Originally it was going to be “over the last twenty years” but I decided to be more flexible.
A lot of discussions about how society has changed or how the world is different always circle around to smartphones, social media, “no one talks to each other in person, they’re on their phones always” and the like.
Outside of those topics, what else has changed, by your perception?
Hats, almost completely removed from formal settings and now only in informal settings.
People have a much more rigid and accurate sense of time. You don’t meet for lunch, you meet at 12pm on the dot. People don’t wait for someone for half an hour, they wait like 5 minutes or so.
People talk much more openly about problems and their views. When I was young people didn’t really talk about religion, politics, medical issues, and so on in public. Now people will tell you they are on an antidepressant or LGBT+ and be open about things.
That rigid sense of time brings back memories. As a kid you’d have to wait on some corner to meet with friends and go out. Without smartphones there was no way of knowing where they were or what time they’d show up. If they were late you had to simply wait for them to show up or at some point decide to leave. All without being able to communicate anything. So everybody was a bit more flexible and relaxed about waiting on eachother.