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  3. Without mentioning smartphones or social media, what societal changes have you noticed over the course of your lifetime?

Without mentioning smartphones or social media, what societal changes have you noticed over the course of your lifetime?

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asklemmy
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  • E [email protected]

    Originally it was going to be "over the last twenty years" but I decided to be more flexible.

    A lot of discussions about how society has changed or how the world is different always circle around to smartphones, social media, "no one talks to each other in person, they're on their phones always" and the like.

    Outside of those topics, what else has changed, by your perception?

    B This user is from outside of this forum
    B This user is from outside of this forum
    [email protected]
    wrote on last edited by
    #30

    No more milk delivered each morning to my door.

    1 Reply Last reply
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    • E [email protected]

      Originally it was going to be "over the last twenty years" but I decided to be more flexible.

      A lot of discussions about how society has changed or how the world is different always circle around to smartphones, social media, "no one talks to each other in person, they're on their phones always" and the like.

      Outside of those topics, what else has changed, by your perception?

      N This user is from outside of this forum
      N This user is from outside of this forum
      [email protected]
      wrote on last edited by [email protected]
      #31
      • People are way more free to talk about their mental health problems.
      • Climate change is part of mainstream awareness, most people want to see action on it.
      • Gays and lesbians are very broadly accepted in many parts of the world. Trans people are too (and they are more visible), even if there is also a culture war backlash.
      • Nearly everyone hates capitalism. Not everyone has figured out what needs to be done about it, but it's a good start.
      • Conspiracy thinking is more rampant, presumably because of internet (mis/dis)information bubbles

      (I was born in the early 80s, so this is over the last 30ish years, since the mid 90s)

      T 1 Reply Last reply
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      • E [email protected]

        Originally it was going to be "over the last twenty years" but I decided to be more flexible.

        A lot of discussions about how society has changed or how the world is different always circle around to smartphones, social media, "no one talks to each other in person, they're on their phones always" and the like.

        Outside of those topics, what else has changed, by your perception?

        B This user is from outside of this forum
        B This user is from outside of this forum
        [email protected]
        wrote on last edited by
        #32

        I've been arrested, held up at gun point, and spent a few weeks in a Texas jail in the 90s because I like smoking weed. Now I have 3 weed stores within 2 miles of me, and it's as mundane as buying a loaf of bread. So that's a positive in my book.

        T match@pawb.socialM 2 Replies Last reply
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        • S [email protected]

          i got fed up enough that i decided i'm never flying again. if i can't get there in time by driving, so sorry, i won't be able to attend

          R This user is from outside of this forum
          R This user is from outside of this forum
          [email protected]
          wrote on last edited by
          #33

          Domestic flights should basically not be a thing. Trains should be the default option if you don't have to cross an ocean.

          L I C 3 Replies Last reply
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          • R [email protected]

            Domestic flights should basically not be a thing. Trains should be the default option if you don't have to cross an ocean.

            L This user is from outside of this forum
            L This user is from outside of this forum
            [email protected]
            wrote on last edited by
            #34

            Ahh yes, trade 6 hours for a 3 day, $400 train ride to NYC.

            Lmfao what a shit suggestion

            R M 2 Replies Last reply
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            • E [email protected]

              Originally it was going to be "over the last twenty years" but I decided to be more flexible.

              A lot of discussions about how society has changed or how the world is different always circle around to smartphones, social media, "no one talks to each other in person, they're on their phones always" and the like.

              Outside of those topics, what else has changed, by your perception?

              L This user is from outside of this forum
              L This user is from outside of this forum
              [email protected]
              wrote on last edited by [email protected]
              #35

              ::: spoiler spoiler
              askldjfals;jflsad;
              :::

              1 Reply Last reply
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              • R [email protected]

                Domestic flights should basically not be a thing. Trains should be the default option if you don't have to cross an ocean.

                I This user is from outside of this forum
                I This user is from outside of this forum
                [email protected]
                wrote on last edited by
                #36

                Completely agree. The state of the US passenger train system is absolutely pitiful, and useless for any of the trips I needed to take.

                J 1 Reply Last reply
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                • E [email protected]

                  Originally it was going to be "over the last twenty years" but I decided to be more flexible.

                  A lot of discussions about how society has changed or how the world is different always circle around to smartphones, social media, "no one talks to each other in person, they're on their phones always" and the like.

                  Outside of those topics, what else has changed, by your perception?

