Everything used to be better

By Klaus Döring

Why does it often feel like everything was better in the past?

We tend to dwell on the positive experiences from our past, retelling them more often, which reinforces those good memories. Additionally, we remember the great songs, cars, or football players from the “old days” and conveniently forget the less favorable ones.

When people refer to the “good old days,” they often imagine a time when life seemed better than it is now. They recall a time when, for example, it was safe to leave doors unlocked at night.

This phenomenon is called rosy retrospection, a cognitive bias where we recall the past more fondly than the present. It runs parallel with nostalgia, though nostalgia doesn’t always imply a biased recollection.

People frequently say that things were better in the past, especially when they were younger. This aligns with what I call the “Pizza Pie Theory of Life.” For instance, at 10 years old, you might remember only seven years of your life. If you imagine your life as a pizza divided into seven slices, each slice is substantial, something you savor and that fills you up.

When you’re 20, you can divide the pie into 17 slices (one for each year of your remembered life) and still have a decent slice to enjoy. But as you age, you don’t need to discount the first few years. At 40, with 40 slices, and at 50, with 50 smaller slices, the pieces become tiny.

Now, at 71, my pie is cut into 71 pieces, each barely providing a taste. There’s less to savor, and each slice (year) passes so quickly that it’s hard to remember any one day distinctly. This is why people tend to remember their youth more vividly—it was delicious and seemed to last longer. It also explains why time feels like it moves faster as we age.

I grew up in an era with little to no technology. Life seemed perfect then.

Our social network consisted of neighborhood friends and schoolmates. We weren’t narcissistic enough to post everything we did online—there was no Internet yet.

We played sports rather than video games, which I believe was the most important thing. Life was simpler, yes, but in many ways, it was better.

However, I’m not naïve enough to dismiss the countless opportunities technology has provided us. I’m always amazed that I can ask my smartphone anything from recorded history and get an answer instantly—so cool! The advancements in science and medicine due to technology are astounding. In this regard, technology has had a tremendous impact. Unfortunately, the Internet has evolved more into a social media platform than an educational one.

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