Noteworthy Changes That Have Occurred in My Lifetime

With less than 360 days until I cross the half-century mark of my life, I have some perspectives on my experiences and surroundings and what they have been and are about.

Here is a brief, incomplete list of some of the changes that I have observed during my life. Any additional suggestions and insights are most welcome, and I look forward to discussions about my list and others' suggestions and opinions.


1. Collapse of Nuclear Family:


The modern American family is anything but nuclear as social forces, economic realities, and vast political manueverings has changed much since I was born and a youth. Science has also contributed to this change in a number of ways. The societal effects and psychological consequences individually and in families and communities are most certainly incalculable.


2. Loss of American Industrial Manufacturing Might and Employment:


The massive shift in the American Economy from one of self made self sufficiency and competitiveness to one overwhelmingly dominated by imports, oligopolies in most sectors, and service sector and sales jobs is incredible and largely unfortunate. The consequences of this radical distortion and mutation are yet to be fully realized and payment will be harsh and overwhelming for Americans in the not so distant future.


3. Vast Growth of Technology, particularly in Communications and Medical Care:


Most of the changes that have occured have been for the better, but one could argue with certainty that for what we have gained, there has been a significant loss in what we were as people and how we interacted and communicated with others. There has been a noticeable decline and loss in civility, courtesy, and neighborliness in everyway for most everyone. I do not believe we talk with others as easily and fully as we once did just a few years back. I would also suggest that this trend has actually led to greater inefficiency and waste.


4. Vast Divergence of Culture, with Large Numbers of Subcultures -- Loss of American Cultural Hegemony and Homogeneity:


There are so many of us now going in so many different directions and being influenced and controlled by so many divergent entities. This is quite the contrast to the America of my youth where we all largely went about our lives with much in common. Changes in communication choices and technology are partly to blame for this, along with major increases in immigration, and the decline and collapse of influential and leading institutions that set the agenda and led by example for all the citizenry.


5. Birth of Environmentalism and Growth of it as a Consciousness and Mindset:


There absolutely was no kind of environmentalism when I was a lad. Wastefulness, inefficiency, and pollution of all types and kinds were the norm then. In the last 35 years or so this mindset has been reversed, but we remain a long ways away from the ideal needed to make this world the place it should be for all its peoples, wildlife, and ecosystems.


6. Change in Transportations Choices:

We have gone from trains, one-car families, and walking out of necessity to a society dominated by multi-automobile individuals and families, airplanes, and a rebirth in urban areas with growing mass transit options due to an epic change in fuel prices. And technology has made everything faster, safer, and with more gadgets. Simplicity is gone.


7. The Widespread Growth of Convenience and Ease of Lifestyle Choices:


We ate all our meals at home prepared from raw materials. Most work required physical exertion when cleaning and maintaining our homes and businesses. Now it is a prepackaged pre-prepared world with widespread applications of unpronounceable chemicals in foods and everything that makes up our lifestyle;, and use of time has become more efficient, yet we have less time thanever to do what all what we want. In gaining convenience, we have lost simplicity.


8. Polarization and Hostility in Politics:


It is always existed to an extent, but what we have now in the public sector and the airwaves is the worst it has ever been as hardened positions have been deeply staked out; words and language are coarse, crude, and harsh; and a largely negative media culture only perpetuates and exacerbates these alarming developments. Compromise and conciliation are all but gone in our society, particularly in the political realm, in recent years.


9. Explosion of Sports and Recreation in Everyday Life:


The growth, power, and influences that these industries have on our society on individual, community, and societal levels has been astronomical and in some ways been catastrophic and deeply harmful to many; yet it can also be argued that much of the change has been beneficial and healthful for many. Professional sports now dominates the consciousness of most Americans on a deep daily basis at the expense of much more vital subjects.


10. Changes in Everyday Culture -- Smoking, Drinking, Sex, Drugs, Corruption, Greed, Arrogance, Cheating, Dishonesty, Crime, and Immorality:


All these basic human behaviors have seen enormous growth during my lifetime in all types and kinds of people including those who would never have been considered for this in the not so distant past with the exception of one of the items listed above: smoking. There has been an epic decline in smoking and tolerance of the habit during my lifetime.

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