Modern life is rubbish?

[melon]

Its ironic and sad to see the few opportunities that exist to try and expand and change others minds is often meet by a closed door.

Take this banned TED talk which TBH I think was done quite well.

[pipTheGeek]

How long ago are we talking?

Life before somewhere around 1925 wouldn't have been good becuase my eldest son (type 1 diabetic) would be dead. I hope in his lifetime he'll see a cure, so medicine in modern life is good.

I personally would miss things like the internet, smartphones, DLNA etc. I remember life without these things though and I was perfectly happy, but I wouldn't want to lose these things now I have them. So, from the technology perspective, modern life is good.
I do worry about the direction society is heading though. Is it a good thing that schools now have fences that put prisons to shame? Is it a good thing that the government keep passing more "anti terrorist" or "anti bad-things-on-the-internet" legislation that seems to have the effect of just erroding our freedoms for questionable gains in security?

[j.o.s.h.1408]

scholl have fences that put prisons to shame? in what country? Not here in the UK. schools dont have fences here.

[Pleiades]

scholl have fences that put prisons to shame? in what country? Not here in the UK. schools dont have fences here.

Eh? I think the OP of that remark was exaggerating somewhat; having said that, a lot of the schools round this here place (Essex ) are fenced to about 8-10 feet (haven't measured them lol), not necessarily all the way round though... personally I think they should be double-fenced with electric wire to keep the little buggers in

[pipTheGeek]

Slight exaggeration perhaps. :-)
But my old primary school put big fences up ages ago. My old secondary school has a public foot path through it which is new fenced both sides (10+ feet high). My son's middle school is not only fenced or walled in but they lock the side gate during school and have extra gates in the grounds that are locked during school time so you can go in the main gate, but then only to reception. And there you have to ring the bell before you can get in the building.
I can see the point of schools being locked up over night but is all this security necessary during the day? And if it is necessary then it is a sure example of one way that modern is rubbish.

[Phage]

There are a thousand generations of ancestors swearing at you all right now. You lucky, lucky, lucky swines.

[Saracen]

....

I can see the point of schools being locked up over night but is all this security necessary during the day? And if it is necessary then it is a sure example of one way that modern is rubbish.

Is it "necessary"? I guess it depends on your criteria.

First, it keeps kids in. Second, it certainly helps keep undesirables, be it perverts, drug dealers or merely wandering individuals or a drunk trying to find his/her way home out. Third, and I suspect this is a major part of the reason for such fences, it should prevent you getting sued for negligence if something does happen if you can demonstrate you took all reasonable steps to prevent it.

But I doubt anyone could seriously claim absolutely everything about modern life is better than it was x number of years ago. The compensation culture is a move in the wrong direction, for a start. On the other hand, the fact that the average bloke can often get compensation where genuinely justified is an improvement.

So, any assessment of whether "modern life" is rubbush surely has to be done in terms of "compared to when? 1973 and the fuel crisis and power cuts? 1943 and the war, and rationing? The great depression? Feudal lords with huge power over the rest of us. Personally, I'd rather live a standard live today than even that of a feudal lord hundreds of years ago, let alone a serf or peasant under a feudal system.

But overall, while some aspects of modern life have gone backwards, including some important ones like the importance of the extended family in providing a system of social care and support now taken over, or not taken over depending on how you see it, by the state, the overall condition of modern life, at least in most developed countries, is better, often far better, than in most of our past.

But it's never going to be a single-plane issue, as some posts in this interesting thread have pointed out.How do you, for instance, weigh up material improvements over less tangible matters, like the disintegration of family structures?


Take the shrinking world, for instance. Suppose a family member emigrates to the US, or Australia, or wherever. On the one hand, they have an opportunity to live a life they want, where they want. Improvement for them. On the other hand, the family left behind suffer the loss of a partial breakup of that family support system. Just how do you net off the positive and negative of the availability of that option? Inevitably, it's a value judgment.