Everyday life improvements since the 90s (2022)(gwern.net)
gwern.net
Everyday life improvements since the 90s (2022)
https://gwern.net/improvement
103 comments
[deleted]
> I'm not entirely sure that being on the "elecronic leash" 24/7 has made life better.
My phone is always on silent and I have almost zero notifications allowed. It has built in CallerID so I know exactly who is calling. Unless it's from a very small list of people it goes to voicemail and maybe I return the call later. Also many things that used to be calls are now a couple texts back and forth, again something I can ignore and deal with later.
I like being available but I have no need to be constantly interrupted by my phone. I much prefer my smartphone to landlines because the features are so much more useful to me.
My phone is always on silent and I have almost zero notifications allowed. It has built in CallerID so I know exactly who is calling. Unless it's from a very small list of people it goes to voicemail and maybe I return the call later. Also many things that used to be calls are now a couple texts back and forth, again something I can ignore and deal with later.
I like being available but I have no need to be constantly interrupted by my phone. I much prefer my smartphone to landlines because the features are so much more useful to me.
I've just embraced using a separate phone. On with all the notifications when I'm on; off (and not with me, usually) when I'm not. I hated this at first; won't do it any other way now.
Fact: In the 1990s a reasonable capable computer was a significant expense on the order of $1K, and likely to be obsolete within 5 years.
Most people's main "computer" these days is a smart phone with a similar price tag and a much shorter shelf live.
Most people's main "computer" these days is a smart phone with a similar price tag and a much shorter shelf live.
Sure.
But the dollars were ~twice as big ~30 years ago. A $1k pocket supercomputer today costs roughly half of what a $1k desktop PC did in 1995.
But the dollars were ~twice as big ~30 years ago. A $1k pocket supercomputer today costs roughly half of what a $1k desktop PC did in 1995.
My phone is more than five years old and still works fine. Also it cost like $600 not $1k and adjusting for inflation it’s even cheaper
IDK, $1000 is brand-new-flagship-phone territory (albeit for the bottom storage tier). I'd wager most people aren't buying flagship models brand new.
Mine cost CAD$140 on special at Costco. It'll be perfectly fine for my needs for 3+ years.
$1k 1990 dollars is about $2500; approximately no smartphones are that expensive.
Even $1k smartphones would be a small part of the market; you're basically talking about things like the iPhone Pro, which is not the mainstream option.
Even $1k smartphones would be a small part of the market; you're basically talking about things like the iPhone Pro, which is not the mainstream option.
1k was a cheap / barebones computer. (Celeron, or AMD K4 chip, with not much memory, and maybe a floppy disk and slow CD reader). A good one (in the 90s at least) was at least 1.5k-2k, which is 2.8-4k now.
Internet Archive has a bunch of scanned magazines from the period - such as https://archive.org/details/computer-shopper-june-1996-image... and as you say, $1000 was on the low end.
It's a real blast from the past. I'd forgotten you used to be able to pay $7000 for a laptop, and $100 for a 10-megabit ethernet card.
It's a real blast from the past. I'd forgotten you used to be able to pay $7000 for a laptop, and $100 for a 10-megabit ethernet card.
Moores law was in full effect in those times (as opposed to the last 10 years) and computers were rapidly advancing.
> likely to be obsolete within 5 years
Crazy how it's perfectly ok to use a computer from 2015 today. But it wasn't ok to use a computer from 1995 in 2005...
Crazy how it's perfectly ok to use a computer from 2015 today. But it wasn't ok to use a computer from 1995 in 2005...
True. The other day I was wondering whether I should buy a new PC, then realized I was only thinking that way out of old habit. It's 5+ years old, and that used to be when a PC would really start struggling to keep up with the software. Now there's kinda no point. If I did build a new one, it wouldn't be significantly more powerful than my current one, so I'd really just be trading older parts for newer ones from fear of parts wearing out.
Spot on.
Reading through IBM computer brochures and fooling around with the desktops and laptops in our local Costco were favorite past-times of mine.
Cheap desktops existed but were universally terri-bad. Low spec Celeron processors with anemic memory and disk space. They _just barely_ ran Windows and ground to a halt after most users got done installing their IE toolbars and some form of Office. (Remember when Office Professional was EXPENSIVE?!)
Cheap laptops didn't exist before netbooks. Like, they just _weren't_ things.
You can get an M4 MacBook Air these days for $999. A laptop that can do just about anything, including and up to CAD and photoshop work, for at least $1000 (today's prices, NOT today's real prices) less than a middling Thinkpad 600 that had maybe three hours of battery life and was good enough for word docs but not much else.
Reading through IBM computer brochures and fooling around with the desktops and laptops in our local Costco were favorite past-times of mine.
Cheap desktops existed but were universally terri-bad. Low spec Celeron processors with anemic memory and disk space. They _just barely_ ran Windows and ground to a halt after most users got done installing their IE toolbars and some form of Office. (Remember when Office Professional was EXPENSIVE?!)
Cheap laptops didn't exist before netbooks. Like, they just _weren't_ things.
You can get an M4 MacBook Air these days for $999. A laptop that can do just about anything, including and up to CAD and photoshop work, for at least $1000 (today's prices, NOT today's real prices) less than a middling Thinkpad 600 that had maybe three hours of battery life and was good enough for word docs but not much else.
All my recently acquired computers are dumpsters and were built over a decade ago.
Some of the improvements on the list are non-issues best described as cultural differences. Consider:
…not making a dozen phone calls playing Phone Tag, to set up something as simple as a play date
Well this is why hardly anyone was bothering with setting up play dates back in the day† and were letting kids roam. Different culture facilitated by poor connectivity and scarcity of content.
† The title says the 90s but many references in the text go back to 1980s.
…not making a dozen phone calls playing Phone Tag, to set up something as simple as a play date
Well this is why hardly anyone was bothering with setting up play dates back in the day† and were letting kids roam. Different culture facilitated by poor connectivity and scarcity of content.
† The title says the 90s but many references in the text go back to 1980s.
In the 1970s when I was a kid, we were expected to play outside until the street lights came on, with some general bounds of how far we could go on our bikes.
Adults didn't have to manage our time and friendships.
Adults didn't have to manage our time and friendships.
