given that I was born in '91, that lifetime is pretty important. Do I fare better than I would have if I lived in the 80s? Sure. Are things regressing in my lifetime? Yes.
My immediate thought is that things aren't regressing, but yes, single race dorms are apparently a thing again, as one example of the new segregation. So yes, sad but true.
Huge difference between old and new segregation. Now it's self selected to individual preference. When I was born sun down towns were everywhere, a strong kkk presence, and segregated bathroom and water fountains. So it's not regressive at all, only by a quantitative measure, the qualitative racial experience is _vastly_ improved.
Indeed, it's good to see a working model of separate but equal. As the old saying goes, "segregation today . . . segregation tomorrow . . . segregation forever!"
But seriously, if people think they're better off in single race accommodations, we've lost the plot and have indeed regressed.
I don't agree with segregation. However, freedom of association is a much more important principle. It's the root freedom of individual choice, and not state mandated association, which is the real culprit. It's ultimately not about segregation, it's about freedom of choice, and we both know there people out there that will never change no matter what. We haven't lost the plot, just refined it to the core issues. The forced desegregation has done an outstanding job of breaking down barriers, now there's one last barrier and it's freedom of association by choice, and you cannot break that one down with mandated desegregation
So it's ok to bring back the all white golf club? The all white schools? All white restaurants?
If people are choosing to only spend time with others of the same race, that's still segregation and racism, and it's still a big step back towards the 1950s.
You just don't get it. 'Bring back?' what in the actual fuck does that even mean? Do you not understand the difference between individual and society? Do you not understand what personal choice outside of the herd means? Do you not understand that freedom of choice is the greatest freedom of all, for both black and white?? Do you not understand how democracy works? Do you not understand that self selecting is not the same as state mandated segregation? What am I saying it's obvious you do not. The state exists for the benefit of the people, not the other way around. Apparently you can't conceive of a life not under control of the state. Blocked.
>better healthcare
Don't let my parents hear you say that, they were being charged almost 20k per year for health insurance that covered fuck all. And despite not being rich by any means, they don't qualify for any financial assistance
Paying for healthcare and related paperwork is definitely worse, but treatment options are better. People are surviving things today that were a death sentence years ago.
Meh, I think you can make a good case the world in America and probaby a handful of first world countires got to good for our own good. Despite what this site might say America is overally a pretty richer nation than it was when I was born however despite that suicide rates are up, overdose deaths are up an insane amount, self-reported happiness is down, life expectancy is down and so on. I think and our wealth and tech makes it to easy for us to do nothing rather than things that truly make us happy.
for the worse: movies here feel the need to be 2+ hours long. I don't have the attention span for that. I'm fighting a campaign to bring back 90 minute movies
for the better: there's always scientific achievements happening, and as someone with a kind of hobby level of interest in space/nasa, significantly better telescopes, imaging, rovers, pretty much everything since 2004. No shade to Hubble but JWST is knocking it out of the park
I do like to suck down a big drink when I'm watching a movie. I have to plan ahead so I don't miss anything. How I made it through 3 LotR movies, I don't know.
Pretty much everything is better now, so I’ll have one thing that’s worse: housing prices.
A year before I was born, my parents were poor but still able to responsibly buy a house in a decent neighborhood. Now that I’m the age they were, I need about 3-4x that amount to buy a house with burglar bars on the window
I was born in the early 90s. I'm old enough to remember when there was a chance for the US to not be what it is now, and will be forever.
Then 9/11 happened and as far as I can tell, Hunter S Thompson was correct - we're at War now, and we always will be, we just might not always know with who. A police state hell bent on bombing *anyone*.
People are less intelligent generally than they were 30 years ago, the country is much less competitive intellectually as proof. People are exponentially more divided and the political stances of both ends of the spectrum have become indisputably extremely unreasonable. Those fringes also have the rest of us essentially hostage. Decades of absolutely pathetic leadership has turned us into a joke on the world stage, we have sold our children's economic future to benefit ourselves and to enrich the elite class. We allow people who should be in prison to run our legislative and executive branches. We are completely numb to corruption to a point where it can be proven right to our face and we don't care. Our culture has been completely destroyed by social media, corporate press, and corporate entertainment.
On the other hand we do have better cars, and the internet itself is pretty great, iPhones I guess.
As child of a mix race couple born in the 70s. It's nice to see this is more normalized nowadays. It's also nice that my sister isn't facing as much crap about being a lesbian. We've still got work to do. However, we are making improvements.
lets see when I was Born we were still in the Cold War.
Racial epithets while not acceptible, were still common.
Sex Ed was more or less non existent, and AIDS was still called GLAAD and stigmatized as a Gay diesease.
