Is life getting harder to live?

  • Thread starter Thread starter catherinesiena
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

catherinesiena

Guest
We have all heard it said that life is easier now than it was for our parents and grandparents. We have medical and technological advances that make our lives very plush, and supposedly easier to live. But why, then, are people more stressed than before, more tired than before, more depressed than before? Are these advances helping us, or killing us? Are they gifts from God, or a man made noose?
**
What do you think? Would we all be happier if life were simple and people were nieve like back when our parents were young? When there was no access to violent television and porn on the internet? When people worked to be clothed and eat, not to drive the best car or live in the best house?
**
What do you think?
 
catherinesiena said:
We have all heard it said that life is easier now than it was for our parents and grandparents. We have medical and technological advances that make our lives very plush, and supposedly easier to live. But why, then, are people more stressed than before, more tired than before, more depressed than before? Are these advances helping us, or killing us? Are they gifts from God, or a man made noose?

What do you think? Would we all be happier if life were simple and people were nieve like back when our parents were young? When there was no access to violent television and porn on the internet? When people worked to be clothed and eat, not to drive the best car or live in the best house?

What do you think?
Click to expand...

So long as one has a personal relationship with Jesus and remains true to the Church, I believe the rest is just hoops and fluff…different challenges for different times but all limited to this earthly realm to which I am not that attached…keeping my eye on the prize instead - for me and my family.

When I see movies that have to do with medeival times, boy am I glad to have been born now instead of then…go back to any period here in the U.S. or in other parts of the world and you’ll find everyone had their different crosses to bear.
 
You raise some excellent questions! :yup: Many technological advances have been invented, with the sole purpose of increasing productivity. The apparent result of this is a society so obsessed with productivity, that we push ourselves to the brink of breakdown.

However, we all have the ability to make choices in the matter. I made the decision several years ago to not stress myself out over productivity. For example, while most of my co-workers where eating lunch at their desks, in order to get more work done, I decided to take the time away from desk. Not only was I more relaxed in the afternoon, but it allowed me to lear my head, and often resulted an increased ability to solve problems in the afternoon. I found that it helped to step away from the desk.

I also decided years ago to obey the speed limit (weird, huh?). Not only is it a sin to speed, but I found that I ws significantly less stressed when I reached my destination. We just have to make the right choices to lead a well balanced life.
 
I would say that, in the USA, staying alive, actual survival is easier than it was 100yr ago due to technology, but living in the mental/spiritual sense seems to be as much a struggle as ever.

And when reading ancient texts, it seems we suffer from the same temptations, doubts, fears, greeds, need as people always have.

cheddar
 
Living is probably easier now, since Uncle Sam stands ready to help us out with programs such as Social Security and Medicare, food stamps, etc.

But I can’t help but feel sorry for kids nowadays. They seem overworked. They have a lot of overtime.

When I was in school, I played outside a lot after school, with my brothers and sisters and the neighborhood kids. There wasn’t any kids programming on TV. We had a lot of free time. We played games and read books for enjoyment.

No more. Kids have soccer practice, baseball practice, extracurricular activities, church groups, cheerleading, band practice, and a calendar to keep track of everything. They have lots of homework, and have to spend time doing internet research for various projects. There is never a free moment.

I think if they ever get a “real” job they will feel a sense of relief. Only eight hours a day? Wow!
 
Kids seem busier, but there are also so many more options for them. There are a lot of diversion for them to get into, but IF they don’t want to get into all that they can choose not to also.

What worries me more for their future, is the depletion of job opportunities. With so many of our jobs going overseas to out sourcing, and competition from countries that are so competitive in the job markets, I fear that there will be a huge shortage of jobs in the future.

Huge populations from China and India are overwhelming the technology and service fields. We may become a workforce of restaurant waiters and lawn service workers. I can see no real secure field of study that will be very promising for an extended career.

I have kids in college, and I have no real advice for them to choose a career or field of study. Years ago I would have advised accounting or computers or engineering, but all of these fields will be overloaded from foreign souces in a couple of years. India and China have 10 to 100 times our number in engineers and scientists in training or graduating.

How are people going to make a living domestically 5, 10 or 20 year from now ??? There are only so many burger flippers and lawn mower workers that are needed. Are we doomed to become a social welfare state ???
 
Outsourcing is a real concern. Even technical / medical /service jobs can be outsourced. For example, some hospitals have their CT and MRI scans transmitted via the Internet to India for reading and diagnosis by lower cost (but proficient) Indian physicians. They do not need to be physically in the U.S. to do work for us–even work needed on a “stat” basis.

And one of the fast food chains has experimented with centralizing it’s drive-through ordering. You drive through and speak your order into the phone, but the order taker could be in a different location–even another city.

The only guy I know who has never been without a job throughout his life is a salesman. He’s worked for many companies, always in sales, and never had a problem finding a job.
 
I have mixed emotions about outsourcing to other countries. Yes, we may be having some guy in India doing a job that used to be done by some guy here. The change was bad for the guy here, but good for the guy in India. Should we disciminate against the guy in India just because he was born and lives there? I don’t think Jesus would.

We are the richest nation in the history of the world. Can we afford to share that wealth with poorer nations by letting them do some of our work? Of course we can. And if it means that we might have to lower our living standards, in order for other countries to raise theirs, is that a bad thing? I hope not. We are Christians, and should be charitable to those who have less than us.
 