People were definitely having play dates in the 90s…
I guess I misremembered all those playdates I had as a kid in the 90s, where the other kids didn't live close enough to simply walk or bike to (which, as a '90s kid, I was still able to do, although American parents apparently slammed the window firmly shut on that starting in the '00s), and we had to rope the adults in for car transport. After all, varjag knows better than I do, and knows they were actually in the 1980s.
Additionally, people flake out now more than ever. Back in the 80s, if you managed to win the game of Phone Tag and arrange for your 5 friends to get together at the mall at 2:00PM on Saturday, you could pretty much rest assured they would all make it. Just getting it scheduled was a massive investment in effort and time.
Now, someone will plan a birthday party or something, the kid will invite 15 other kids from school, and it's not unheard of that only one or even zero people actually come. You also see adults doing this. Totally flaking out and not showing up, with not even a call or text in explanation! Culturally that would have been an outrage back in 1980.
Now, someone will plan a birthday party or something, the kid will invite 15 other kids from school, and it's not unheard of that only one or even zero people actually come. You also see adults doing this. Totally flaking out and not showing up, with not even a call or text in explanation! Culturally that would have been an outrage back in 1980.
That wasn’t my experience, people wouldn’t show up sometimes and then you’d not know what to do
Yes and no. I think you're right about the reason being a bit off, but let's say to coordinate some birthday party or "let's take the kids to the zoo or whatever" it was still absolutely true, just not a daily occurrence.
Some more not mentioned in the article:
Filtered milk. Tastes the same as ordinary homogenized milk but double (or better) the shelf life. Very convenient if you only use small quantities at a time, e.g. for adding to tea.
Microfiber cloths. Much better cleaning than traditional cloths. In many cases all you need is water, or use them dry for dusting. Reusable too.
SSDs. In my opinion, the biggest computer upgrade in my lifetime. Access latency goes from obvious to imperceptible. A great many interactive tasks involve waiting for IO, and this is far more pleasant when you don't feel the delay.
Cheap but transparent audio DACs/amplifiers. This is essentially a solved problem at headphone power levels. Most modern designs have zero perceptible noise or distortion.
Filtered milk. Tastes the same as ordinary homogenized milk but double (or better) the shelf life. Very convenient if you only use small quantities at a time, e.g. for adding to tea.
Microfiber cloths. Much better cleaning than traditional cloths. In many cases all you need is water, or use them dry for dusting. Reusable too.
SSDs. In my opinion, the biggest computer upgrade in my lifetime. Access latency goes from obvious to imperceptible. A great many interactive tasks involve waiting for IO, and this is far more pleasant when you don't feel the delay.
Cheap but transparent audio DACs/amplifiers. This is essentially a solved problem at headphone power levels. Most modern designs have zero perceptible noise or distortion.
> SSDs. In my opinion, the biggest computer upgrade in my lifetime
Good one. I more-or-less stopped caring about disk latency once I gotnmy first SSD - it was truly a marvel.
Good one. I more-or-less stopped caring about disk latency once I gotnmy first SSD - it was truly a marvel.
Microfiber cloths are, on the other hand, a major source of microplastic pollution. They are basically just ready-to-snap-off microplastic particles. They shed a substantial % each washing cycle. Something like 80 % of all microplastic pollution sampled in ocean water is from microfibers.
I'm confident that microfiber cloths are responsible for 0% (rounded to the nearest whole percentage) of oceanic microplastics. But it's possible that all clothing and fabrics combined are responsible for a significant fraction of microplastic pollution. If this is the case, then the government should do its duty in regulating externalities and mandate exhaust filters in washing machines.
Do you have a source on that? I'd like to understand the definition of "micofibre" in this context to see of I need to change my purchasing habits.
IDK about the claim, but here is a good dive into what it is and how it works. https://backreaction.blogspot.com/2013/05/what-is-microfiber...
Microfibre materials (fabrics, etc) are by definition microplastics. They shed like crazy, too.
The 85 % figure is from Environ. Sci. Technol. 2011, 45, 21, 9175–9179 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es201811s
The 200-500 kiloton/year is from https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.3c05955
For a deeper dive you can peruse the works that cite these articles, there's lots of research into microplastic population dynamics. Unfortunately most reach similar conclusions.
The 200-500 kiloton/year is from https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.3c05955
For a deeper dive you can peruse the works that cite these articles, there's lots of research into microplastic population dynamics. Unfortunately most reach similar conclusions.
> The 85 % figure is from Environ. Sci. Technol. 2011, 45, 21, 9175–9179 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es201811s
The abstract said a large proportion of microplastic fibers found in the marine environment may be derived from sewage as a consequence of washing of clothes. Not is derived. And not microfiber solely.
The abstract said a large proportion of microplastic fibers found in the marine environment may be derived from sewage as a consequence of washing of clothes. Not is derived. And not microfiber solely.
Adding:
Laparoscopy, electric bikes, water bottle tech (steel vs soft plastic), audio & video editing/ CGI /etc (not sure what to call this one)
Laparoscopy, electric bikes, water bottle tech (steel vs soft plastic), audio & video editing/ CGI /etc (not sure what to call this one)
> Filtered milk. Tastes the same as ordinary homogenized milk but double (or better) the shelf life.
I had to look this one up. I don't think I've ever seen filtered milk in the US, but it looks like the ones sold here are specialty high protein/low lactose milks which I can't imagine tastes the same.
They also appear to expire 9-14 days after opening which doesn't seem all that different from other milk with practice?
I had to look this one up. I don't think I've ever seen filtered milk in the US, but it looks like the ones sold here are specialty high protein/low lactose milks which I can't imagine tastes the same.
They also appear to expire 9-14 days after opening which doesn't seem all that different from other milk with practice?
All the UK supermarkets sell it. Price is about 50% higher, so it's not worth buying if you get through a lot of milk, but I doubt I'm the only one to use milk mostly as a flavoring for tea.
I wouldn't want to drink ordinary milk after it's been open for 14 days.
I wouldn't want to drink ordinary milk after it's been open for 14 days.
lactose-free milk does taste different, but i didn't notice a difference between regular lactose-free and protein-fortified lactose-free (aside that it comes in cartons just slightly visually smaller that adds up to a 12oz difference).
It's not popular in the US for mostly societal reasons, I think.