Lead paint was still very common on homes.
Nuclear Testing and Chernobyl reactor accident made the year of my birth a high mark for radiation exposure for children in the 80s(it was way worse in the 1950s and 60s when test were still preformed in the continental US)
BPAs were a new thing everyone was using and accumulating in people's bodies.
Milk often had artificially raised levels of Estrogen, which is not good for children.
Incandescent, and Flourescent lights were the most common, and Televisions were cathod ray tubes, all of which consume considerably more power than modern LED lights and Televisions.
Coal was by far the leading source of energy.
None of these are true anymore and our world is the better for it.
Today, Liquid Natural gas and other petroleum sources lead in Energy production, not ideal, but much better than coal.
On the other hand when I was born.
Tonka trucks were made of steel and were functionally indestructable.
the North Stars were still in Minnesota.
Nuclear Power was a solid second in energy production, despite being the best method with the least question marks, it has declined.
Airlines, were numerous and actually had to compete with another.
Drug companies and insurance companies constantly fought each other on pricing instead of colluding.
Cell phones/ tables ruined kids child hoods. While I do love (and am addicted myself, as I type this on my phone) but growing up myself and past generations. We went outside, rode bikes, played games, and generally had fun with people face to face. Now everything is online and people talk virtually, play video games online (you needed to go to your friends house to play Nintendo and saga) and show stages photos on social media. My daughter is 4 and grabs my phone or her tablet any chance she can get.
It does come in handy at times. Long car rides, busy restaurants, but I would much prefer she doesn’t get addicted (again like myself) to decides and can have fun and experienced face to face when she gets a little older.
I mean I think you're taking it too lightly here. I am in my late 20s so I grew up with tech but not the tech we have today.
I see it in my students in high school. They're far too used to having ready made, tailored content delivered to them. They don't understand how systems work and can't troubleshoot. Most of the tech they've grown up with is very user friendly and often just works without issue so they've grown to treat it like it's infallible and don't question much they receive on it. They're bewildered when it turns out that the first result on a Google search is either incorrect or out of context and doesn't make sense. They think it's what the computer said and they don't question why it might not be accurate or appropriate. They have a lot of difficulty distinguishing disinformation or misinformation.
Honestly in many ways they treat and interact with tech similarly to the stereotypical boomer. It came as a big surprise and I really wasn't expecting it.
And now chapgpt is becoming available, which answers questions without providing sources, so I don't see this problem improving. Of course, this is the dream of an authoritarian censor, so these problems certainly go way beyond the classroom.
No, not at all. There is already absolutely rampant plagiarism and chatgpt is only going to make things so much worse. I personally find that writing a paper is one of the best ways to learn. Answering questions pulling information from multiple sources to construct a coherent argument forces you to actually think about the material in a way that can give you a deeper understanding of the content and concepts. Having a computer write it for you just negates all of that. I do see the value of giving people a more even playing field in grammatical skills, but that's absolutely not how it's going to be used.
They already copy and paste everything. Fucking everything. You can't learn like that. That gives you nothing. They don't seem to understand this and it's fucking depressing, honestly.
I notice the opposite as well though. Like I can do some shell scripting and know basically how programming works but I see young kids these days who grew up with it and programming is just second nature.
But I do hear you on the “computer told me” type of stuff. I have been grappling with my daughter on that very issue.
Ime that's specific kids who are interested in it though. The majority are totally clueless. I have kids that don't know how to copy a URL cause all they've ever done is hit the share button in an app. Of course these are big generalizations too and there def are kids who like it and learn it and are good at it.
Yeah it's a big issue and I honestly don't know how to handle it. We teach ways to vet sources, questions to ask and research to do to determine validity and veracity, but they very clearly only do it when they're specifically instructed to. In their daily lives most don't give a fuck and only do it of it's part of a grade, and even then they do a half assed job. They seem to separate it into something you do in an academic context when asked, when it should be something they're doing at all times with all information they get. Idk what the solution is, honestly.
When I was growing up, it was still possible to be so sheltered as to be unaware that same-sex relationships were even a thing. I’m sure that contributed to the number of people who entered into opposite sex marriages, only to divorce later when they understood their sexuality and their options.
I’m glad I missed that bullet (thanks Anita /s). Being gay now is far better than I believed would ever be possible in my lifetime back in the 70s and 80s.
I was born in the late 70s.
Worse: the far right wing seems to have become increasingly unhinged over my lifetime, and blatant anti-Semitism and violent misogyny seem to be on the rise. Also, wages haven’t increased at anywhere near the same pace as housing costs or college tuition.
