i am middle aged man, i experienced life since before even computer and smartphone is a thing like today.
back then, i feel that life is much easier, what i mean easier is more simple life, less competition, less stress, fresh environment, and more happiness despite lack of technology.
but right now, everything is just too complicated despite of power of tech, internet, smartphone, and AI helps, i feel that life is much harder right now, what i mean is like competition is everywhere, stressful everyday, crowded city, and i easily depressed these days.
is it just me or everyone else can relate to what happens right now?
Bills went up, pay did not keep up.
This is true, but It’s not just that. There is friction built into everything, designed to squeeze as much as possible out of us.
Yeah companies used to pretend to please customers and now they don’t even pretend.
The staff are minimum wage and don’t care because it’s a big corporation so you can’t get good service.
The price is high because the shareholders must be kept happy so you pay over the OSA Odds.
Corners were cut in several places making the product to please the shareholders too and the workers manufacturing got minimum wage in the factory wherever it was located and have zero interest in making good products as a result.
Basically capitalism ate itself
here i am still unable to buy a house or car
Every time your life gets harder, some rich persons life gets easier. Welcome to capitalism.
Yes it is, we are being squeezed! We have less ways out. I’m far better than I ever was, actually have better health, and fitness. Yet, it is hopeless.
i am suprised you still motivated enough to keep health and fitness in check despite of how bad things going on right now
I mostly don’t, my job forced me to be fit and lean. I at most hydrate, shower, and shave. I eat whatever garbage I can, and sleep in a dump.
My father revealed a secret. If he feels it is funny to just have secret income while letting me handle the debt, it’s going to be less funny when I give my 2 weeks in October. Maybe I will survive, or maybe kill myself. Will see.
But I can’t be sane with this kind of job, need to self-correct.
so its forced, i hope all the best for you
OP, it’s also going to sound like a cliche, but touch grass. The cancer-like tech companies want to replace your sense of community so that they have more power over you. F them, join a local group, and find yourself feeling more powerful when you have a real community behind you.
see also: misery loves company
Yep! Something about staring into the void, yada yada yada
I think you are slow on the uptake. It has been this way for a while.
It’s really hard to tell what was just younger kids not being exposed to the world vs. things actually getting worse. I was a kid during '08, and things didn’t really change for me at home cuz my family was always very frugal, especially my dad.
Climate change has empirically gotten worse tho. Inflation, enshitification, food quality, all of it SEEMS worse but it’s hard to quantify it you know?
nah lil bro. The enshittification is real and huge. The quality of goods, particularly what used to be reputable brands, is 100% in the shitter. I have started only buying fabric with natural fibers in them because polyester sucks. Turns out that’s a lot harder than it used to be. I’ve been a regular grocery shopper for the entirety of this century. Things were pretty much the same price for years and years. There was a bump in 08 to punish us for electing a half-black guy and demanding reasonable pay, but then it stabilized until around 2018. Shit has increased in price by multiples while quantity and quality have plummeted.
We’re fucked bro. Get whatever enjoyment out of this life while you can. There are some unprecedented hard times coming. We’re going to pay for the recklessness and irresponsibility of the boomers. Buy hey, they got theirs, didn’t they?
This isn’t the boomers fault, what did they do? There is no reason we can’t get good pay and cheap groceries now, aside from capitalists knowing they don’t need to anymore.
- horded wealth
- refused to retire or mentor
- outsourced manufacturing to Asia for a quick buck
- aggressively supported anti-labor policies.
- deregulated the environment, media, antitrust - all the things that kept water and air clean, houses affordable, and an empowered middle class possible.
- Allowed the uber-corrupt Machiavellian shitbird pals of Nixon to run and influence the country for decades.
- killed pensions
- Supported Israel, turning a blind eye to their blackmail, false-flag attacks, and war crimes.
- fostered evangelical dumbassery, satanic panic, etc.
I mean, Boomer greed and selfishness has given us the burning heap we have now. Good news is it’s too late. They benefitted from the establishment of the middle class and then shot it in the face.
All the boomers in government are the problem.
Fucking yanks have an 80yr old for fucks sake. Can’t be any more out of touch then being older then most of your country.