> which I can't imagine tastes the same
Fairlife tastes excellent. I switched for the extra protein as I'm a bodybuilder. I bought the 3.25% fat version at first because I love the silky mouthfeel of a whole milk cappuccino. Then I found the 2% Fairlife satisfies in the same way as 3.25%, with less fat calories, and froths up beautifully in the pitcher.
> They also appear to expire 9-14 days after opening which doesn't seem all that different from other milk with practice?
Anecdotally I think it's better. I've never had to toss one (but they are half gallons) while I find myself tossing sour regular milk frequently.
Fairlife tastes excellent. I switched for the extra protein as I'm a bodybuilder. I bought the 3.25% fat version at first because I love the silky mouthfeel of a whole milk cappuccino. Then I found the 2% Fairlife satisfies in the same way as 3.25%, with less fat calories, and froths up beautifully in the pitcher.
> They also appear to expire 9-14 days after opening which doesn't seem all that different from other milk with practice?
Anecdotally I think it's better. I've never had to toss one (but they are half gallons) while I find myself tossing sour regular milk frequently.
The ESL milk with 20 days shelf life? I think it tastes very dull, since it's nearly everywhere and good old milk is hard to get, I just switched mostly to UHT milk, which stays fresh for about a year without cooling. It doesn't taste much worse than the 20 day ESL milk, and the unopened boxes don't take any space in the fridge.
Microfiber cloths were a game changer for cleaning. My mum still cleans with cotton clothes. I once helped her cleaning, it was surprisingly hard to get things clean without microfiber cloths.
SSDs were revolutionary. I remember the first time I upgraded the spinning rust in the (then) old laptop my school gave me to a IDE SSD. It was like getting a new computer! Night and day performance improvement.
The only thing that's come close to the "wow!" factor that SSDs invoked was the Apple M1. Many Windows laptops STILL haven't caught up to its performance, and I don't think ANY have caught up to its iPad-like battery life!
The only thing that's come close to the "wow!" factor that SSDs invoked was the Apple M1. Many Windows laptops STILL haven't caught up to its performance, and I don't think ANY have caught up to its iPad-like battery life!
> No More Coupon Scams: most people recognize rebates/coupons are scams, and the rise of discounters/warehouse stores/Internet shopping has largely obviated them
This one got much worse: now you have to install an app (fast food) and/or join a data-harvesting "loyalty program" (grocery stores, Target, others) to get what should be the normal menu prices instead of the batshit crazy list prices. This affects most of the same places that had coupons (plus, actually, there are still tons of coupons? I don't really understand this item)
This one got much worse: now you have to install an app (fast food) and/or join a data-harvesting "loyalty program" (grocery stores, Target, others) to get what should be the normal menu prices instead of the batshit crazy list prices. This affects most of the same places that had coupons (plus, actually, there are still tons of coupons? I don't really understand this item)
Yeah I don't get that one either, or how it's a scam, I always just considered it price discrimination.
You are correct. Scam is just a word thrown at anything that isn't optimized to benefit the speaker.
Coupons are intended to compete for the business of price sensitive customers, and always have been.
Coupons are intended to compete for the business of price sensitive customers, and always have been.
It’s a nice list, but honestly, none of these improvements are really life changing (except the reduction in crime that has been noticeable and good). Things otherwise got a bit nicer and a bit cheaper and a bit faster - but life would have been just fine without these improvements.
Yeah, it's no indoor plumbing or fertilizer, that's for sure.
The smoking one's huge. It's hard to overstate how incredibly gross most public spaces (and homes...) were before indoor smoking largely vanished.
I went off pubs after the smoking ban in Britain; suddenly it was much more obvious that they all smelled of sweat and stale beer.
After smoking in bars was banned, my brother and I noted how run-down and dreary the places we hung out looked. We just hadn't been able to see it before through the haze.
I always hated the smoke and the way your hair and clothes would still reek of it the next morning. Now, on the rare occasions I catch a whiff of cigarette smoke, it's nostalgic and almost smells good.
I always hated the smoke and the way your hair and clothes would still reek of it the next morning. Now, on the rare occasions I catch a whiff of cigarette smoke, it's nostalgic and almost smells good.
Many of us still love going to pubs. So much better not waking up reeking of second hand smoke. I went skiing in Austria a few years back and some of the places still allow smoking inside. I couldn't handle it, I can't believe I ever did.
> War on Drugs Lost
This one is kinda life changing if your life isn't ruined by getting caught with a joint.
This one is kinda life changing if your life isn't ruined by getting caught with a joint.
> none of these improvements are really life changing
They don't really cover it, but one literally life changing one has been medicine; a lot of things that were a death sentence (and often a very nasty, slow, painful one) in the 90s are now quite treatable. Particularly cancers, but also there've been big improvements in cardiac treatment, and the treatment of certain diseases (particularly HIV).
They don't really cover it, but one literally life changing one has been medicine; a lot of things that were a death sentence (and often a very nasty, slow, painful one) in the 90s are now quite treatable. Particularly cancers, but also there've been big improvements in cardiac treatment, and the treatment of certain diseases (particularly HIV).
I find this list one-sided, an honest account would also discuss the many downsides that have come with some of these changes.
I agree, it's a silly list. Improvements in consumer technology, no recognition of the larger changes in concentrations of power that have happened concurrently.
It's focused specifically on improvements, so I am not sure it's fair to call it one-sided. I agree that it would be interesting to see the opposite list however.
The point is that most sentiment is one-sided to the negative. The rest of the internet is full of pervasive accounts of how the world has gotten worse.
I know that VHS tapes aren’t great, but I’ve found that having a limited supply of physical media actually makes me more likely to watch things.
Browsing through a collection at the library or a friends house, it’s shocking how quickly you find that people will converge on “oh, let’s watch this!” rather than endlessly scrolling through thumbnails and previews on Netflix and never committing
Browsing through a collection at the library or a friends house, it’s shocking how quickly you find that people will converge on “oh, let’s watch this!” rather than endlessly scrolling through thumbnails and previews on Netflix and never committing
When watching stuff with friends, we pre-curate a list of perhaps 20, or fewer, titles so the "deciding which things we might watch" part is out of the way and, worst case, we can just easily select one at random and know it's something we wanted to watch.