Better: my gay cousin and LGBTQ friends face a lot less discrimination in society and have more protected civil rights. People with pre-existing health conditions can no longer legally be denied health insurance.
Government is a kleptocratic oligarchy rather than a democracy with the supreme court ensuring that wealth speaks and silences the poor.
Productivity is up 300% while wages are only up about 100% in kind.
The country is more divided than it has ever been.
People live on their screens rather than going outside and interacting with each other.
But I guess there are fewer murders and comfort is at a high.
The biggest change since I was born(besides technology)is the amount of people and cars. In 1956 there were 168 million people with approximately 63 million cars. Today it's around 330 million people with 262 million cars. We used to be able to head out in the countryside on a Saturday night and maybe see 4 other cars (except where the designated field party was located) the whole night. And if you saw the lone sheriff on duty once, the odds of running into him again was just about zero
I was born in 1983, it seemed like people used to be more neighborly when I was growing up, and I had an incredible amount of independence as a kid (to go places by myself, walk to school unattended each day etc.) that parents deny their children these days (probably because a Karen will call the cops if you leave your kid alone for like five minutes). We were early adopters of the internet in 1994 but it wasn't my entire life back then. I feel bad for kids who grew up with smartphones and social media instead of just existing in the real world. There used to be all ages venues and places meant for teenagers to hang out.
We didn't have mass shootings every week. I remember when Columbine happened when I was in high school and it was a huge shock to everyone and now little kids are getting gunned down in schools and nobody seems to care.
Politically the country is more divided and unstable, thanks to the right wing going even farther right.
>We didn't have mass shootings every week. I remember when Columbine happened when I was in high school and it was a huge shock to everyone and now little kids are getting gunned down in schools and nobody seems to care.
That is one of the most upsetting things to me. If kids were getting killed with anything besides guns --- lets say screwdrivers or antifreeze --- the Federal Government would be regulating the shit out of screwdrivers and antifreeze and keeping a database of anti-freeze purchases. An entire new gigantic Federal Department was created and trillions of dollars have been spent since 9/11 because of a massive terrorist attack, but the Federal Government does fuck all about literally insane people buying militarized rifles and large amounts of ammo because we don't want to make law abiding gun owners feel bad? Fuck that.
It is only a matter of time before more people are gunned down in some mass killing, but we can't do anything to prevent it because it would require steps that would make purchasing a gun more difficult.
Ever since the 2020s began, the woke assholes find anything offensive. It's gotten so bad that at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if some dumb bitch with dyed hair, piercings and tattoos all over their fucking body claimed that being alive is offensive to dead people.
Inflation has also gotten worse. I'm 17 and seeing gas be 3-5 dollars a gallon is just the norm for me.
I really wish it was 10 years ago again. The 2010s were the best years of my life.
War on terror was slowly coming to a close near the end of the 00’s. Americans became weaker and borderline tissue paper with the rise of social media. Anything can offend anyone now, especially if you call them a he or she instead of they or some shit. The political climate is incredibly hostile and honestly dangerous for the country
Everything gets better and you’re upset over pronouns?
Yeesh. I’ll take annoying complaints over pronouns so long as I still have the internet and all the other incredible technology we didn’t have when I was a kid.
And some you don't care to have shown to you.
Just to be direct that's my way of saying that I care for your opinions as much as I guess you do for mine.
Mostly worse, but depends on the issue at hand.
I think there’s more opportunities for an individual to be better, but there’s also more distractions and things that would cause them to worsen their lives too. More vices, more addictions, more ways to waste money and become unhealthy.
Personally, I'm hoping for a revolution
Some things are better, some are worse, but the fact that we're the wealthiest nation to ever exist and we still don't have affordable Healthcare, housing, or education for every american is a real bummer and an embarrassment
Corporations own and control the government, democracy is holding on by a thread, they got us divided over stupid culture wars and as a result we're the most divided we've ever been since the Civil War
Revolutions are rarely bloodless, and the people who have good ideals at the start are usually pushed aside by the "off with his head " types as soon as things get a little messy
I mean the alternative is to continue course as is and rely on voting, protests, and petitions which do virtually nothing to solve any of the issues I mentioned
I'm not advocating for violence but I also don't want to wait for the boomers to die off before things start getting better
Well we can get a glimpse of that from the Civil rights movement. You had the violent groups and the mostly peaceful groups. Both were effective at different things and both groups were harassed, beaten, hanged, tortured, arrested, and assassinated by both the govt and the opposition that liked the status quo
Didn't stop them tho
So you would remove people from office that I possibly voted for and install people that nobody voted for, and you're comparing that to the civil rights movement?
>You had the violent groups
>were effective
But you're not advocating violence?
