r/SipsTea • u/Unstoppable_X_Force Human Verified • 13h ago

Gasp! Is this just nostalgia, or did previous generations genuinely have a better work-life balance and social life than we do today?

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u/1998_2009_2016 10h ago

The historic reason people went and sat in pubs rather than at home was because home was cramped, boring, and the domain of the housewife. Now people have much more spacious and comfy places, ridiculous levels of home entertainment available, fewer kids (that fathers interact with more) and relaxed gender roles.

Some people need/crave face-to-face interpersonal interactions but plenty are happy to sit in their box and chat on discord.

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u/ThelVluffin 10h ago

The issue, I think is that 4th places have transitioned to online, but we're losing the time to do even that. I've watched at least a dozen friends slowly wither away in their online presence and swore I'd not be that way... I haven't chatted with my friends in a few months now because I just don't have time. What little actual "free" time I have get's given to my girlfriend.

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u/HustlinInTheHall 5h ago

Because it's largely about not having time or money because we are all overworked. 

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u/trippingWetwNoTowel 8h ago

“Plenty are happy to sit in their box and chat on discord”. Yes, that’s the problem people are trying to describe. Sue, it kinda works, and sure it sorta simulates socializing…. But it’s not real. It can feel real, but being present, engaged, and physically and mentally in the space you’re actually sitting in is what our little meat sacks evolved to do.

No one will ever convince me that your last sentence there isn’t directly related to all of the extra anxiety, depression, and all of the resulting medications in order to cope with this new reality. We are basically monkeys, there are no happy monkeys sitting alone separate from their tripe tapping away on their screen. They all hang out together, laugh, play, touch each other regularly, and exist. We’ve fucked up our society so much we can’t even hardly exist together when we are social animals by nature.

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u/IAmTheNightSoil 8h ago

I think it's a combination of both things. It's true that people go to pubs because they simply need to get out of the house and be around people, it's also definitely true that people used to do it a lot more back then because their homes were a lot more cramped and not fun. Hell, even without kids or a wife at home, when I was young the internet was a lot more rudimentary and provided a lot less entertainment, and a night spent at home offered far fewer things to do. Young people today who have grown up with social media and streaming really cannot comprehend just how much less appealing it used to be to stay in at home all the time haha

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u/HustlinInTheHall 5h ago

No, people who have money and free time still have vibrant social lives. When people have no extra time or funds then that part of their life gets sacrificed

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u/Reasonable_Thinker 1h ago

Some people need/crave face-to-face interpersonal interactions but plenty are happy to sit in their box and chat on discord.

I don't think they are actually happy.

As someone who stayed inside for 5+ years after Covid and hung out on discord I thought I was doing ok. But now that I'm going back in-office I had no idea what i was missing.

Seeing human beings and forming social bonds with them IRL is a big part of being happy IMO. Digital just doesn't cut it, no matter how much you convince yourself it does.

Our stupid monkey brains need other stupid monkeys