Asklemmy

tbh a large part of it probably has to do with you getting older and looking back in the good old days in rose tinted glasses

some parts of the world got better now compared to few decades ago, while others have gotten much worse

I think this is due to increased alienation. We've become more isolated and distanced from one another and, more importantly, more distanced from our own creative self. This is what happens when production is largely automated but humans are still involved - we turn into small faceless gears in a big mechanism.

Yep. The Amish were right.

It's basically impossible to go out and relax or have any kind of good time when you know you're probably being filmed from 20 different angles throughout the night, and the cost of any kind of faux pas is that you might get video uploaded to make you a laughing-stock.... and that was before the millions of AI surveillance cameras that have like a ~2% chance to hallucinate imaginary crimes and file automatic police reports went up.

But yeah, everything is also really fucking expensive now.

Don't worry, it gets worse.

I believe it's a mix. Both 'nostalgia goggles' and straight up facts.

What I mean is that, when we were kids or teenagers we didn't see things the same way our parents did. They were the ones struggling, and we were pretty much just playing around and complaining of mundane stuff. So it's hard to tell how much 'easier' life was back then... we were just young.

But at the same time I do completely agree that the advancement of technology and growth of USA giant corporations really fucked a lot of things up badly. While back in the day we couldn't find answers or information to everything so easily, we lived a more 'natural' life, where everyone actually expected things to take a while to happen: you had to wake up, literally read the news if you wanted, take the car or bus to the job, and just then you started working, and while working you had to do some research and so on.

Nowadays things either happen immediately or you're tagged as lazy or something like it. You wake up with a lot of e-mails or message notifications on your smartphone, and people expect you to answer these demands ASAP. It's not expected anymore that we do each thing in it's own time anymore, and the volume of work is much bigger because you're expected to solve problems much faster. This volume of demand and unrealistic expectations definitely generate stress and anxiety, which are huge health issues nowadays.

And the fact that we now realize, thanks to the amount and speed of information we have today, how the industry leads are fucking everyone up without consequences doesn't help in the slightest, since it leads to a feeling of being powerless and exploited.

I think you are slow on the uptake. It has been this way for a while.

You are definitely not alone. Ordinary people should stand against imperialist and extreme capitalist system .when you vote ,you should not let bastards politicians exploit you by your weakness

Good time to unplug.

Also middle aged and my only real issue is how stupid everyone is

They don't read. They don't research. They don't question... not in a "conspiracy theory" way, but they don't see a headline and go, "is that true?"

They're morons that feed off negativity.

They'll post an article about something terrible but then I'll look it up, find out it's bullshit, and then post the data that shows it's bullshit and instead of everybody being like, "oh thank God, I was worried there for a second" they go, "Fuck you. Obviously everything is shitty and how dare you even try to point out that it's not"

What the fuck is wrong with people these days?

Can definitely relate. Am in my early 50's. Canadian government sold out Canadians, and now the country is a complete shithole. We're actively looking to leave Canada.

Technology has enabled drastic increases to efficiency. Capitalism ensures that the gains of which are expropriated away from the working class and into the hands of the capitalists. Instead of reduced hours, increased vacation time, and higher pay, we're working longer, taking less time off, and earning less.

They like to say we are doing better than ever because the the numbers and technology are great. Yeah, I might not be starving, but what's the dignity in a rising tide of techno-feudalism and serfdom? And the technology that, in another society, could have freed us from long hours is instead being used by the ruling class to further exploit us.

Yes, but not in the imprecise terms you'll find tossed around in mainstream sources of information.

Key Lemmy-grade terms:

1. Surveillance Capitalism ---> Technofeudalism
2. Personalized pricing
3. Bureaucratic Friction & sludge (customer service best practice)
4. Administrative Burden (government, business adm & customer service)
5. LexisNexis Risk Solutions, RealPage
6. Rent-seeking behavior; economic rent
7. Whiteness theory

Def not just you, it's everyone some people are just better at ignoring it. I've always been raised around computers myself, but we're talking Windows 3.1 and 95 lol. I do indeed think it's the tech though. People have alter egos they try to pretend is real on social media. News travels faster with it, real or fake. Music you'd have to buy, listen to the radio, or watch TRL or 106 in park. Things are so immediate these days. People used to read, learn, etc. I got kids, and a large chunk of the shit they tell me they've learned was from TikTok. It truly is a different world, and it is stressful. It's hard to keep up, but you're here, and you're doing just fine.

Think of every day as a tiny knife, stabbing you.

(I forgot who said that in their routine and I don't want to look it up but it's somebody. Accordion lady? I refuse)

I think a lot of it comes down to paperwork burden. It used to be if you were entitled to something there was an office you could sit down in and they had a responsibility to get you want you needed before you left. Now, they send you home with a link to a webpage that doesn't work and a million online forms that time out that you have to fill in perfectly or they get auto-rejected.

I'm dealing with this with a work friend who's trying to apply for medical leave with hostile management. If you can't count on your immediate boss getting you the paperwork you need in a timely manner without throwing a fit because you're "trying to get out of work", it just becomes a million times harder to live a normal life. It used to be that there was a chair somewhere you sat in and could reasonably expect your problems to be solved by the time you stood up again.

I feel the same way, so many things are objectively worse. Cost of living up, government services and safety nets going away, taxpayer money funneled to billionaires, scammers, and wars. Technology is getting more expensive and more invasive. Everything is a scam or a trick now even from previously reputable businesses. The environment is being ravaged and natural resources are being used up and none of the big players doing most of the pollution care, they only care about revenue. Ethics and accountability are down, grift and cruelty are up.