                  H This user is from outside of this forum
                  H This user is from outside of this forum
                  [email protected]
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #37

                  When I was in high school, gay was the generic negative word. If Wendys gave you a medium fry when you ordered a large - gay. If your homie cancelled plans last minute - gay. If you slipped on the stairs and busted your ass - gay. It's bizarre in hindsight.

                  2 T match@pawb.socialM fenririii@lemmy.worldF 4 Replies Last reply
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                  • E [email protected]

                    Originally it was going to be "over the last twenty years" but I decided to be more flexible.

                    A lot of discussions about how society has changed or how the world is different always circle around to smartphones, social media, "no one talks to each other in person, they're on their phones always" and the like.

                    Outside of those topics, what else has changed, by your perception?

                    A This user is from outside of this forum
                    A This user is from outside of this forum
                    [email protected]
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #38

                    No smoking indoors anymore. I remember when you could still smoke in a hospital. Then they limited it to just a "smoking lounge" on each floor. Followed eventually by a ban inside...to finally no smoking anywhere on hospital property.

                    Not to mention airplanes, restaurants and movie theaters.

                    tal@lemmy.todayT C 2 Replies Last reply
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                    • E [email protected]

                      Originally it was going to be "over the last twenty years" but I decided to be more flexible.

                      A lot of discussions about how society has changed or how the world is different always circle around to smartphones, social media, "no one talks to each other in person, they're on their phones always" and the like.

                      Outside of those topics, what else has changed, by your perception?

                      S This user is from outside of this forum
                      S This user is from outside of this forum
                      [email protected]
                      wrote on last edited by [email protected]
                      #39

                      In the states anyway, our sense of community has almost vanished. Rather than concerning ourselves with improving society, we have become a nation of de facto sovereign citizens, all of us competing with everyone else.

                      Even common courtesy has gone down the shitter. On the roads, at retail establishments, everything is a fight. Shove your way past everyone or you're weak.

                      1 Reply Last reply
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                      • E [email protected]

                        Originally it was going to be "over the last twenty years" but I decided to be more flexible.

                        A lot of discussions about how society has changed or how the world is different always circle around to smartphones, social media, "no one talks to each other in person, they're on their phones always" and the like.

                        Outside of those topics, what else has changed, by your perception?

                        W This user is from outside of this forum
                        W This user is from outside of this forum
                        [email protected]
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #40

                        The common man walks a path toward physical slavery, his pace ever increasing.

                        1 Reply Last reply
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                        • A [email protected]

                          No smoking indoors anymore. I remember when you could still smoke in a hospital. Then they limited it to just a "smoking lounge" on each floor. Followed eventually by a ban inside...to finally no smoking anywhere on hospital property.

                          Not to mention airplanes, restaurants and movie theaters.

                          tal@lemmy.todayT This user is from outside of this forum
                          tal@lemmy.todayT This user is from outside of this forum
                          [email protected]
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #41

                          I'd go further than that. I remember smoking being pretty common everywhere in the 1980s, and cigarette butts being common anywhere outdoors in a public setting.

                          I rarely see anyone smoking anymore, and rarely see a single cigarette butt.

                          That being said, where you are in the US is gonna be a factor, and there are some countries that do still see a fair bit of smoking.

                          1 Reply Last reply
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                          • T [email protected]

                            The death of appointment television.

                            H This user is from outside of this forum
                            H This user is from outside of this forum
                            [email protected]
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #42

                            Appointment television?

                            spankmonkey@lemmy.worldS J 2 Replies Last reply
                            0
                            • H [email protected]

                              Appointment television?

                              spankmonkey@lemmy.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
                              spankmonkey@lemmy.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
                              [email protected]
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #43

                              I haven't heard the term but I assume it means watching TV on the station's schedule. You know, broadcast and cable.

                              1 Reply Last reply
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                              • P [email protected]

                                The circa 1990 nature of American society has been erased so completely that it is hard to believe how drastically it has changed.

                                Movies used to depict child molestation (Indiana Jones) or outright rape (Revenge of the Nerds) as normal and to be celebrated when it was done by the heroes. A lot of crimes got viewed through the lens of whether it was “our people” doing them. The thinking features in a lot of old movies.

                                The cops who beat Rodney King were found not guilty by a jury, in the first trial. After all, they’re the cops, they’re allowed. Drunk driving was fine, as long as you were one of the right kind of people. The cops would beat the fuck out of people and it was fine. The factory in town could be polluting the river and it was fine as long as dad had a job. And so on.