We do this because of the very effect you mention: otherwise, we'll burn enough time to watch a good chunk of a movie, just scrolling.
We do this because of the very effect you mention: otherwise, we'll burn enough time to watch a good chunk of a movie, just scrolling.
I have my watch list for movies, usually recommendations from friends, youtube channels, blogs, news and so on. The recommendation algorithms aren't fair with good movies that receive the same attention as bad movies. And, well, if I watch some sci-fi movies they think that I only like sci-fi and start recommending bad movies, when probably I would be more happy to just watch Shrek.
But something that I miss is just findings something at random. Lots of movies and bands that I like would never be recommended to me by those algorithms.
But something that I miss is just findings something at random. Lots of movies and bands that I like would never be recommended to me by those algorithms.
Eh. I'd argue while some of the objects have improved - I'm not sure my life has improved because of them.
> Eh. I'd argue while some of the objects have improved - I'm not sure my life has improved because of them.
This is exactly right. So many "improvements" are cool or interesting, but either provide no meaningful improvement to one's life (e.g. streaming vs. VHS) or actually detract from our lives on balance, e.g. smartphones.
This is exactly right. So many "improvements" are cool or interesting, but either provide no meaningful improvement to one's life (e.g. streaming vs. VHS) or actually detract from our lives on balance, e.g. smartphones.
I’m 43 and disagree.
Streaming TV shows means I can watch them at a convenient time for me, pausing at leisure, not having to waste time on adverts. In practice this means my wife and I can work through series 45 minutes a night, perhaps only one or two nights a week at whatever time it happens to be after kids are down.
Smartphones can be used in unhealthy ways for sure, but they are almost unreal when you consider how things have changed in the last few decades (looking at my own time):
90s: Shared house lines were the norm, long distance calls expensive-ish, international definitely.
Early 2000s: Personal cellphones pretty common.
Mid 2000s: Home VoIP becoming accessible through Skype, but not mainstream, generally requires a full PC, inconvenient, either for computer enthusiasts or family wanting to do free overseas calls. You would have to hope or arrange other person to be online with Skype at the same time.
Late 2000s: Smartphones are a thing, voip from your pocket is finally accessible, not everyone has smartphones yet, but you can use Skype credit to call anyone in the world at a reasonable cost.
Mid 2010s: smartphones are pretty much ubiquitous, FaceTime (and later equivalent on WhatsApp) mean that you can now talk to almost anyone with very high quality video anywhere in the world basically for free.
What does this mean for me? I regularly FaceTime my parents completely casually with my young children, sometimes just before sleep or in the afternoon or whenever, no ceremony or hassle.
My wife’s sister moved to New Zealand (we live in South Africa) 7 years ago and they FaceTime more than once a week on average with nieces and nephews.
I lived in Europe from 2006 to 2012, and I wish I had in 2006 what I have now in smartphones, maps for most everywhere always available), translation tools always available.
Having experienced the advent of cellphones in my lifetime, they are almost unbelievable to someone who grew up with the full sized PCs which were a lot less capable than a device which now fits in my hand.
Streaming TV shows means I can watch them at a convenient time for me, pausing at leisure, not having to waste time on adverts. In practice this means my wife and I can work through series 45 minutes a night, perhaps only one or two nights a week at whatever time it happens to be after kids are down.
Smartphones can be used in unhealthy ways for sure, but they are almost unreal when you consider how things have changed in the last few decades (looking at my own time):
90s: Shared house lines were the norm, long distance calls expensive-ish, international definitely.
Early 2000s: Personal cellphones pretty common.
Mid 2000s: Home VoIP becoming accessible through Skype, but not mainstream, generally requires a full PC, inconvenient, either for computer enthusiasts or family wanting to do free overseas calls. You would have to hope or arrange other person to be online with Skype at the same time.
Late 2000s: Smartphones are a thing, voip from your pocket is finally accessible, not everyone has smartphones yet, but you can use Skype credit to call anyone in the world at a reasonable cost.
Mid 2010s: smartphones are pretty much ubiquitous, FaceTime (and later equivalent on WhatsApp) mean that you can now talk to almost anyone with very high quality video anywhere in the world basically for free.
What does this mean for me? I regularly FaceTime my parents completely casually with my young children, sometimes just before sleep or in the afternoon or whenever, no ceremony or hassle.
My wife’s sister moved to New Zealand (we live in South Africa) 7 years ago and they FaceTime more than once a week on average with nieces and nephews.
I lived in Europe from 2006 to 2012, and I wish I had in 2006 what I have now in smartphones, maps for most everywhere always available), translation tools always available.
Having experienced the advent of cellphones in my lifetime, they are almost unbelievable to someone who grew up with the full sized PCs which were a lot less capable than a device which now fits in my hand.
Yeah, it's handy - and maybe my teenage years were an exception here, but for me the deciding change was internet access and not the smartphone. As long as you could coordinate with your friends online, the actual meeting up outside wasn't a big problem anymore. Talking late 90s, early 00s here - everyone had ICQ or at least email and as long as people were checking this after school/in the afternoon, the plans for the night were easy to mass communicate.
Other food:
- Mangoes went from unknown/exotic in the US to being a standard fruit in your produce aisle.
- it’s surprising how cars in the 80s didn’t actually have cup holders. I always thought that was just a joke until I bought an 80s car and learned I’d need to buy the cup holders aftermarket
- frozen vegetables overtaking canned vegetables
- sugar free sodas
- Mangoes went from unknown/exotic in the US to being a standard fruit in your produce aisle.
- it’s surprising how cars in the 80s didn’t actually have cup holders. I always thought that was just a joke until I bought an 80s car and learned I’d need to buy the cup holders aftermarket
- frozen vegetables overtaking canned vegetables
- sugar free sodas
More food:
- Brussels Sprouts taste much better now: https://www.bhg.com/news/brussels-sprouts-less-bitter/
- Brussels Sprouts taste much better now: https://www.bhg.com/news/brussels-sprouts-less-bitter/
> Mangoes went from unknown/exotic in the US to being a standard fruit in your produce aisle.
Not in the US, but _slightly_ sceptical of this one, because (a) I'm pretty sure that they were available in supermarkets _here_ (Ireland) in the 90s and (b) because there was a Seinfeld episode about them (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mango - 1993, Kramer is banned from his favourite fruit store, is horrified at the suggestion that he buy supermarket mangoes).