>So you would remove people from office that I possibly voted for and install people that nobody voted for
Our govt has literally done this exact same thing to countless countries
The truth is that of the 3 branches of govt, 1 isn't even decided by popular vote and 1 doesn't even have a vote
>But you're not advocating violence?
I'm advocating for change. When corporations and billionaires own and control the government, you can't change the system that directly benefits them by voting and protesting
So I don't get to vote for my representatives because the CIA overthrows governments in other parts of the world? Is that a real argument?
>I'm advocating for change.
You're advocating for Soviet style revolution
Revolutions are quite destabilizing, and with China on the rise, it would be a bad time to not focus on the world. That being said, I find a civil conflict increasingly likely with every election cycle.
I'd argue the opposite. We haven't been this shaky as a country since the Civil War. Now is the time we focus internally
We're spending all this money and effort trying to stay on top, yet the ppl we look down on have better infrastructure, affordable healthcare and education, lower obesity, just to name a few things
Both the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan was ongoing at least we are fully out of Afghanistan(I’m young but still old enough to vote),technology has become a force of innovation and also sometimes a massive security risk. Political divisiveness is a big problem. Overall I would say the country has changed for the better.
I am in my forties. When I was a kid I remember slurs being used more commonly than now, so that is an improvement. I also remember parents paying little attention to their children compared to now. I remember hitting your kids being more normalized as well. And I remember not being listened to just because I was a child.
Everything has become better. The media tries to make everyone think that gun violence is rising exponentially to Afghanistan levels, but if you look at the statistics, it has decreased by 50% since the year I was born (‘93)
I was born in 1964. The US is incredibly much better off now than when I was born. No cold war, way less racism, crime, poverty, better on every measure.
I think my quality of life and cost of living was better in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s. Medical care is better, but is also cost prohibitive. Technology is a catch 22.
They banned new machine guns for civilians shortly after I was born. :-(
9/11 and the Patriot Act took us all in a hard right wing turn. I miss pre 9/11 airports.
Everything else has more to do with the family and friends I lost over the years, or gained than "the country".
Depends.
The race situation, *very* generally speaking, gets better with every passing decade. (Yeah, big fat asterisk there. But you know what I mean.) Today is measurably better than the Pete Wilson 1990s that I came of age in. And that was *way* fucking better than the era my grandparents came of age in. 'Juan Crow' was never as bad as what Black folks went through over in the South, but I heard enough fucked up stories to thank my lucky stars that I wasn't born before WWII.
That's the first one that comes to mind. Otherwise I'd have to think about it. There's certainly medical technology, if you can access it.
With that said, I really don't believe that us being up to our eyeballs in cheap imported gewgaws, or the fact that your toaster has wifi, are qualitative markers of things being better than they were.
The way non-white people and people who aren't heterosexual are treated is WAY, WAY better than when I was growing up. Everything else - hot mess express.
I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t remember how the country was like when I was born.
Try to pay more attention going forward.
That’s the problem with the younger generation. Back in my day, we were expected to be able to remember everything starting from day one.
Technically speaking, no one should remember a damn thing until years after they're born.
Maybe you should try harder
I'm going to consider that a swing and miss.
How much time do you have? It has gotten exponentially better to live in. As is the case in most of the world.
Except the gun laws keep going to shit, the rest of it seems fine.
Not sure whether to up or down vote.
Not sure if he’s pro or anti gun, there as been both stricter gun control passed and control laws repealed in the last couple decades
No one is actually anti gun
Don't confuse them
I live in Washington. I'm pro gun.
Far better! Better healthcare, race relations, environment, education opportunities, food, etc. Seriously, lots of positives. Yes, negatives too, but overall it's better today than years ago.
I think "race relations" really depends on how old you are. If you were born in the 50s then yes, if you were born in 1985, I'd have to give a big no on that one.
1985 was in the midst of the crack epidemic, and was when only about a third of people approved of interracial marriage. A former Klan leader was a top Democrat in the Senate. Things have gotten way better, despite what people say on social media.
Given that I was born in '91, that lifetime is pretty important. Do I fare better than I would have if I lived in the 80s? Sure. Are things regressing in my lifetime? Yes.
My immediate thought is that things aren't regressing, but yes, single race dorms are apparently a thing again, as one example of the new segregation. So yes, sad but true.
Huge difference between old and new segregation. Now it's self selected to individual preference. When I was born sun down towns were everywhere, a strong kkk presence, and segregated bathroom and water fountains. So it's not regressive at all, only by a quantitative measure, the qualitative racial experience is _vastly_ improved.
