When I was a kid, the internet was just a kid too. Looking over my 30 years worth of memories, I can’t say things were actually any simpler then than now. How much simpler could things have been back in the days when everything was in black in white? 🙂 Not that everything ever was, but don’t you get the general impression that when movies and photos were mostly black and white, everyone’s problems must have been, too?
I don’t know whether it’s the realistic colors or the realistic expressions on their faces (as opposed to the posed, forced photos you sometimes see from that time), but these photos seem to say otherwise. Technology is different, but it looks to me like people struggled just as much then as now:
Large format color photos captured in America from 1939 to 1943
and Color Photos from the World War 1 Era, an article at Damn Interesting and more, larger photos from the Russian collection cited there.
So when we say the past was easier, is it social amnesia or simply that everything appears smaller in a rear-view mirror?
As for whether times are simple now, I guess that depends on who you ask. Just as I was writing this note, my daughter called out, “Hey Mom! I’m putting my socks on! That’s a good sign, right? This is going to be my day!”
Legend of Velda 