                                The uniformity of thought that TV enforced, before the internet, is really not well understood. If you thought Israel was bad, then you and Noam Chomsky were literally the only ones. Even as late in the arc as the Iraq War, I would say about 95% of the people who didn’t get their news from the internet supported the war. Watch one of the debates where Ron Paul was speaking against the war with everyone else (except the audience) just weirded out and confused by it, or the “Media-Opoly” short that aired on SNL once and then never again, to get some idea by contrast of how airtight the lock on narrative used to be. TV and newspapers are still kind of that way, but they don’t have the media monopoly they used to. It used to be that someone probably would live their entire adult life without ever hearing the kind of political viewpoints you see every day on Lemmy as normal things.

                                On the other hand, along with the expectation that everyone was kind of a piece of shit and that’s how life is, came a kind of backbone for resistance that I feel like is missing today. Woodstock ‘99 would be a pretty normal “yeah they robbed us” badly organized festival today. It was way better than the Fyre Festival, and people at Fyre just took it, or called their lawyers. At Woodstock ‘99, the kids threw bottles and batteries at Kurt Loder, broke in the ATMs and stole their money back, and then ripped the venue apart with their bare hands and burned it all to the ground.

                                spankmonkey@lemmy.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
                                spankmonkey@lemmy.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
                                [email protected]
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #44

                                The cops who beat Rodney King were found not guilty by a jury, in the first trial. After all, they’re the cops, they’re allowed. [snip] The cops would beat the fuck out of people and it was fine.

                                This hasn't really changed though.

                                P T 2 Replies Last reply
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                                • E [email protected]

                                  Originally it was going to be "over the last twenty years" but I decided to be more flexible.

                                  A lot of discussions about how society has changed or how the world is different always circle around to smartphones, social media, "no one talks to each other in person, they're on their phones always" and the like.

                                  Outside of those topics, what else has changed, by your perception?

                                  M This user is from outside of this forum
                                  M This user is from outside of this forum
                                  [email protected]
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #45

                                  Is sex different? It seems like sex has changed in society. Like, more openness, less taboo. But also conservative sexual beliefs seem to be pulling harder in the opposite direction.

                                  1 Reply Last reply
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                                  • J [email protected]

                                    From an American perspective, flying on an airplane sucks. 9/11/01 resulted in a whole bunch of security theatre at the airport and airlines have slowly whittled away whatever comfort or convience remained.

                                    J This user is from outside of this forum
                                    J This user is from outside of this forum
                                    [email protected]
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #46

                                    You used to get proper meals even if it was a crazy short flight. Now it's like $6 bag of cheese it.

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                                    • H [email protected]

                                      Appointment television?

                                      J This user is from outside of this forum
                                      J This user is from outside of this forum
                                      [email protected]
                                      wrote on last edited by [email protected]
                                      #47

                                      A very popular show that everyone would watch live as it aired the first time. Then you could talk about it with everyone for a week because everyone is on the same episode. There was little to no ways to watch it if you missed it and you'd basically be screwed.

                                      H 1 Reply Last reply
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                                      • F [email protected]

                                        When I was still a kid, we went from bring a plate of cookies to your neighbor and introduce yourself to DON'T TALK TO STRANGERS!!

                                        T This user is from outside of this forum
                                        T This user is from outside of this forum
                                        [email protected]
                                        wrote on last edited by [email protected]
                                        #48

                                        deleted by creator

                                        F 1 Reply Last reply
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                                        • S [email protected]

                                          Cable TV use to be something that teathered us all together in a way. We were all stuck on the same schedule for premiers of new episodes of different shows so we all had a common thing to talk about come the next day. Now I have no idea what’s playing on what service and have just given up on staying up to date on the new shows. I could have access to $TVShow but probably won’t watch it because I don’t like to binge watch so it takes me longer to catch up and by the time I do it has already left the minds of my peers so why bother.

                                          spankmonkey@lemmy.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
                                          spankmonkey@lemmy.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
                                          [email protected]
                                          wrote on last edited by [email protected]
                                          #49

                                          I could have access to $TVShow but probably won’t watch it because I don’t like to binge watch so it takes me longer to catch up and by the time I do it has already left the minds of my peers so why bother.

                                          I enjoy not having my entertainment options constrained by whether other people are watching them at the same time, so I'm loving the change. Especially since I didn't like over half of the shows that 'everybody' watched.

                                          M 1 Reply Last reply
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