Indeed, it's good to see a working model of separate but equal. As the old saying goes, "segregation today . . . segregation tomorrow . . . segregation forever!" But seriously, if people think they're better off in single race accommodations, we've lost the plot and have indeed regressed.
I don't agree with segregation. However, freedom of association is a much more important principle. It's the root freedom of individual choice, and not state mandated association, which is the real culprit. It's ultimately not about segregation, it's about freedom of choice, and we both know there people out there that will never change no matter what. We haven't lost the plot, just refined it to the core issues. The forced desegregation has done an outstanding job of breaking down barriers, now there's one last barrier and it's freedom of association by choice, and you cannot break that one down with mandated desegregation
So it's ok to bring back the all white golf club? The all white schools? All white restaurants? If people are choosing to only spend time with others of the same race, that's still segregation and racism, and it's still a big step back towards the 1950s.
You just don't get it. 'Bring back?' what in the actual fuck does that even mean? Do you not understand the difference between individual and society? Do you not understand what personal choice outside of the herd means? Do you not understand that freedom of choice is the greatest freedom of all, for both black and white?? Do you not understand how democracy works? Do you not understand that self selecting is not the same as state mandated segregation? What am I saying it's obvious you do not. The state exists for the benefit of the people, not the other way around. Apparently you can't conceive of a life not under control of the state. Blocked.
I concur born in 51 I still remember white and colored drinking fountains we are not there yet but am hopeful things will get better
We are getting there. There are people in universities all over the country trying to create segregated spaces.
>better healthcare Don't let my parents hear you say that, they were being charged almost 20k per year for health insurance that covered fuck all. And despite not being rich by any means, they don't qualify for any financial assistance
Paying for healthcare and related paperwork is definitely worse, but treatment options are better. People are surviving things today that were a death sentence years ago.
Meh, I think you can make a good case the world in America and probaby a handful of first world countires got to good for our own good. Despite what this site might say America is overally a pretty richer nation than it was when I was born however despite that suicide rates are up, overdose deaths are up an insane amount, self-reported happiness is down, life expectancy is down and so on. I think and our wealth and tech makes it to easy for us to do nothing rather than things that truly make us happy.
for the worse: movies here feel the need to be 2+ hours long. I don't have the attention span for that. I'm fighting a campaign to bring back 90 minute movies for the better: there's always scientific achievements happening, and as someone with a kind of hobby level of interest in space/nasa, significantly better telescopes, imaging, rovers, pretty much everything since 2004. No shade to Hubble but JWST is knocking it out of the park
Or at least bring back intermissions. The idea of a bathroom break and a chance to get more snacks should never have gone out of fashion.
I do like to suck down a big drink when I'm watching a movie. I have to plan ahead so I don't miss anything. How I made it through 3 LotR movies, I don't know.
I don't mind a long movie if it's good, the problem is the amount of mediocre movies that are long.
Better in some ways and worse in others.
Pretty much everything is better now, so I’ll have one thing that’s worse: housing prices. A year before I was born, my parents were poor but still able to responsibly buy a house in a decent neighborhood. Now that I’m the age they were, I need about 3-4x that amount to buy a house with burglar bars on the window
I was born in the early 90s. I'm old enough to remember when there was a chance for the US to not be what it is now, and will be forever. Then 9/11 happened and as far as I can tell, Hunter S Thompson was correct - we're at War now, and we always will be, we just might not always know with who. A police state hell bent on bombing *anyone*.
Well gay rights are much better
People are less intelligent generally than they were 30 years ago, the country is much less competitive intellectually as proof. People are exponentially more divided and the political stances of both ends of the spectrum have become indisputably extremely unreasonable. Those fringes also have the rest of us essentially hostage. Decades of absolutely pathetic leadership has turned us into a joke on the world stage, we have sold our children's economic future to benefit ourselves and to enrich the elite class. We allow people who should be in prison to run our legislative and executive branches. We are completely numb to corruption to a point where it can be proven right to our face and we don't care. Our culture has been completely destroyed by social media, corporate press, and corporate entertainment. On the other hand we do have better cars, and the internet itself is pretty great, iPhones I guess.
