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We’ve all heard it our parents, grandparents, or maybe even ourselves muttering the phrase:
“Back in the good old days…”
For some, it’s a wistful recollection of a simpler time. For others, a roll of the eyes at selective nostalgia. And yet, the deeper truth is this ,the “good old days” are never a fixed point. They are always shifting, always shaped by the turbulence of the present and the glow of hindsight.
Right now, we are living in what will one day be somebody’s “good old days”.
The Changing Tide of Values and Culture
It’s easy to look at the world today and feel like everything is unravelling—wars, division, economic instability, and a seemingly relentless erosion of traditional values. But is it truly worse? Or just different?
Mary Whitehouse, the infamous campaigner against television “corrupting” British values, fought tooth and nail to keep kissing off TV before 10 PM. Today, that idea seems almost quaint. Every generation redefines its moral panic, convinced that society is on a downward spiral.
Our grandparents worried about rock ‘n’ roll corrupting the youth.
Our parents worried about video games and heavy metal.
Today, we worry about social media, AI, and the metaverse shaping young minds. Energy drinks and vapes .
And yet, life marches on. The world didn’t end. Values shift. What one generation sees as reckless, the next sees as progress.
The Illusion of Stability
Perhaps what makes the present feel so chaotic is that we are inside it living it, absorbing the uncertainty in real time. The past, on the other hand, feels safe. We already know how the story ended.
There were no “good old days” free from struggle.
Every era had its wars, its crises, its moral battles.
The difference is that those struggles are now in the rearview mirror, softened by time, made nostalgic by memory.
Even the hardest times—World War II, economic recessions, social upheavals—are now spoken of with a kind of reverence. Not because they weren’t difficult, but because those who endured them found meaning in the survival.
We Are Becoming the Elders of Tomorrow
It’s strange to think about, but one day, we will be the ones telling younger generations about our good old days.
Maybe it’ll be about a time before AI dictated everything.
Maybe it’ll be when people still valued face-to-face connection.
Maybe it’ll be the wild, chaotic, unpredictable mess of the early 2020s.
One day, today’s turbulence will be remembered not for its fear, but for its resilience.
The world will change. It always does. But nostalgia teaches us that right now matters, because one day, someone will long for it.
So maybe instead of mourning the past, we should embrace the present—because this, right now, is history in the making.
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