> frozen vegetables overtaking canned vegetables
Again, we're talking the 90s, right? I'm pretty sure that had already happened; that'd be more 70s-80s.
Not in the US, but _slightly_ sceptical of this one, because (a) I'm pretty sure that they were available in supermarkets _here_ (Ireland) in the 90s and (b) because there was a Seinfeld episode about them (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mango - 1993, Kramer is banned from his favourite fruit store, is horrified at the suggestion that he buy supermarket mangoes).
> frozen vegetables overtaking canned vegetables
Again, we're talking the 90s, right? I'm pretty sure that had already happened; that'd be more 70s-80s.
re: mangoes
In the 90s, American would've known that mangoes were a fruit and (probably) that they were orange. But they would not be in a standard grocery store. I suspect a big part of this was that for a long time the US banned mango imports from India, and that was lifted in 2007.
NYC is a bit different because it's much more multicultural and not really representative of the typical US experience. Plus, the fact that they had Kramer obsessing over mangoes was a bit of "he's a weird guy, of course he'd into a weird fruit". Living in the midwest, I think the first time I saw a mango for sale in a grocery store was probably ~2010.
re: frozen veg
they definitely existed in the 70s and 80s, but flash freezing technology has made them significantly higher quality in recent years and expanded the number/type of veg that you can find frozen. And on top of that, in the last decade has had the advent of 'steamer pouches' that make microwave cooking super-easy and they've really taken off in popularity.
In the 90s, American would've known that mangoes were a fruit and (probably) that they were orange. But they would not be in a standard grocery store. I suspect a big part of this was that for a long time the US banned mango imports from India, and that was lifted in 2007.
NYC is a bit different because it's much more multicultural and not really representative of the typical US experience. Plus, the fact that they had Kramer obsessing over mangoes was a bit of "he's a weird guy, of course he'd into a weird fruit". Living in the midwest, I think the first time I saw a mango for sale in a grocery store was probably ~2010.
re: frozen veg
they definitely existed in the 70s and 80s, but flash freezing technology has made them significantly higher quality in recent years and expanded the number/type of veg that you can find frozen. And on top of that, in the last decade has had the advent of 'steamer pouches' that make microwave cooking super-easy and they've really taken off in popularity.
I hadn't thought about mangoes but now that you mention it, it does feel like they showed up in the USA at some point since the 1990s.
> - sugar free sodas
I am not convinced this was actually a good thing. After all these decades of studies in ever more obese human populations, it should not be this hard to find any benefits at all, and there should not be so many warning signs. You certainly can't see it in any obesity rates or soda tax results (or my relatives...), the experimental weight loss results have always been oddly unimpressive, and there are lots of concerning results about the effects on microbiomes (https://gwern.net/doc/genetics/microbiome/2022-suez.pdf) or on cardiovascular health (https://gwern.net/doc/biology/2024-witkowski.pdf https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10334259/), which is all very weird if they are 0 calories and don't affect insulin metabolism, as you would expect unambiguous, immediate, large benefits (contrast this with, say, GIP/G1P). So, maybe sugar-free will finally wind up being a wash or slightly beneficial, but it's not going into my list either way.
(Also, I eat mangoes and frozen vegetables and a little reluctantly eat nü brussel sprouts, but I don't drink soda, so it's against the spirit of my personal list to begin with.)
> - sugar free sodas
I am not convinced this was actually a good thing. After all these decades of studies in ever more obese human populations, it should not be this hard to find any benefits at all, and there should not be so many warning signs. You certainly can't see it in any obesity rates or soda tax results (or my relatives...), the experimental weight loss results have always been oddly unimpressive, and there are lots of concerning results about the effects on microbiomes (https://gwern.net/doc/genetics/microbiome/2022-suez.pdf) or on cardiovascular health (https://gwern.net/doc/biology/2024-witkowski.pdf https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10334259/), which is all very weird if they are 0 calories and don't affect insulin metabolism, as you would expect unambiguous, immediate, large benefits (contrast this with, say, GIP/G1P). So, maybe sugar-free will finally wind up being a wash or slightly beneficial, but it's not going into my list either way.
(Also, I eat mangoes and frozen vegetables and a little reluctantly eat nü brussel sprouts, but I don't drink soda, so it's against the spirit of my personal list to begin with.)
International communication!
I lived across the atlantic for many years, and was able to call with people important to me every day, for free, even with video.
Further, I can have a cultural exchange and shared cultural reference points with billions of people across the planet.
I lived across the atlantic for many years, and was able to call with people important to me every day, for free, even with video.
Further, I can have a cultural exchange and shared cultural reference points with billions of people across the planet.
I'd also add to that:
- Neural Machine Translation
- English as the lingua franca
- Neural Machine Translation
- English as the lingua franca
In the book of 2001, one of the big "events" of that far-future world was all the phone companies making long-distance free on 1/1/2000. Even when I read the book in probably 1990, I remember my dad thinking that was ridiculous. Now the idea of even international long distance call charges are going away and most calling is as you say, done for free via the internet, including with video!
Long distance still exists, but long distance now is a different country code vs a different area code. And it's cheaper!
That said, people still use calling cards to save money on international calls!
That said, people still use calling cards to save money on international calls!
As someone who loves to cook I think kitchen advances are somewhat
overlooked, from pressure cookers to microwaves to air-fryers, IR
ovens and all sorts of amazing combos, hand blenders and whatnot Time
to make good home food got much shorter and more energy efficient.
Edit: showing my age, cos that's 80s, not 90s. In fact I think pressure cookers got popular in the mid 70s.
Edit: showing my age, cos that's 80s, not 90s. In fact I think pressure cookers got popular in the mid 70s.
I think the popularity of pressure cookers predate the 70s since it gets a comical reference in this old cartoon that you might remember.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_Tomorrow_(1949_fi...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_Tomorrow_(1949_fi...
I think that this cartoon was a play on a booklet from that era which the electric company gave out. It illustrated the grid and all kinds of possibilities around the home and farm for those who were not used to electrification. My dad had kept it around and I remember reading it when I was little. It had all the wiring plotted out like a Richard Scarry book. I have not been able to find it since.