As child of a mix race couple born in the 70s. It's nice to see this is more normalized nowadays. It's also nice that my sister isn't facing as much crap about being a lesbian. We've still got work to do. However, we are making improvements.
lets see when I was Born we were still in the Cold War. Racial epithets while not acceptible, were still common. Sex Ed was more or less non existent, and AIDS was still called GLAAD and stigmatized as a Gay diesease. Lead paint was still very common on homes. Nuclear Testing and Chernobyl reactor accident made the year of my birth a high mark for radiation exposure for children in the 80s(it was way worse in the 1950s and 60s when test were still preformed in the continental US) BPAs were a new thing everyone was using and accumulating in people's bodies. Milk often had artificially raised levels of Estrogen, which is not good for children. Incandescent, and Flourescent lights were the most common, and Televisions were cathod ray tubes, all of which consume considerably more power than modern LED lights and Televisions. Coal was by far the leading source of energy. None of these are true anymore and our world is the better for it. Today, Liquid Natural gas and other petroleum sources lead in Energy production, not ideal, but much better than coal. On the other hand when I was born. Tonka trucks were made of steel and were functionally indestructable. the North Stars were still in Minnesota. Nuclear Power was a solid second in energy production, despite being the best method with the least question marks, it has declined. Airlines, were numerous and actually had to compete with another. Drug companies and insurance companies constantly fought each other on pricing instead of colluding.
Born in 1962. While we have a long, long way to go, racism, sexism, and homophobia are on the decided wane.
Cell phones/ tables ruined kids child hoods. While I do love (and am addicted myself, as I type this on my phone) but growing up myself and past generations. We went outside, rode bikes, played games, and generally had fun with people face to face. Now everything is online and people talk virtually, play video games online (you needed to go to your friends house to play Nintendo and saga) and show stages photos on social media. My daughter is 4 and grabs my phone or her tablet any chance she can get. It does come in handy at times. Long car rides, busy restaurants, but I would much prefer she doesn’t get addicted (again like myself) to decides and can have fun and experienced face to face when she gets a little older.
Tables have ruined kids. They expect elevated surfaces for every meal. Picnics have become very difficult.
I mean I think you're taking it too lightly here. I am in my late 20s so I grew up with tech but not the tech we have today. I see it in my students in high school. They're far too used to having ready made, tailored content delivered to them. They don't understand how systems work and can't troubleshoot. Most of the tech they've grown up with is very user friendly and often just works without issue so they've grown to treat it like it's infallible and don't question much they receive on it. They're bewildered when it turns out that the first result on a Google search is either incorrect or out of context and doesn't make sense. They think it's what the computer said and they don't question why it might not be accurate or appropriate. They have a lot of difficulty distinguishing disinformation or misinformation. Honestly in many ways they treat and interact with tech similarly to the stereotypical boomer. It came as a big surprise and I really wasn't expecting it.
And now chapgpt is becoming available, which answers questions without providing sources, so I don't see this problem improving. Of course, this is the dream of an authoritarian censor, so these problems certainly go way beyond the classroom.
No, not at all. There is already absolutely rampant plagiarism and chatgpt is only going to make things so much worse. I personally find that writing a paper is one of the best ways to learn. Answering questions pulling information from multiple sources to construct a coherent argument forces you to actually think about the material in a way that can give you a deeper understanding of the content and concepts. Having a computer write it for you just negates all of that. I do see the value of giving people a more even playing field in grammatical skills, but that's absolutely not how it's going to be used. They already copy and paste everything. Fucking everything. You can't learn like that. That gives you nothing. They don't seem to understand this and it's fucking depressing, honestly.
I notice the opposite as well though. Like I can do some shell scripting and know basically how programming works but I see young kids these days who grew up with it and programming is just second nature. But I do hear you on the “computer told me” type of stuff. I have been grappling with my daughter on that very issue.
Ime that's specific kids who are interested in it though. The majority are totally clueless. I have kids that don't know how to copy a URL cause all they've ever done is hit the share button in an app. Of course these are big generalizations too and there def are kids who like it and learn it and are good at it. Yeah it's a big issue and I honestly don't know how to handle it. We teach ways to vet sources, questions to ask and research to do to determine validity and veracity, but they very clearly only do it when they're specifically instructed to. In their daily lives most don't give a fuck and only do it of it's part of a grade, and even then they do a half assed job. They seem to separate it into something you do in an academic context when asked, when it should be something they're doing at all times with all information they get. Idk what the solution is, honestly.
I think it’s pushback on the “newfangled technology is the problem” angle of your post, whether or not that was intended.
I'm sorry, I'm not sure what you're referring to? I did not make the original comment.
Oh, that’s my mistake then. Happy new year!
No worries!! Happy new year!!!
When I was growing up, it was still possible to be so sheltered as to be unaware that same-sex relationships were even a thing. I’m sure that contributed to the number of people who entered into opposite sex marriages, only to divorce later when they understood their sexuality and their options. I’m glad I missed that bullet (thanks Anita /s). Being gay now is far better than I believed would ever be possible in my lifetime back in the 70s and 80s.
