Joey

My vote is on no. Even though you hear people wishing that they'd been born in the 'good ol' days', which is different for each one of them, I say it's better to be around now.

I like that my life expectancy is in the 80s. I like that a small cut probably won't get infected and kill me. I like computers. I like that if I want to go into town it's not a 2 day journey by horse and buggy.

Why would you want to have been born during the medieval age? Chances are you would have been some peasant who lived a horrible life and died young. You wouldn't have been a king no matter how cool it would have been.

Why do people wish they'd been born in the past?

tiburon423

i love my technology. i wouldnt want to live in the past.

i8acobra

I don't think the Medieval Period qualifies as "good ol' days". The fifties, on the other hand... I'd love to have been born in the early 30's and be a teenager during the 50's.

bdiggy

Yeah, you're going way beyond the good ol'days with that statement. As for technology. Would it have been so bad to actually go outside to play instead of being a fat, lazy little bastard sitting on the computer or gaming system? I played outside until the last drop of daylight and wouldn't have traded it for anything! Having a computer now is OK, but I could certainly live life without one.

JonGTR

Same here. I wouldn't mind only needing the husband to work instead of both parents. Children were raised better because the mom was at home. Families sat down to eat together instead of picking up fast food on the way to the arcade. Kids made their own toys and invented games to play which developed better learning skills for the future. Now they sit in front of the Xbox all day.
Gas was $.10/gal.
People didn't talk so much sh*t about the gov't and loved their country.
The Libs didn't make such a fuss over "God" being in Gov't documents, etc.

HyundaiKitCoupe

^totally *** agree both bdiggy and JonGTR. sooo true. work now makes you sit in front of the computer filling out worthless stationary documents that have no meaning or function. expectations are high as hell.

girls/women get angry if you try to help them, or hold the door for them. WTF is that. i could go on but don't feel like it!

bdiggy

Amen dude!

187sks

I sat on a hill in Yellowstone watching the buffalo graze down through the valley below me wishing it was a few hundred years ago and that I was looking at my dinner...if I could get close enough to shoot one.


I also sat in the Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde thinking about how life would have been. A lot of life would have been hard. Water was difficult to keep a good supply of. Farming was tough, but through ingenuity the hidden gardens atop the Mesas wouldn't draw unwanted attention from anyone.


In those times, life was different, but I feel very connected to that way of living. More than most people I think I would do well living off of the land.

In the 50's I think times were probably pretty good too. I would really rather have a parent stay home to take care of the house and raise the children. I would rather get a job and stay at that company for my entire career. I would rather have a pension at the end of that career that actually was enough to live on.

I don't mind life now though either. Lots of conveniences for better or worse. I don't like spending hundreds of dollars a month on things or services now considered necessities that hadn't even been invented yet when I was a kid. When I was a kid I went fishing or rode my bike almost every day. Now most teenagers I know have never gone fishing, many have never owned a bike but have an iPhone, a laptop, and an XBOX 360. I like that we're living longer healthier lives in general without the mortality rates that we had in the 50's.

JonGTR

Cable/Dish = $70
Internet = $30
Cell Phone = $100
Avg spent on video games = $40

That's $240 a month on things that people were not spending on 20-30 years ago. Maybe that's why both parents work now?

187sks

That hurts, but it's even more than that though, even figuring it relative to income at the time.

Houses are much more expensive vs. our income.
Cars are MUCH fancier and expensive vs. our income thanks to new safety standards and electronic gizmos.
Insurance costs are much more expensive across the board and are increasingly required.
Durability of things has decreased. I had a tv from the 50's when I was a kid. I've burned up 3 tv's in 5 years.
People seem to buy a new computer every 3 years or so. They usually spend close to $1000.
Among other things that make it expensive to lead a typical American middle class lifestyle.