Comparing 2018 and 1918...Are we happier?

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JamalChristophr

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Do you think it is possible to say that we are actually better off in 2018 compared to 1918?

Do we really live happier lives than they did? Or vice versa?

Or basically the same essentially? Do you have a wish at all to live your life one century ago or are you decidedly happy to be living and grown up in the time period you are in now?

I wonder sometimes, too, if we might be better off spiritually 100 years ago before mass media, the information age, and communication came along.
 
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1918…the year of the massive influenza epidemic that killed about 675,000 Americans and I forget how many millions worldwide. They didn’t even know what flu was, that it was a virus, how it was spread, or how to stop it.

No vaccines, no modern meds, no antibiotics.

Child labor.

Most children didn’t even live to see the age of 2 and the average age expectancy was 36 for women. Childbirth killed about 640 women per 100,000 births (today it’s about 15). People still routinely died of smallpox, TB, and cholera.

Nope. I’ll take 2018 all day. It’d be nice to visit (because I love the clothes), but I’ll stay here.

I think we romanticize the era and wish our lives were simpler - no mass media, no email, no cell phones.

Unless you were incredibly wealthy, you had a hard life.

My maternal grandfather was born in 1907, paternal was born in 1904, and my paternal grandmother was born in 1906. (Maternal grandma was born in 1917.) I envy the innocence they had, but not the life itself.
 
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I don’t know if 1918 is a great example when the UK and other European countries had just been devastated by world war 1 and the flu pandemic.

In general I think it’s fair to say most eras had their good and bad points. I’m also cynical about the value of wishing back the norms of a past era.
 
It was even worse in the UK - you had the Lost Generation from the Great War.
 
Was it really 36?

I remember it being low, but that is WOW. Pretty crazy.

Yes, but think of it Pup…Heaven!! (all the sooner) 😛

(It sounds like you know your history pretty well.)
 
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I have a relative who said that WW1 was like a loss of innocence that us Brits still haven’t really recovered from.
 
Yep. 42 for men.

I’m a few weeks away from 45. I’ve already lived longer - way longer - than I was supposed to have lived back then if I’d been born in 1873.
 
I’ve heard that from my in-laws.

You had a whole segment of the population basically disappear.
 
Yep, you may need to be decommissioned. We will still love you the same, though.
 
I’m a big Edwardian era buff. Huge. Imagine how happy I was when I met my husband and he told me he was from Southampton, England.

(The Titanic launched from there.)

Keep in mind in 1918 we’re still 10 years away from antibiotic discovery.
 
Speaking as both a woman and someone who likes movies with sound, there’s no way I would trade 2018 for 1918.
 
TheAmazingGrace said:
Speaking as both a woman and someone who likes movies with sound, there’s no way I would trade 2018 for 1918.
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Excellent points.

We’re still not able to vote yet. 🙂

And as for movies, I’m a fan of color and realistic makeup as well.
 
I personally would like to go back to Siena, Italy, and be born in 1347 and hang out with Catherine. She had a lot of disciples, so to speak. Groupies.

These were they days of the Black Plague, though. So if anyone else wants to go, you’ve been warned.
 
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Yeh, no. Just, no. For all the reasons Pup listed plus race riots (read: slaughter of minorities) and lynching and rise of the klan…
 
JamalChristophr said:
You all are such sticks in the mud. Really!!
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I’d give you a like but I"m out of them.

Oh my poor Birdman. I’m sorry.

The rest of the era was great. No income tax, no Depression, high patriotism.

Did I mention no income tax?
 
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Yup - I know full well kids like me didn’t survive in 1918. I battled antibiotic resistance for years. Kid like me in 1918 was sickly and finally died in pain after a few years. The problem was eventually mostly fixed surgically, and then with the addition of some very basic treatments.

Even if I had survived, I’d never have had access to the training I have now. Women generally didn’t study things like philosophy. There weren’t a lot of options.

I’m an adult convert as well. I know I could do that safely. As a Catholic, I’m not some sort of dirty papist. And my parents’ disapproval was difficult, but I knew I could support myself and find friends without their help - I didn’t need to fear losing my livelihood for converting.
 
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