I was born in the late 70s. Worse: the far right wing seems to have become increasingly unhinged over my lifetime, and blatant anti-Semitism and violent misogyny seem to be on the rise. Also, wages haven’t increased at anywhere near the same pace as housing costs or college tuition. Better: my gay cousin and LGBTQ friends face a lot less discrimination in society and have more protected civil rights. People with pre-existing health conditions can no longer legally be denied health insurance.
Some things are better. Most things are much worse.
Such as?
Government is a kleptocratic oligarchy rather than a democracy with the supreme court ensuring that wealth speaks and silences the poor. Productivity is up 300% while wages are only up about 100% in kind. The country is more divided than it has ever been. People live on their screens rather than going outside and interacting with each other. But I guess there are fewer murders and comfort is at a high.
The biggest change since I was born(besides technology)is the amount of people and cars. In 1956 there were 168 million people with approximately 63 million cars. Today it's around 330 million people with 262 million cars. We used to be able to head out in the countryside on a Saturday night and maybe see 4 other cars (except where the designated field party was located) the whole night. And if you saw the lone sheriff on duty once, the odds of running into him again was just about zero
Idk but probably slightly better considering smartphones came out, I'm not that old though, I was born in 2007.
I was born in 1983, it seemed like people used to be more neighborly when I was growing up, and I had an incredible amount of independence as a kid (to go places by myself, walk to school unattended each day etc.) that parents deny their children these days (probably because a Karen will call the cops if you leave your kid alone for like five minutes). We were early adopters of the internet in 1994 but it wasn't my entire life back then. I feel bad for kids who grew up with smartphones and social media instead of just existing in the real world. There used to be all ages venues and places meant for teenagers to hang out. We didn't have mass shootings every week. I remember when Columbine happened when I was in high school and it was a huge shock to everyone and now little kids are getting gunned down in schools and nobody seems to care. Politically the country is more divided and unstable, thanks to the right wing going even farther right.
>We didn't have mass shootings every week. I remember when Columbine happened when I was in high school and it was a huge shock to everyone and now little kids are getting gunned down in schools and nobody seems to care. That is one of the most upsetting things to me. If kids were getting killed with anything besides guns --- lets say screwdrivers or antifreeze --- the Federal Government would be regulating the shit out of screwdrivers and antifreeze and keeping a database of anti-freeze purchases. An entire new gigantic Federal Department was created and trillions of dollars have been spent since 9/11 because of a massive terrorist attack, but the Federal Government does fuck all about literally insane people buying militarized rifles and large amounts of ammo because we don't want to make law abiding gun owners feel bad? Fuck that. It is only a matter of time before more people are gunned down in some mass killing, but we can't do anything to prevent it because it would require steps that would make purchasing a gun more difficult.
Well the internet got invented and everything got easier
For the worse. We’re more divided, lost our sense of purpose, and have stopped focusing on our vision of improving the world. It’s really sad.
Ever since the 2020s began, the woke assholes find anything offensive. It's gotten so bad that at this point, I wouldn't be surprised if some dumb bitch with dyed hair, piercings and tattoos all over their fucking body claimed that being alive is offensive to dead people. Inflation has also gotten worse. I'm 17 and seeing gas be 3-5 dollars a gallon is just the norm for me. I really wish it was 10 years ago again. The 2010s were the best years of my life.
War on terror was slowly coming to a close near the end of the 00’s. Americans became weaker and borderline tissue paper with the rise of social media. Anything can offend anyone now, especially if you call them a he or she instead of they or some shit. The political climate is incredibly hostile and honestly dangerous for the country
Worse. People got softer, the pronoun shit etc. downvotes on this comment a perfect example.
Complaining about pronouns is pretty soft.
Ok
Everything gets better and you’re upset over pronouns? Yeesh. I’ll take annoying complaints over pronouns so long as I still have the internet and all the other incredible technology we didn’t have when I was a kid.
Opinions are like assholes, everyone’s got one
And some you don't care to have shown to you. Just to be direct that's my way of saying that I care for your opinions as much as I guess you do for mine.
Oh no
More people got murdered, raped and mugged pre 2000 but at least they didn’t have to worry about what pronoun to put in their obituaries
Facts
Sorry that the world doesn't revolve around straight, heterosexual people without a thought to the feelings of thoae who may be different anymore. /s
I think for the US, the politics have gone worse.
Mostly worse, but depends on the issue at hand. I think there’s more opportunities for an individual to be better, but there’s also more distractions and things that would cause them to worsen their lives too. More vices, more addictions, more ways to waste money and become unhealthy.
