# Would you want to live in the past? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 7, 2015, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-live-in-the-past/717015 "2015-04-07T02:38:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2015, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-live-in-the-past/717015/21 "2015-04-07T17:20:27Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > If I didn’t have the internet I would have a job now and a girlfriend > **[Internet addiction disorder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_addiction_disorder)** > > Internet addiction "disorder" (IAD), also known as problematic internet use, or pathological internet use, is a problematic compulsive use of the internet, particularly on social media, that impairs an individual's function over a prolonged period of time. Young people are at particular risk of developing internet addiction disorder, with case studies highlighting students whose academic performance declines as they spend more time online. Some experience health consequences from loss of sl Exces... [http://www.addictionrecov.org/Addictions/index.aspx?AID=43](http://www.addictionrecov.org/Addictions/index.aspx?AID=43) [http://netaddiction.com/](http://netaddiction.com/) ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2015, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-live-in-the-past/717015/22 "2015-04-07T17:26:20Z")
I’m with the majority that would not want to travel back to live some significant time ago, even with tremendous wealth. I really hope people feel our healthcare, entertainment options, social/legal inequality and such are primitive in 80 years and say the same thing about living in 2015. I just hope things get “better” (in my own subjective way, as everyone has their own idea about what would be “better” - though objective metrics like childhood mortality, cancer survival rates, car crash deaths, # of homeless etc. do exist) ---
**Author:** ![Habeed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a587f6/32.png) [@Habeed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Habeed)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2015, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-live-in-the-past/717015/23 "2015-04-07T17:30:49Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > If I didn’t have the internet I would have a job now and a girlfriend In 2015, proportionally speaking, there are less available jobs and less available young, non obese women to be your girlfriend. Just saying. ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2015, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-live-in-the-past/717015/24 "2015-04-07T17:31:03Z")
Live? No, but I’d love to visit the late 40s and early 50s for an extended period of time…say a year or so. I couldn’t do permanently because the lack of progression in civil rights would get to me very quickly, but I love the style and ‘feel’ of that era and would find it fascinating to experience. But in the structure of the question as worded, no, I wouldn’t want to take the one way trip. ---
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2015, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-live-in-the-past/717015/25 "2015-04-07T17:37:00Z")
Ah, this is tempting in so many ways, isn’t it? If I could relive the '80s being the person I was and in the life I was in then, I’d do it in a heartbeat, even knowing all the bad things that have happened since then. But to go back to another time permanently, being me at my present age and present knowledge and habits, not a chance. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-live-in-the-past/717015/26 "2015-04-07T17:43:02Z")
A few years ago I read an essay that included a comparison of the Pyramid of Cheops against a 7-11 convenience store. That comparison is excerpted [here.](http://www.windsofchange.net/archives/the_great_pharaoh_cheops_at_the_7-eleven_store.html) Sounds laughable, but it highlights all of the conveniences of modern life that we take for granted. As much as I would have liked to have been a teenager or adult during the Apollo 11 mission, I’m not sure I’d want to do without the things I have grown accustomed to, like internet (instant access to a huge array of information), and a relatively diverse culture (e.g. Japanese restaurants, grocery stores, and books were surely quite rare in the USA in the 1960s). The further back you go, the more conveniences you take away. The lack of modern medicine has been noted upthread. What about knowledge of safe cooking practices? insect repellent (or even screen mesh to keep them out of your home)? Glass for windows? indoor plumbing? You OK with lead paint in your house? Coal for home heating? I’m stayin’ put. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2015, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-live-in-the-past/717015/27 "2015-04-07T17:50:06Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > [Internet addiction disorder - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_addiction_disorder) Shit! On first glance, the guy in the picture in that Wiki article actually looks a lot like me. So much so that for a split second there I had a panic attack and wondered if my webcam had been hacked. Then I realized that… doh, that’s not my living room. Yeah. Extremely short but fairly intense scare there. He sure has the pose down right, though! Uncanny. ---
**Author:** ![Marion\_Wormer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d07c76/32.png) [@Marion\_Wormer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marion_Wormer)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-live-in-the-past/717015/28 "2015-04-08T00:04:22Z")
Live “back then”? Without air conditioning! No way! ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-live-in-the-past/717015/29 "2015-04-08T00:28:30Z")
