2011-8-10

TPO Independent writing：我们生活的时代比父辈们年轻时生活的时代更好还是更坏？

It seems that people always have a desire to compare: am I prettier than others? Are we living in a better age? Or, as the question goes, is our life easier and more enjoyable than it was several decades ago? I would say no, as I have witnessed the struggle and paradox of our generation.

First of all, we are now living in an age of revolution with no previous human experience that could be referred to. Living in such a fast-changing world would not be easy and comfortable at all; with everything keeps changing, everyone has to move fast in order to catch up with the majority. However, people were much more stable and care-free when our grandparents were children; they did not have to learn a second language in order to get a better job, or read a lot in order to get informed. Yet in our age, these are supposed to be the responsibility of young people.

Another discomfort of our age is that we are experiencing interpersonal alienation. With the development of communication technology, people in fact become alienated with friends and relatives since they could be so easily accessed via phone or email. Too often we feel that few of our friends are true friends, without the traditional feeling of mutual affection which could only be created by longtime apart. But several decades ago, people treasured their friends and maintained relatively close interpersonal relations, which is much more enjoyable than the estrangements we are experiencing.

The last factor that has made our age so uncomfortable is the abusive use of technology. Although it brings much convenience, it essentially changes human – we are no longer the master of tools, but instead the slaves of devices. We rush to metro station in order to catch an early train, sit in front of radioactive computers all day long in order to get our work done, and stay in air-conditioned rooms all summer without experiencing the natural changes outside thick cement walls. Several decades ago, people could still live closer to nature and make rational use of modern technology, which to me is the essence of human living experience.

However, the comparison between different times is itself ridiculous. The criteria could not be easily determined, and opinions are highly personal. Anyway, we have a longer life span, more advanced medical facilities, and easier traffic than our grandparent when they were children, and we should treasure the present experience. Imagination of the past might only be nostalgia – if I ask my grandparents the same question, they might as well say that our life is much better than the past generations. Who knows? As long as the world is still peaceful, life at any time would not become too difficult to handle.