I would also point out that attitudes towards people in general seem to have hardened. It's an old "better in my day" story but really, if you slipped in the street today how many people would be rushing up to help you? People used to do that all the time, now it's almost like they're afraid they might get sued, couldn't care less or quite literally don't see anything other than the iphone or ipad their nose is buried in as they walk along.

Slightly OT: great ad on Irish TV to try to discourage people from using mobiles in their car --- "It won't kill you to put it away while you drive". Gotta love the message in that!

People aren't as jaded as you think. I was down in NYC (which has the rep of incredibly rude non caring people), this lady fell down and four people stopped what they were doing to check on her and help her up. They put aside their devices to do so. I would have helped but a fifth person wasn't necessary.

Yeah like DJ I've witnessed many counterexamples to this attitude. I know personal experience doesn't negate commonalities but I think that sort of attitude isn't as dominant as you're making it out to be.

As for the OP I think I'm a bit young to really think of how much the world has changed in my lifetime, as it seems to be the same to me for the most part. Acceptance of minorities (not just race, sexuality and all that jazz too) has risen, so I'm going to go with improvement. On the note of what James said about people not willing to go to war, I think that's a good thing, but the intentions of those people can be a bit worrisome. I also appreciate that people are critical of the government, but how much that has really changed in my lifetime I can't say but I think that level of criticism has risen in the US since the Iraq war.

Overall, I would not use anecdotes to infer that the world at large is better or worse off today than it was at some previous point, because that is highly likely to be the least objective measuring tool.
But if this thread is just about our anecdotal opinions about whether we think something or the other, then by all means, the world is better, because I saw someone give a homeless guy money a few times therefore peace, tranquility and utopia.

In all seriousness, I think that it has gotten both better and worse, in many different regards. And no matter what I think is more important, there will invariably be something left out that I did not consider. Ultimately, I think it is up to humanity as a whole to decide what is for the better and what is for the worse. But unfortunately, people never to agree on such a thing collectively, and in that sense, I think it has always been that way and is the biggest obstacle we face, regardless of incidentals.

There's an elementary school that was built in the town I grew up in (I think it was finished in '95) and I had my 2nd year of school there; it was called Challenger. After the spacecraft.

When I think of how pathetic the public school system was in that town, as a whole, it makes sense.

I don't really have any specific points, but the world was **** when I was a kid; it's worse now, by far. It seems like people are a lot lazier, fatter, and dumber than they've ever been.

The main difference between now and thirty years ago is the way humans act and interact. Young people are taught to not have an opinion, or to not have an opinion that might upset the apple cart, the dumbing down is well underway and the unsuspecting masses of young people have fallen for this line of fake liberal bullshiit.

Political correctness seems to have taken over, if you arnt ultra pc at all times the dumbed down see it as you're not very bright, the dumbed down are the only people who don't see the irony in all this. Some call it political correctness and others call it mind control of the masses.

Over the last 30 years the standard of living has gone down, the standard of education has been reduced to nursery level a degree isn't worth anything nowadays and the general public have little or no say in anything anymore, and the public seem to have accepted all this and convinced themselves that things are better now than ever before, further proof that the dumbing down is well under way. The only thing that is better now than thirty years go is cars.

Modern music is shiit, modern football is shiit, the modern media is shiit and full of its own self importance, modern living standards are shiit and maybe they're all shiit because you're a deluded dumbed down piece of **** that has believed the hype and helped to make everything shiit. If the cap fits wear it.

This strikes me as 'conspiracy theorist bullcrap'. Perhaps it's not that the youth have been brainwashed into believing 'liberal bullshtiit' - maybe conservative viewpoints are just extremely outdated and useless in the modern world?

In my lifetime the tectonic plates haven't moved much, the lengths of days and years haven't changed much, the atmosphere is still mostly nitrogen, the oceans are still here, there's still flora and fauna. Overall I'd say the world hasn't changed much.

In my short lifetime, I feel as though the world has gotten worse, which is kinda a dim way to see things and deep down I kinda know it's not 100% true but having said that - all we ever hear about are the negative impacts of our existence, costs of living rising and unemployment rising and health issues rising and blah blah blah. Society tends to have a "back in my day" attitude towards everything which constantly makes out the past to be so much better than the present and constantly aiming to remind me that things are only going downhill from here, which is really depressing.

What's even more depressing is the fact that I am grateful for things like the freedom, education and healthcare I was lucky enough to have in my lifetime, but it makes me wonder - will my descendants have the same? With health and education taking a back burner on the agenda, it's kinda scary...

I'm just a ball of positivity tonight.

With the same back in my day attitude, it clouds peoples memories of all the bad stuff that was going on in the past because they are only concerned with the good memories linked through nostalgia.

Technology is a big thing that has improved over time along with innovations to make our lives more simple.