People have a hard time effectively measuring real change. I don't know enough about the instances you cite to speak to them but I have at times tracked my own

People have a hard time effectively measuring real change. I don't know enough about the instances you cite to speak to them but I have at times tracked my own metrics for things that mattered to me. Gradual social change is often more persistent than dramatic and obvious change. It's more persistent in part because it goes largely unnoticed. Change happens all the time yet we tend to feel like whatever is currently the norm is "normal." People are mostly not talented at tracking real change or even noticing it. We tend to instead notice the crisis du jour.