This isn't about saying the past was better or the present is worse. It's simply one man's reflections on how the world has changed, and why those changes continue to spark debate.
People often laugh when I begin a sentence with, "But in my day..." Yet those five words carry a lifetime of memories.
I was born in the 1950s, and the world I grew up in was very different from the one we live in today. Back then, life seemed simpler, or at least it did to us. You were either a boy or a girl, a man or a woman. That was how nearly everyone understood the world. We didn't hear conversations about gender identity, neurodiversity, or mental health in the way we do now.
Does that mean those things didn't exist? Looking back, probably not. It's more likely they simply weren't talked about.
If someone struggled with anxiety, they were often told to "pull yourself together." If a child found school difficult or behaved differently, they might have been labelled lazy, naughty, or odd rather than being assessed for autism or ADHD. Many people quietly lived with depression or trauma without ever having the words to describe what they were experiencing.
Stress certainly existed too, although we rarely called it that. People worried about paying the bills, keeping a roof over their heads, raising families, and holding down physically demanding jobs. They simply carried on because that's what was expected.
So why does it feel so different today?
Part of the answer is that society has changed enormously. Science and medicine have advanced, giving us a better understanding of how the brain works and how mental illness affects people. Conditions that were once hidden or misunderstood now have names, diagnoses, and treatments.
The same can be said for gender and identity. Society has become more open to people sharing experiences that many previously felt unable, or unsafe, to express. Whether everyone agrees with every aspect of these changes is another matter, but it is undeniable that more people now feel able to talk openly about who they are.
Some people from my generation wonder whether we've gone too far, questioning whether ordinary ups and downs are sometimes medicalised or whether too many labels are used. Others argue that these labels help people understand themselves and access support that previous generations never received. There are reasonable people on both sides of that debate.
What I do know is this: every generation believes the world it grew up in made more sense than the one that followed. My grandparents thought my generation was changing too quickly. My parents worried about television, rock music, and long hair. Now my generation finds itself puzzled by smartphones, social media, and conversations about identity that would have been almost unimaginable when we were young.
Perhaps that's simply the cycle of history.
The world hasn't necessarily become weaker, nor has it necessarily become stronger. It has become different. We know more than we once did, but we also face new challenges that earlier generations never imagined.
So when I say, "But in my day...", I'm not claiming everything was better. We had our own problems, many of which were ignored or hidden away. What I am saying is that the world has changed beyond recognition in just seventy years.
Whether those changes represent progress, decline, or simply the next chapter of human history is something each person must decide for themselves.