Even since the '90s a lot has changed. Innovations in MEMS have allowed for much smarter rice cookers and the creation of the sous vide cooker, along with small air fryers with cheap, precise temperature control. Powerful DC motors have allowed us to have hand blenders, spice grinders, and food processors that take up little counter space but do their work admirably. The only reason I have enough time to cook as much as I do from scratch is because so many of my appliances are precise set-and-forget. My mom cooks a lot as well and I watched how advances in appliances changed the amount and precision with which she could cook.
Affordable thermometers! This is a huge improvement. No more food poisoning because your guess on the chicken being cooked enough was wrong.
With the exception of cellphones, almost everything that needed a battery in the 90s used disposable dry cell batteries. Left unattended they often leaked destroying the device. Now almost everything that needs a battery has a rechargeable one built in.
There are a few downsides to that but it's a hell of a lot more convenient! As a kid in the 70s/80s any battery powered toy spent most of it's life unpowered and useless (except coin-cell powered LCD devices which always seemed to be immortal)
There are a few downsides to that but it's a hell of a lot more convenient! As a kid in the 70s/80s any battery powered toy spent most of it's life unpowered and useless (except coin-cell powered LCD devices which always seemed to be immortal)
In the 80s, soon after I was gifted a Sanyo portable cassette player, I bought a battery charger (10 GBP) and set of 4 nickel cadmium AA batteries.
And plenty of Lithium rechargeables are a statistical storage box fire liability
I love this article, it really point out a lot of things we take for granted. It's easy to focus on the bad and forget how much things have really improved.
The one line about the EU made me laugh though:
> EU: the European Union & single Euro currency make the EU easier to understand & travel in it much less tricky and expensive
The fact that it just says this in passing from the perspective of a tourist and without any addendum like "And countless other improvements for Europeans brought about by EU regulation" makes me think of that famous New Yorker cover~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View_of_the_World_from_9th_Ave...
The one line about the EU made me laugh though:
> EU: the European Union & single Euro currency make the EU easier to understand & travel in it much less tricky and expensive
The fact that it just says this in passing from the perspective of a tourist and without any addendum like "And countless other improvements for Europeans brought about by EU regulation" makes me think of that famous New Yorker cover~ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View_of_the_World_from_9th_Ave...
Well, the page starts with this in the introduction: "So here is a personal list of small ways in which my ordinary everyday daily life has been getting better since the late 1980s/early 1990s"
So on the contrary, it seems to me listing "countless improvements for Europeans" as an everyday life improvement would be an extreme overstatement of the American (?) author's empathy, or perhaps a performative indication that they think about the lives of others even when explicitly trying to focus on themself.
So on the contrary, it seems to me listing "countless improvements for Europeans" as an everyday life improvement would be an extreme overstatement of the American (?) author's empathy, or perhaps a performative indication that they think about the lives of others even when explicitly trying to focus on themself.
As an American, I do indeed have little idea what sorts of improvements people in the EU as a whole - much less any individual country - have had. I can guess at a few, since presumably a lot of my items transfer. (Pascalization for avocado preservation, for example, is presumably a world-wide thing because the laws of physics are the same everywhere.) But I can't write a decent list.
I see that fact as more of an invitation to write your own. Do Europeans feel annoyed at the omissions of XYZ? Go right ahead and make your own! There's no patent on the idea of 'writing down a list of things that have gotten better'. I'm not going to sue you if you write down a list of ordinary things that have gotten nicer in the UK. In fact, I'd be happy to link it in the external links section if anyone makes a decent list for some other country in the same spirit. (I would prefer it not be tech-heavy, though. Things like "did you know PCs and smartphones also got really cheap in the Third World or the EU, and SSDs are pretty sweet compared to HDDs?" are not particularly interesting to anyone and do not need to be pointed out.)
I see that fact as more of an invitation to write your own. Do Europeans feel annoyed at the omissions of XYZ? Go right ahead and make your own! There's no patent on the idea of 'writing down a list of things that have gotten better'. I'm not going to sue you if you write down a list of ordinary things that have gotten nicer in the UK. In fact, I'd be happy to link it in the external links section if anyone makes a decent list for some other country in the same spirit. (I would prefer it not be tech-heavy, though. Things like "did you know PCs and smartphones also got really cheap in the Third World or the EU, and SSDs are pretty sweet compared to HDDs?" are not particularly interesting to anyone and do not need to be pointed out.)
[deleted]
I think this is a great and incomplete collection of all the ways life has improved(and continues to improve), I wish it had more purchase with doomers.
I do not agree with everything, but there are advantages and disadvantages of some of these things.
> I remember my desk used to be crowded with things like dictionaries and pencil sharpeners
I store these things on the shelf near the desk, rather than on the desk itself, but I still use them often enough.
> hotels and restaurants provide Public Internet Access by default
Nevertheless there are commonly problems with them, although what these problems are differs in different places.
> USB cables mean that for connecting or recharging
I think there are many problems with USB, including security issues and many others. I also think that it is better to have addressing by where they are connected to, and for charging to be done independently from data connection (although there are times where you want them together and this is useful, but the way it is done makes it difficult to separate them).
Having only a few different plugs is helpful, but it would be more helpful if these were better plugs rather than the worse ones.
> Software Patents have been expiring (eg. GIF, arithmetic coding, MP3)
I think patents are no good in general, but nevertheless it helps that they have expired.
> everything is available Subtitled, not just TV
This is good. Subtitles and captions are not only useful for hearing impaired but for anyone. Accessibility features in general can be useful for anyone.
> RAM: programmers able to assume users have 4GB RAM rather than 4MB RAM
Having more RAM is helpful. But, it is still a good idea to write programs that do not require so much RAM (or so much disk space), though. Unfortunately, too many modern programs do use more RAM and disk space than they should need to do.
> all cars have electrified Power Windows; I don’t remember the last time I had to physically crank down a car window
I prefer the manual windows; they work even if the car is off or doesn't work.
> LED lights are more energy-efficient, cooler & safer, smaller, turn on faster, last longer, and are brighter than incandescents or fluorescents
I think they are too bright and wrong colour and other problems. I like incandescent for general purpose lighting. (LEDs are still useful for some indicator lights and that stuff, but even then too often they have blue lights when other colours would do better.)
