Median incomes in the UK have doubled in that period, after accounting for inflation. Access to nutritious food has been revolutionised. The produce available i

Median incomes in the UK have doubled in that period, after accounting for inflation. Access to nutritious food has been revolutionised. The produce available in the shops is incomparably better. I didn't know what a mango, guava, persimon, plantain or dozens of other exotic produce looked like until the 90s but now they are commonplace and affordable. TV was a small, hot grainy screened little box. The way I kept in touch with the RPG gaming community was fanzines through the post. Almost nobody went on international holidays, now you can get Ryanair tickets for a few quid. Buying products remotely meant printed paper catalogues. I was very lucky to have access to a computer running CP/M and MBasic on my dad's computer back home, but even as a computer science student in the late 80s I had no computer. All my programming was done on minicomputer terminals or lab PCs you had to book in advance, so I only had access for a few hours a week. For women, oppressive gender bias and overt harassment and abuse was endemic in many spheres of life, I saw people get away with it. Being homosexual was still a career ender for many people. Open and accessible communications technology, and rising living standards has I think been crucial to connecting people and fighting these prejudices. I still remember the gleeful way US politicians and religious figures spoke about the impact AIDS was having, 'punishing' gay people. They thought it was funny. It fundamentally changed my attitudes to a lot of things, socially and politically. I'm still a fiscal conservative and believer in liberal capitalist economic freedoms; but I have no trust whatever of conservative social instincts anymore, that died 35 years ago. If you took an average modern teenager and had them live in the 80s for a while they'd be horrified.