Australia is no better really anyone in politics gets there sits there gets old and out of touch.
Their needs to be a hard limit on politicians so they don’t run the country based on how it was as they grew up 65 years ago. That’s an entirely different world
No politician, older or younger can make change without permission from the ruling class. In the case of capitalist countries that is the capitalist class. A younger politician won’t change the fact that the capitalist class forces them to do there bidding for them.
So, I hear you, but i saw this meme of newspaper clippings going back to like 1900 where business owners were quoted “people don’t want to work anymore”. We think it’s a new idea but its like 100+ years old.
Maybe companies have always looked for ways to cut corners and screw customers, we just focus on our last 20 years. And it’s not that before we got older they were all reputable and its only recently they’ve gone this greedy path. Its just cuz we didn’t know about it as kids, especially cuz the interent wasn’t huge yet.
I’m not trying to say things aren’t getting worse. They definitely are. But what if we’ve had this long, general decline of everything that’s always been happening and we didn’t see it or feel it cuz we were just kids.
The more you look into things, the more you find out that entire sectors of the economy are held by a handful of multinational conglomerates. Say there are 5 widgets on the shelf, all at different prices making different claims. then you find out that 3 of the 5 are all made in the same factory and put in different boxes, with the only difference being the brand name. The other 2 are both made in a different factory. Of the 3 from the same factory, one company has bought out the original two competitors and they now just use the old competitors’ branding. A different company owns the other two brands and then you find out that both of those companies are actually owned by a faceless multinational conglomerate. It is the illusion of choice. There is no actual competition. Koch, Proctor and Gamble, Nestle, Stellantis - all things you should investigate. All companies selling you garbage, shitting up the Earth, and convincing you that you still have some agency and aren’t just a critter to be milked for your labor.
Don’t worry, it gets worse.
I think about it this way.
In 1995 I could leave the house with nothing in my pocket except $10.00 and have a great day. Ride the bus with cash, get food with cash, buy stuff with cash. If I needed a ride there were free phones to car services in most stores.
Today, if I go out the door I need cash, a credit card, and a phone.
Thirty-something Norwegian here. I am born into a rich, relatively functioning social democracy with a good welfare state. Buying my own home was a real struggle, even with a good salary. Many of my peers will never own, my younger friends will struggle to ever own, or never.
Unfortunately the welfare state is eroding, prices for everything is increasing heavily, and the private sector is a growing leech on the state.
the real problem is capitalism
May your welfare state never erode enough to remove your Healthcare and turn it into exclusively private!
There’s a whole lot of awful going on.
My dad used to rant about how government should be run like a business, no, no dad, it really, really should not. Businesses do not care about people, businesses don’t want anything but money, your money, and they will twist, turn, manipulate, lobby, and flat out steal or harm people to get it.
So the next time you call 311, the non emergency police line, or God forbid 911 remember, your call is very important to us, a representative will be with you shortly. If you’d like to take a brief survey after the call just stay on the line. If you’d like to talk to our chat bot Sally just say, hey Sally!
My dad used to rant about how government should be run like a business,
Anyone who sincerely believes that is too fucking ignorant and or stupid to be taken seriously. They’re a hazard to themselves and their polity.
He’s dead so you can relax
My dad used to rant about how government should be run like a business, no, no dad,
The last thing you hear: Sorry but your citizen contract has been revoked in order to meet our 3rd quarter profit target. You have been terminated!
“It was in the user agreement.”
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People who say what you say have fundamental misunderstandings about how governments work and about how private companies (“businesses”) work.
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I have had a few corporate jobs. Businesses are NOT efficient.
guess your dad regrets his rant now, everything is just business now.
He didn’t live to see any of this bullshit. He died bitching about her emails.
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.
im putting groceries on credit. i had a great credit score till this year, i havent even tried making payments on certain things including ER bills. only a matter of time before im bankrupt, and i am also disabled. i have given up on having a future and I’m only 32.
Mid twenties here, same situation. My bank closed my accounts lol
yeah it’s intentional.
oligarchs are hoarding the resources and getting people to distract themselves by pointing at each other while they stockpile their bunkers.
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.
No, you are not alone. I have the same feeling.