> the European Union & single Euro currency make the EU easier to understand & travel in it much less tricky and expensive
Although it does not affect me, I know some people who have been to Europe and believe that the older way is better.
> Intellectual Property Maximalism rollback: copyright terms have not and probably will not be indefinitely extended again to eternity to protect properties like Mickey Mouse or Sherlock Holmes
It is good that they have done this allowing them to be public domain, although I think it needs to be rollback even more.
> Low-Flow Toilets
I had read a article in 2600 where someone modified a toilet with 6 lpf, but they needed to flush twice to work, so they changed it so that it will be 10 lpf. Making it 10 lpf will save water then, compared to the 12 that was needed before, isn't it?
> most programs have a usable FLOSS equivalent and in some areas FLOSS is taken so for granted
In some cases they didn't but I and others have written some (e.g. Free Hero Mesh, which is a clone of Everett Kaser's MESH:Hero game, and I think it is much better than the original). However, often the FLOSS equivalent still has some problems (often failure to support non-Unicode text properly, but others are common as well); but they also often have many improvements than other programs as well.
> There are not many things in food that have gotten worse, and most have gotten better
Well, also often many items have been discontinued even if they were of a good quality.
> I remember my desk used to be crowded with things like dictionaries and pencil sharpeners
I store these things on the shelf near the desk, rather than on the desk itself, but I still use them often enough.
> hotels and restaurants provide Public Internet Access by default
Nevertheless there are commonly problems with them, although what these problems are differs in different places.
> USB cables mean that for connecting or recharging
I think there are many problems with USB, including security issues and many others. I also think that it is better to have addressing by where they are connected to, and for charging to be done independently from data connection (although there are times where you want them together and this is useful, but the way it is done makes it difficult to separate them).
Having only a few different plugs is helpful, but it would be more helpful if these were better plugs rather than the worse ones.
> Software Patents have been expiring (eg. GIF, arithmetic coding, MP3)
I think patents are no good in general, but nevertheless it helps that they have expired.
> everything is available Subtitled, not just TV
This is good. Subtitles and captions are not only useful for hearing impaired but for anyone. Accessibility features in general can be useful for anyone.
> RAM: programmers able to assume users have 4GB RAM rather than 4MB RAM
Having more RAM is helpful. But, it is still a good idea to write programs that do not require so much RAM (or so much disk space), though. Unfortunately, too many modern programs do use more RAM and disk space than they should need to do.
> all cars have electrified Power Windows; I don’t remember the last time I had to physically crank down a car window
I prefer the manual windows; they work even if the car is off or doesn't work.
> LED lights are more energy-efficient, cooler & safer, smaller, turn on faster, last longer, and are brighter than incandescents or fluorescents
I think they are too bright and wrong colour and other problems. I like incandescent for general purpose lighting. (LEDs are still useful for some indicator lights and that stuff, but even then too often they have blue lights when other colours would do better.)
> the European Union & single Euro currency make the EU easier to understand & travel in it much less tricky and expensive
Although it does not affect me, I know some people who have been to Europe and believe that the older way is better.
> Intellectual Property Maximalism rollback: copyright terms have not and probably will not be indefinitely extended again to eternity to protect properties like Mickey Mouse or Sherlock Holmes
It is good that they have done this allowing them to be public domain, although I think it needs to be rollback even more.
> Low-Flow Toilets
I had read a article in 2600 where someone modified a toilet with 6 lpf, but they needed to flush twice to work, so they changed it so that it will be 10 lpf. Making it 10 lpf will save water then, compared to the 12 that was needed before, isn't it?
> most programs have a usable FLOSS equivalent and in some areas FLOSS is taken so for granted
In some cases they didn't but I and others have written some (e.g. Free Hero Mesh, which is a clone of Everett Kaser's MESH:Hero game, and I think it is much better than the original). However, often the FLOSS equivalent still has some problems (often failure to support non-Unicode text properly, but others are common as well); but they also often have many improvements than other programs as well.
> There are not many things in food that have gotten worse, and most have gotten better
Well, also often many items have been discontinued even if they were of a good quality.
Very few of these are "disadvantages of the change". They are, instead, complaints that the improvement is not to-perfection.
I was born in 1996 but I really love the past. 90% percent of the music that I listen to is from before 1990; I have a typewriter and I really find it fun to use it; I have some vinyl records; I have two SNES (one I that we have at home since the 90s and another that I found for sale); half of the movies that I watch were released before the 90s; I have a cuckoo clock working in my living room; I have a street atlas in my car and thanks I'm poor because of course if had money I would have spent it buying an old car.
But know what? Probably I'm happier living in 2020s. Technology allows me to watch more 80s movies that I would do if I lived in the 80s; it allows me to know more 80 bands than most of people who I know that actually lived in the 80s; I'm not restricted to watch only 80s movies or listen to 80s music, I have available everything from the 90s, 70s, 60s, 50s and so on; using a mechanical typewriter is fun but it might be a nightmare needing to use it. And so on.
In fact, I love the past because the present allows me.
But know what? Probably I'm happier living in 2020s. Technology allows me to watch more 80s movies that I would do if I lived in the 80s; it allows me to know more 80 bands than most of people who I know that actually lived in the 80s; I'm not restricted to watch only 80s movies or listen to 80s music, I have available everything from the 90s, 70s, 60s, 50s and so on; using a mechanical typewriter is fun but it might be a nightmare needing to use it. And so on.
In fact, I love the past because the present allows me.
Agreement with the list:
Induction Stoves. We've switched to an induction stove and love it. We cook a lot and I'm fairly sensitive to gas. The air quality in the house is so much better after doing a lot of cooking, but also the second order effects. No more face and arms feeling singed after looking over 3 flame burners. No more sauces getting singed on the side of pots or pots being burned on the sides due to gas. No more concern over draping clothing or hair singing. Fast heating times and a cooktop that doesn't stay hot for too long after you remove the pot.
More stuff I'd like to see on the list:
Digital Photography and Videography. Now a single person or a few people can do what used to take an entire staff to do. Short films and CGI are viable with just a few people. A photographer can take pictures of events that used to take studios with photo lighting to handle.
