Katharine Whitehorn

Mon 11 Apr 2016 11.00 BST

Having a meal with my granddaughter and her friends recently, I was struck as usual by the extraordinary differences between their lives now compared to what mine had been like at their age, more than half a century ago.

Probably the most obvious difference was that because of their smart phones and computers, they could always be in touch with their friends and boyfriends – and maybe lovers. Nobody is assuming they would be virgins on their wedding day, as had been the assumption in my day – even if it was not actually going to be the case.

One of the girls from a comprehensive had gone on a school trip – not to Calais or Ireland but to the Galapagos; she had also later been round Europe by train, whereas I went round France hitchhiking as everybody did because everyone had done it during the war. While the radio had a more dominant place before TV sets appeared in every home, these girls have the internet as well, and I assume that it is the normal way to find anything.

Most youngsters think they are different from and better than their aged relatives – that’s just part of growing up – but we thought we were the new lucky ones. My postwar experience had been shaped by the war, so there were lots of things we hadn’t seen when we were growing up.

It is often assumed that it was the 60s that changed everything for the young and lucky, bringing in fewer rules, more fun with sex and less restriction on love – but a great deal of that had already started in the 50s. I daresay those who come of age in 2050 will think nothing interesting happened till 2040. Time actually does move on.

-Maxim Kostyukovich

Better now:

• Personal hygiene,
• Personal pocket computers (smartphones) with ability to instantly recall any information (little good it has done to us though), entertain to no end, help with many areas of your life, keeping your organised, …
• … and of course our phones can connect us anywhere, to anyone, on a whim for mere pennies.
• Much better cars (never ever getting lost with the SatNav; shiny outsides and plush insides; much, much cleaner — no stench at all; and safer; the dashboards feature virtually ultramodern technology with lots of information for the driver, never boring to drive), — instead of being stinky, clunky, dirty, unreliable, requiring constant maintenance and knowledge of mechanical labour, and only having a boring speedo, petrol gauge and water temperature gauge.
• In general we now have much more respect to environment and do much more recycling instead of multiplying the landfills. (Me, likes).
• Much better medicine (we really know much more about our health now, I still shudder when I recall a root canal extraction done to me with arsenicum anesthesia in 80’s…), and most people here in Britain do not smoke anymore, cigs are nearly banned,
• Computer-based weather forecasts, which are just a tad bit more accurate 🙂
• Life is generally much easier for lazy people (internet entertainment, instant books, movies, food deliveries, Amazon, lots of people at your service to do anything — but people pay for this by becoming bloated and even obese…).
• Disabled people are no longer confined to their homes — they are now just “differently abled”.
• LGBT people are no longer persecuted in First World countries.
• You can live almost without carrying any cash around, so aren’t afraid of robberies usually. You pay with small plastic cards or even the touch of your phone.
• The Earth is now really small due to cheap air travel. We can go anywhere on Earth for our holiday without being ultra rich. Europe is like our own backyard. We can experience things we previously usually only could read about (And get disappointed about them, too… Remember “See Paris and Die”? — well, there’s nothing to die for anymore.)
• More ways to become rich without toiling for decades.

Better then:

• Life with much less stressing factors and much higher overall personal security. My Mom and Dad could have one career and have jobs for life and retire comfortably at 55 and 60 correspondingly (I’ll probably have to wait until I’m 68 or even 70…).
• The pace of life was very steady and not too fast at all. So lots of time for: being outdoors, gatherings and parties, chatting and drinking, pursuing hobbies.
• There was more luxury in certain areas for those endowed with money. Private clubs. Airlines were decent places to be while flying: more legspace, more luxury, better food, more included. Cost more, too, though 🙂
• A small bit of effort could put you in front of such big percentage of people (you knew a host of Karate moves and weren’t afraid of any bullies…).
• Discipline in schools and at work — people knew where to be serious and where to let their hair down, as a result, services worked better.
• People worked locally, bought locally, lived locally a lot. Less pollution, more walking and public transport.
• World was a bit safer back then. Globalisation today makes the world cantankerous and prone to explosions. More information today often makes things worse than 50 years ago; people just keep worrying about a lot of things they can’t change at all and which are outside their Sphere of Influence, keeping them unduly stressed instead.
• Sun was brighter, songs better, girls prettier, life easier, sex more enjoyable 🙂 — but then this last one may or may not exactly be true — you be the judge :))