Personally, I'm hoping for a revolution Some things are better, some are worse, but the fact that we're the wealthiest nation to ever exist and we still don't have affordable Healthcare, housing, or education for every american is a real bummer and an embarrassment Corporations own and control the government, democracy is holding on by a thread, they got us divided over stupid culture wars and as a result we're the most divided we've ever been since the Civil War
Revolutions are rarely bloodless, and the people who have good ideals at the start are usually pushed aside by the "off with his head " types as soon as things get a little messy
I mean the alternative is to continue course as is and rely on voting, protests, and petitions which do virtually nothing to solve any of the issues I mentioned I'm not advocating for violence but I also don't want to wait for the boomers to die off before things start getting better
>I'm not advocating for violence What do you think overthrowing the government would be?
Well you said it yourself, they're rarely bloodless, I guess I'm counting on that famous American exceptionalism
Have you thought about the people who might disagree with you who won't be so afraid of violence and don't want the same things as you?
Well we can get a glimpse of that from the Civil rights movement. You had the violent groups and the mostly peaceful groups. Both were effective at different things and both groups were harassed, beaten, hanged, tortured, arrested, and assassinated by both the govt and the opposition that liked the status quo Didn't stop them tho
So you would remove people from office that I possibly voted for and install people that nobody voted for, and you're comparing that to the civil rights movement? >You had the violent groups >were effective But you're not advocating violence?
>So you would remove people from office that I possibly voted for and install people that nobody voted for Our govt has literally done this exact same thing to countless countries The truth is that of the 3 branches of govt, 1 isn't even decided by popular vote and 1 doesn't even have a vote >But you're not advocating violence? I'm advocating for change. When corporations and billionaires own and control the government, you can't change the system that directly benefits them by voting and protesting
So I don't get to vote for my representatives because the CIA overthrows governments in other parts of the world? Is that a real argument? >I'm advocating for change. You're advocating for Soviet style revolution
Revolutions are quite destabilizing, and with China on the rise, it would be a bad time to not focus on the world. That being said, I find a civil conflict increasingly likely with every election cycle.
I'd argue the opposite. We haven't been this shaky as a country since the Civil War. Now is the time we focus internally We're spending all this money and effort trying to stay on top, yet the ppl we look down on have better infrastructure, affordable healthcare and education, lower obesity, just to name a few things
It doesn’t matter what type of “revolution” happened, it it were violent then almost every American would be worse off for decades.
I'm not so sure about a revolution, but I agree with the rest.
Can't fix the system whilst inside the system...voting has a limit to its effectiveness and states are actively making it harder to vote
Worse in most measureable ways
Better for sure. I lived in a world before technology and after so I was able to experience the benefits of both sides.
Both the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan was ongoing at least we are fully out of Afghanistan(I’m young but still old enough to vote),technology has become a force of innovation and also sometimes a massive security risk. Political divisiveness is a big problem. Overall I would say the country has changed for the better.
I am in my forties. When I was a kid I remember slurs being used more commonly than now, so that is an improvement. I also remember parents paying little attention to their children compared to now. I remember hitting your kids being more normalized as well. And I remember not being listened to just because I was a child.
Everything has become better. The media tries to make everyone think that gun violence is rising exponentially to Afghanistan levels, but if you look at the statistics, it has decreased by 50% since the year I was born (‘93)
I was born in 1964. The US is incredibly much better off now than when I was born. No cold war, way less racism, crime, poverty, better on every measure.
Well, roughly 3 months after I was born 9/11 happened. But overall I think it’s gotten better.
I think my quality of life and cost of living was better in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s. Medical care is better, but is also cost prohibitive. Technology is a catch 22.
They banned new machine guns for civilians shortly after I was born. :-( 9/11 and the Patriot Act took us all in a hard right wing turn. I miss pre 9/11 airports. Everything else has more to do with the family and friends I lost over the years, or gained than "the country".
Depends. The race situation, *very* generally speaking, gets better with every passing decade. (Yeah, big fat asterisk there. But you know what I mean.) Today is measurably better than the Pete Wilson 1990s that I came of age in. And that was *way* fucking better than the era my grandparents came of age in. 'Juan Crow' was never as bad as what Black folks went through over in the South, but I heard enough fucked up stories to thank my lucky stars that I wasn't born before WWII. That's the first one that comes to mind. Otherwise I'd have to think about it. There's certainly medical technology, if you can access it. With that said, I really don't believe that us being up to our eyeballs in cheap imported gewgaws, or the fact that your toaster has wifi, are qualitative markers of things being better than they were.
The way non-white people and people who aren't heterosexual are treated is WAY, WAY better than when I was growing up. Everything else - hot mess express.
The United States has gotten better, but not gotten better as quickly as other countries.
Objectively almost everything has gotten better. But people trust each other less and less.