The best era to be born.

[jeremyp]

Ah, if it was just for a brief visit, that's different.  I'd love to have glimpsed the Victorian era; there was so much going on; and Romans; and Saxon England and Hastings.  I could go on.

Actually, I don't think those times would have been that interesting (well, maybe excepting the Victorian era). Yes there would be exciting (if that' the word) battles and regime change, but socially, economically and technologically very little changed over the course of a human lifetime.

In two hundred years time, people will be saying it would have been amazing to be around now because we have witnessed the dawn of the information age. Until I was about twelve I had never even seen a computer in real life. Right now, I have three within arms reach, the least powerful of which (my iPhone) is capable of emulating my family's first computer at higher speed without breaking a sweat.

What most of us have witnessed is like a child being born into an era when everybody was making tools by chipping flakes of flints (with perhaps a couple of boffins experimenting with the new fangled "metal") and living long enough to witness steel tools and children's toys made of metal..

[Bubbles]

Now!

[Sriram]

I was born in the early 50's and experienced the days in the 50's and 60's which were lot less crowded and lot less complicated. The times just after the World War and Indian independence were full of hope, peace, enthusiasm and forward looking.

Education was easy. Easily found a good job, got married and had a nice family life. There was an easy flow. No complications.

It was the best time to be born in (for my tastes). Lot of space to live in, traditional values, lots of friends and relatives, fairly simple life. No traffic, no pollution. Good movies, good music, lots of reading....loved it all!

It seems as though I have lived during the best of times. Good mix of traditional and liberal values and lots of modern conveniences too.

However, I am not sure if I would want to be born now and grow up in the coming decades. No. Its too crowded. Lack of jobs, too many cars and too much confusion. There also seem to be lots of issues with marriage, relationships, having children, fidelity, faith and so on. Not to mention climate change, terrorism. 

Globalization is good but has its stresses and strains. The younger generation doesn't seem to be as satisfied, enthusiastic, dreamy and hopeful as I was in my younger days.

No...the future is not for me. Too complicated.  Sometimes feel sorry for the younger generation.

[BashfulAnthony]

Completely agree with everything in this post.

Especially the Beatles.

I need to keep this answer - I shall never see the like again!!

[SweetPea]

Born in '49, I loved the era I grew-up in. Although I was poorly throughout my teens, I loved everything about the '60s.

Like you, Sriram I would not like to be growing-up in the present era. I'm already concerned about what the future holds for my grandchildren. One of my biggest concerns is technology. My 2 year old granddaughter can already find 'Peppa Pig' (a children's programme) on her parents' ipad. My 3 year old grandson has to show me how to find his programmes on his parents' ipad. Most young people have a (fancy) 'phone nowadays, and the amount of time they spend looking at them I actually find quite disturbing. Addiction comes to mind. My son was telling me that a child nowadays is expected to be able to use a computer when they start school at the age of four. Is the world of technology creating a world of zombies? This summer I noticed some children's parks and playing fields were empty. Where were the children.... what were they doing? In times gone-by these places would have been swarming with children in the summer holidays. It does concern me.

Apologies for a rather depressing post!   

[Brownie]

It does seem a bit pessimistic, sp.  Yes we do live in a digital age but kids still go out and explore, enjoy themselves in other ways.  A lot depends on their parents, school and, of course, their surroundings but that has always been the case.  Swings and roundabouts (if not literally).

[SusanDoris]

I think I'd rather be born in, say 2020, to be able to take advantage of the advances in medicine and technology that will be made during the following 80 years of this century. going into holograms of times in the past will probably be a doddle!
In the meantime, I'm very glad to be here now