Already used this phrase once tonight but -------- like a shot. I’m at an age where I have much fewer years in front of me than behind and I’ve always loved history so I’d volunteer in a second. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-live-in-the-past/717015/30 "2015-04-08T00:31:33Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > No way. Last year I had a cardiac catheterization and stent placement, a totally pain free procedure that only became available recently (The first balloon angioplasty was done in 1977. Stents came later, and the drug effusions stent I recieved was a 2012 thing). My view is the same as yours, thanks to the way recently available medical technology has saved my eyesight and may very well continue to save it in the future. ---
**Author:** ![MeanOldLady](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanoldlady/32/10737_2.png) [@MeanOldLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanOldLady)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-live-in-the-past/717015/31 "2015-04-08T00:36:10Z")
> [@RandMcnally](#): > > I’m Black with a white wife. > > So no. Ha! My immediate thought when reading this thread title was “I’m black. And a woman. So no.” ---
**Author:** ![Stuffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@Stuffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuffy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-live-in-the-past/717015/32 "2015-04-08T00:48:13Z")
Black dude here. I wouldn’t travel past 1980 and even then I’d want to do it A Christmas Carol style. ---
**Author:** ![Daylate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9dc877/32.png) [@Daylate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daylate)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-live-in-the-past/717015/33 "2015-04-08T02:36:49Z")
Last week I was chatting with my eye surgeon about the history of cataract surgery, having just a cataract removed, and finding it to be basically a non-event regarding discomfort, etc. If you want to have the hairs on your arms rise up, just read about cataract surgery in the 1800’s or 1900’s. I think I’ll stay right here, thankyouverymuch. ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-live-in-the-past/717015/34 "2015-04-08T03:34:08Z")
If I could go back knowing what I know now? Absolutely! I wouldn’t need the internet anymore. I know how to garden, forage, run a household staff of six (though I can’t get a housekeeper today), set a fine table and even cook in Victorian style and grandeur, clean silver, paint trippery and crochet or sew finery. Not to be weird, but easy access to [apothecary delights](https://airshipambassador.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/chloroform.jpg)would be useful and fun as well ;)…modern medicine is not helping me old rheumatiz, so… Take me back to 1890-1910. I’ll be just fine. I’ll so enjoy the regimented social calls (I hate the modern equivalent and am a hermit now). I’d even love being an “eccentric” as I probably would be, coming from this era. Most of all I think I’d love the inexpensive household services, both in-house hired, and amenities such as milk delivery, etc. In the social class my family would be in, during that time frame, I’d be in seventh heaven, believe me. Not bored, either…the music and art and social amusements suit me just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Quatro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bc8723/32.png) [@Mr\_Quatro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Quatro)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-live-in-the-past/717015/35 "2015-04-08T03:48:56Z")
> [@Neem](#): > > I already feel I live better than kings in previous centuries in all measures I care about. So true … just one salad bar today has a better selection than kings use to have. For less ten dollars I can have all I want to eat. I’ll stay in the century thank you ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-live-in-the-past/717015/36 "2015-04-08T04:51:56Z")
I think I would have liked the old west if I had the money to say start a good farm or cattle operation. What would be great is the lack of crowds and that the night sky would have been so intense without all the city lights blocking the stars. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-live-in-the-past/717015/37 "2015-04-08T05:11:22Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-live-in-the-past/717015/38 "2015-04-08T05:37:11Z")
Not even a decade. Xyrem has changed my life. And without AC, no BeeGee. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-live-in-the-past/717015/39 "2015-04-08T10:21:04Z")
I’ve mentioned my grandmother on this board, a lot. She died in November of 2012, just short of her 1o8th birthday, so she lived through the time mentioned, before and after. As a teenager she once told me she much preferred living now, the 1970’s. She liked washing machines and dryers, refrigerators and freezers, modern medicine and air conditioning. Oh, she LOVED air conditioning, having lived through the summer heat waves of the 1930’s. She loved television too. She honestly didn’t believe in the concept of the good old days, saying people were no worse “now” than they were “then”. She told me keeping clean was harder in the old days, both one’s body and one’s clothes. Thinking about what she said I decided I would like to visit the past, but not to live there. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2015, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-live-in-the-past/717015/40 "2015-04-08T13:54:06Z")
Never. Never, Never. I like modern conveniences. Modern technology. Modern Medical care etc. The future, on the other hand? That I would do. If a portal opened up in front of me that I couldn’t see through and I knew it led to 50 years into the future I would jump in in a second. I’m optimistic. I think the future can only be better. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-live-in-the-past/717015.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-want-to-live-in-the-past/717015.md?page=3)