Disagreements with the list:
Ubiquitous HVAC use is more of a curse than a blessing. Ubiquitous HVAC has led to badly ventilated, badly designed apartments/houses that need constant HVAC usage to even be moderately livable. Central HVACs also often cannot deal with hot/cold areas in the house. Awareness is growing over the need for clean indoor air and that people enjoy air CFMs higher than most guidelines purport. Along with growing use of mini-split HVACs, ERVs and HRVs, this is a great direction. But too many cheap homes throughout the world are designed only around blind central or single unit HVAC use and that is just bad IMO.
Induction Stoves. We've switched to an induction stove and love it. We cook a lot and I'm fairly sensitive to gas. The air quality in the house is so much better after doing a lot of cooking, but also the second order effects. No more face and arms feeling singed after looking over 3 flame burners. No more sauces getting singed on the side of pots or pots being burned on the sides due to gas. No more concern over draping clothing or hair singing. Fast heating times and a cooktop that doesn't stay hot for too long after you remove the pot.
More stuff I'd like to see on the list:
Digital Photography and Videography. Now a single person or a few people can do what used to take an entire staff to do. Short films and CGI are viable with just a few people. A photographer can take pictures of events that used to take studios with photo lighting to handle.
Disagreements with the list:
Ubiquitous HVAC use is more of a curse than a blessing. Ubiquitous HVAC has led to badly ventilated, badly designed apartments/houses that need constant HVAC usage to even be moderately livable. Central HVACs also often cannot deal with hot/cold areas in the house. Awareness is growing over the need for clean indoor air and that people enjoy air CFMs higher than most guidelines purport. Along with growing use of mini-split HVACs, ERVs and HRVs, this is a great direction. But too many cheap homes throughout the world are designed only around blind central or single unit HVAC use and that is just bad IMO.
Agree big time on induction ranges and convection stoves.
This was one of the first appliances I got after buying a house. I LOVE using it. No fume, no waste heat, and, most importantly, I never have to worry about the range being left on by accident ever again! The cooktops won't turn on if there isn't a ferromagnetic surface on top, but even if they somehow did, the glass cooktop is cool to the touch.
Between this and our heat-pump dryer, I wish I could remove gas in our house for good. Unfortunately, gas furnaces are still much better than heat-pump options.
This was one of the first appliances I got after buying a house. I LOVE using it. No fume, no waste heat, and, most importantly, I never have to worry about the range being left on by accident ever again! The cooktops won't turn on if there isn't a ferromagnetic surface on top, but even if they somehow did, the glass cooktop is cool to the touch.
Between this and our heat-pump dryer, I wish I could remove gas in our house for good. Unfortunately, gas furnaces are still much better than heat-pump options.
Some of these "improvements" seem highly tilted towards the experiences of wealthy people in the suburbs. Here in the lower half of the income distribution in a major city, we still don't have AC, use gas stoves (and often start fires), get our car windows smashed more often (though instead of stealing the stereo, they steal the change in the center console and your extra clothes in the trunk), and instead of the car being stolen while you're gone, it gets stolen while you're in it -- at gunpoint! Car alarms go off all the time as well; still as much a part of the city audioscape as police sirens.
Ordering a mattress online is great, though.
Ordering a mattress online is great, though.
I'm not trying to be facetious here, although a surface read might seem so.
But like, if having a car is so terrible - why not migrate to an ebike?
But like, if having a car is so terrible - why not migrate to an ebike?
We must have lived in very different cities since carjacking and car break-in rates were way more common in the 90s in the cities I lived in.
I can't think of any major city in the US, at least, where that isn't true.
I can't think of any major city in the US, at least, where that isn't true.
> SAFE McDonald’s coffee which doesn’t explode in one’s lap while trapped in a car & causing disfiguring third-degree burns requiring skin grafts
McDonald's coffee is no more safe today than it was in the 90s. The temperature is the same and the cups are largely the same. What's safer now is that most cars have cupholers, so people aren't holding their coffee cups between their legs to try and get the lid off in order to add cream.
They and other coffee vendors still get sued semi-regularly for burns though.
McDonald's coffee is no more safe today than it was in the 90s. The temperature is the same and the cups are largely the same. What's safer now is that most cars have cupholers, so people aren't holding their coffee cups between their legs to try and get the lid off in order to add cream.
They and other coffee vendors still get sued semi-regularly for burns though.
Let's not forget that comparing the 2020's to the 90's is like comparing the 90's to the 60's.
Would we have a more substantial list between those two decades?
Probably not, as economic things like living standards or quality of life generally seem to be logarithmic and have diminishing returns, but why not make a list and show us?
This whole article wholly embodied why I'm not a nostalgic person. Very, very few things were better in the 90s/00s when I grew up than now, and it's not just because I'm an adult with more money now.
The biggest difference between now and the 1990s is in the reduction of abject poverty worldwide. Death and disability from food shortage was extremely common in many countries. A huge improvement in the 1990s over the 1980s is that I could own my own computer (I bought a Sun-2 with Solaris) instead of having everything I created owned by the institution which owned the computer I needed. Today's consumer products, though, are a mixed bag. As an example, I wish I could buy a microwave oven as good as my first one. It was larger, had a temperature probe that could be used instead of time and it used a small internal metal wheel to distribute the microwaves evenly throughout the oven instead of wasting space for the silly rotating platter.
https://ourworldindata.org/extreme-poverty-in-brief
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification
https://ourworldindata.org/extreme-poverty-in-brief
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enshittification
> all cars have electrified Power Windows; I don’t remember the last time I had to physically crank down a car window.
Which, as many things in modern cars, can be a good or bad thing, depending on context.
Which, as many things in modern cars, can be a good or bad thing, depending on context.
On the other hand, the cluttered desktop does involve some nostalgia. The ergonomics of a desk phone were better than any smart phone or Teams app can provide, in terms of quickly making or answering a call. And long into the paperless era, I still keep pencils and scrap paper for quick sketches even though my work computer has a freakishly expensive Microsoft Visio on it and you can get adequate drawing software right in your web browser for nothing.
Simply not being reachable because you weren't near a known phone... that has its upsides and downsides. I'm not entirely sure that being on the "elecronic leash" 24/7 has made life better. Especially as I get older, I kind of miss the slower pace things used to have, where you walked over to someone's desk to ask questions, where "google" took the form of calling people or companies and asking (and they had knowledgeable people answering the phones, etc). The world functioned, and pretty well, back then too.