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I feel like a lot of those nostalgic posts are made by people who were simply happier when they were younger. And they conflate this general decline in happines

by jcfrei 5y ago

I feel like a lot of those nostalgic posts are made by people who were simply happier when they were younger. And they conflate this general decline in happiness with a perceived decline in quality (of anything, be it the internet, television, music, etc). But in most cases it's just that things change and they no longer fit their desired qualities - they haven't become worse per se. For a lot of people who are young today the internet the way it's right now (with TikToks, Instagram, Twitter discussions, rants and memes) will be the one, true internet. And in 10-20 years they will say it has changed and how they miss it. This is a cycle as old as time.

npteljes 5y ago
That's absolutely the case. It's also them encountering the first X, and then the millionth X. And a bunch of other biases also come into play, like survivorship bias. The good old refrigerator that's chugging along just fine for the twentieth year. It's not like today's shitty refrigerators can ever last this long. What's unseen though is the huge pile of discarded refrigerators on the landfill.
- failwhaleshark 5y ago
  The fridge I grew-up with lasted 30 years. It does seem like an industry-wide conspiracy to make "durable" consumer goods last only as long as their warranties. And also, to make money on replacement parts and complete replacements. The "Just go buy another one"-mentality makes me cringe.
  - zeroonetwothree 5y ago
    It seems like consumers prefer fancy features than durability
    - failwhaleshark 5y ago
      Ugh, not lowest TCO. D: And those mostly pointless features are so fleeting. Just do them in software and modular assemblies. Also, right-to-repair and design for maintainability.
failwhaleshark 5y ago
There doesn't need to be mutual exclusion. Views change with a person's life-stage priorities. And, it's easy to lionize the terrible when infant minds see only the best in everything. Things in certain places, like America, are getting demonstrably shittier over time: the USPS used to work, there weren't mass shootings nearly every day, parks had water fountains, people debated, corporations didn't takeover public spaces as much, real wages were higher, the US made things, there weren't as many prisoners, healthcare costs were lower, and there weren't millions of visibly-homeless people from an unjust economic system.
Aeolun 5y ago
I guess I can see how a lot of the stuff on the internet now makes me really happy too. It’s just that it came with the loss of a lot of other things.

by jcfrei 5y ago

npteljes 5y ago

That's absolutely the case. It's also them encountering the first X, and then the millionth X. And a bunch of other biases also come into play, like survivorship bias. The good old refrigerator that's chugging along just fine for the twentieth year. It's not like today's shitty refrigerators can ever last this long. What's unseen though is the huge pile of discarded refrigerators on the landfill.

failwhaleshark 5y ago
The fridge I grew-up with lasted 30 years. It does seem like an industry-wide conspiracy to make "durable" consumer goods last only as long as their warranties. And also, to make money on replacement parts and complete replacements. The "Just go buy another one"-mentality makes me cringe.
- zeroonetwothree 5y ago
  It seems like consumers prefer fancy features than durability
  - failwhaleshark 5y ago
    Ugh, not lowest TCO. D: And those mostly pointless features are so fleeting. Just do them in software and modular assemblies. Also, right-to-repair and design for maintainability.

failwhaleshark 5y ago

There doesn't need to be mutual exclusion. Views change with a person's life-stage priorities. And, it's easy to lionize the terrible when infant minds see only the best in everything. Things in certain places, like America, are getting demonstrably shittier over time: the USPS used to work, there weren't mass shootings nearly every day, parks had water fountains, people debated, corporations didn't takeover public spaces as much, real wages were higher, the US made things, there weren't as many prisoners, healthcare costs were lower, and there weren't millions of visibly-homeless people from an unjust economic system.

Aeolun 5y ago

I guess I can see how a lot of the stuff on the internet now makes me really happy too. It’s just that it came with the loss of a lot of other things.