Here’s a bit of a personal list:
-
Undeniably the food scene in the US has changed for the better. Sometimes almost to an overcorrection (protein-slop and all). It’s great that so many different cuisines are easy to name and find even in more traditional rural parts of the country. Organic food isn’t seen as a weird hippie thing but an investment you make for your health.
-
A lot less smoking in the world. I say this as early gen Z but I never grew up in a time when smoking was seen as cool when I was a teenager. My uncle even quit and that was good to see.
-
It may not seem like it sometimes, but the one consolation prize of YouTube is I can theoretically be a content creator and never need to worry about the bottleneck that is getting chosen out of millions of people in Hollywood. I could theoretically just stay in the midwest and learn to livestream or make an anime discussion channel and produce content without needing a massive studio or working in Hollywood. Of course, it’s still almost impossible to get paid for it, but still.
-
More and more people are aware of cars not being the best way to get around which has sparked interest in walkable cities. Problem is, there’s too much demand and too little supply but seeing car culture be questioned is a great first start.
Gaybashing and misogyny in mainstream comedy is much reduced from the levels of the 80s thru 00s. Aside from it being reprehensible, it was also a deeply unfunny crutch.
Smoking is vastly less common, and indoor smoking is almost non-existent. Everything just smells better now. Even a lot of smokers like this change.
There is way less petty and violent crime these days. The gas station that I would avoid filling up at after dark in the 90s is now a place I casually walk to for a midnight snack run.
There’s less trash laying around. I think it was even way worse in the era before my time.
Also true of cities generally because of improved vehicle emissions standards. Sometimes a single 90s-model car drives by and stinks up the entire street for a whole minute to the point where it’s unpleasant to breathe. And every car used to be like that! I can’t believe I actually used to like the smell of exhaust as a kid. Ridiculous.
It is so great we are seeing so much less smoking. And to touch up on the crime thing, last month I visited my cousin in NYC and I felt totally safe. Even when I was out and about I saw a few stickers even saying “cars ruin cities”.
One hopium is in some municipalities. We will see an undoing of Robert Moses’ legacy. We got to a point where smoking is seen as something fogey. We can do it with car culture.
I quit smoking like 2 years ago now I think? I switched to vaping and I haven’t looked back. Then I quite vaping and switched to nic pouches. The thought of taking a drag off a cig just makes my lungs hurt. Dunno how I ever put up with it, but I drank heavily during most of my years of smoking anyway.
There should be more petty crime against rich people
be the change you want to see in the world
On safety though, I feel like the world was more exciting back in my parents time. Yes, a lot of bad things were happening seemingly all the time, but they seemed to have the best time.
I’ve heard this a lot and I wonder what is responsible for the change.
probably a combination of:
no one carrys cash on them anymore for a quick ‘stick up and run’, other steal-able possessions require more effort to turn into cash
majority of stores now have policies for a maximum amount of cash allowed inside a register and a time lock safe in the back
security cameras have become cheaper, higher resolution, and can keep multple months of recorded buffer on a hard disk array. they’ve become prevalent EVERYWHERE now to the point its damn impossible to exist anywhere in public without being under observation by someone’s private CCTV system
Atmospheric lead reduction