Essentially, the job market has largely been globalized. Ask any shopper if they are willing to pay more for a product to ensure that it can be produced in the United States.

And the obverse side of that is this: there wouldn’t be a lot of illegal immigration into the U.S. if those immigrants could not get jobs. They can get jobs because there is a demand for them by employers.
 
People are definitely more stressed today. I know I am. :banghead:

I don’t think it’s technology as much as the way we live. We are so much more solitary than we were “back in the day” (speaking as an old timer 20 year old)! We start kids off trying to succeed from the womb pretty much now so that they can be the BEST at whatever it is they’re going to do! We all need to be RICH, FAMOUS, and TALENTED and you don’t do that by wasting your time having friends or posting on a Catholic message board! So we shut ourselves up in our homes or at fancy schools trying to perfect our talent.

And because we’re all trying to break ahead of the pack, we’re incredibly suspicious of everyone else! We don’t even have our wealth yet and already people are out there trying to take it! If somebody you don’t already know well is nice to you, they’re just trying to get on your good side before they STRIKE! And then, who knows what evil thing they’ll do?

I don’t know about you guys, but where I live (America), if you say ‘hi’ to somebody on the street, they’ll look at you like you just called them a loser. I’m a hospitality minister at my church, and even those people don’t like me being nice to them. They’d rather come and pray with the people they know best so that nobody takes advantage of them while they’re praying!

I think the world would be a happier place if we all just did 3 things:

1.) TAKE A DEEP BREATH!!! Maybe 2 or 3 of them.
2.) Stop trying to be “the best”. If anything, do YOUR best, and that is plenty good!
3.)DON’T LOOK AT ME LIKE I’M A FREAK WHEN I SAY ‘HI’ TO YOU!!! :banghead:

I need to take a breath now. 😛
 
40.png
MariaGorettiGrl:
DON’T LOOK AT ME LIKE I’M A FREAK WHEN I SAY ‘HI’ TO YOU!!! :banghead:
Click to expand...
Hey, I love it when you say Hi! to everybody! Keep up the great work. You probably make some people’s day without even knowing it. Many are so unaccustomed to friendliness that they have forgotten–or never knew–how to respond.
 
I’m a greeter/usher at my parish too, and happily I don’t get quite the same response as Maria.

Most folks will reply with a smile or a hello. A few do seem overly rushed (besides the ones always coming in late).

A lot of folks are sometimes a bit surprised that someone bothered to say hello. Maybe those are the ones who think I’m trying to sell them something… which I am, just trying to spread a little bit of friendliness as co-parishioners…
 
40.png
JimG:
Living is probably easier now, since Uncle Sam stands ready to help us out with programs such as Social Security and Medicare, food stamps, etc.
Click to expand...
Are you kidding? I get Social Security Disability, try living on less than $900 a month. In my case I’m lucky cause my husband has a job, but what of the people who depend on social security alone? How do you pay for heat, housing, food and medications? Medicaid? ha ha Thats about $200 a month per person in my state.

No, living is much much harder these days. You’re lucky to find a job that pays well. Sometimes you have to work two jobs to afford the American Dream. Every week I pay more at the grocery store. I’m scared my husband won’t even be able to afford to buy gasoline soon to get to work. Sure, we got cable but its expensive and we can barely afford it. Sure we have nice homes…and interest only mortgages to afford them. No equity there. Cell phones? Do we really need kids to own cell phones? I never had one growing up and did just fine. My parents knew exactly where I was and when I was coming home.
I’m sorry but I could ramble on and on. But if you only look harder at what’s really going on in America, you’ll see the forest and not just the trees.
 
I’m not a materialistic person really, but I like the things technology gives us. I know I can live comfortably on the wages DH and I will have eventually (when I’m done school), but I do want that iPod, I do want new clothes that I haven’t worn since I was 16, I do want a bicycle and a violin, i do want a car (but with gas prices, I’ll stick with the bike…lol)…I see no harm in this. It when you want EVERYTHING that gets in the way of life. Measuring life by the things that you want only makes you more stressed because that leads to impatience (I-wanted-it-yesterday syndrome). This isn’t a new thing…I’m sure people were equally as stressed back then about different things. Like farmers probably stressed about a bad summer because they wouldn’t have enough to eat through the winter etc.
 
What time period are we comparing modern life to? I think the time of the black plague would have been a bear to live during. The Romans had some pretty, inventive methods of killing us Christians, so that time period is out. I have always loved Charles Dickens and used to think that I wanted to be an upper middleclass woman of that time period but recently I have read that orphans often starved to death on the London streets. Until the invention of antibotics, half of the children born died before reaching adulthood. So, any time before that is out.:hmmm:

I think that each age has had its hardships and advantages. I don’t necessarily think that life is harder to live. I do think that we whine more then our ancestors. We also seem to be less content with what we have. Is it harder to be spiritual in todays world? In some ways, yes. But without Catholic answers and EWTN, I might never have come to the Catholic faith. SO, there is an advantage in technology and our modern world.

Just out of curiosity, when do you all think the best era to live in would be? WHen would it be easiest to be a Christian?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top