Would You Choose to Live in Simpler Times?

 Saturday mornings have a rhythm of their own.

They are reserved for the weekly visit to the local market, buying vegetables and groceries, washing and sorting them, and prepping everything ready for the week ahead. Weekdays are a blur of lunch boxes, breakfast, school, and work. So, this weekly ritual makes life a little less hectic.

Like most weekends, there was music playing in the background. Old Hindi film songs. The kind that instantly transport you to another era.

As one song followed another, I found myself wondering about the actors on screen and the people who lived through those decades. When these songs were filmed, could anyone have imagined the world we live in today? Smartphones, AI, Ubers and 10-minute deliveries...Video calls with someone sitting thousands of miles away. The central conflict due to miscommunication in those movies could've been solved in a matter of minutes. 

To them, all of this would probably have sounded like science fiction.

I shared this thought with my OH. He smiled and differed in his view.

"Those were simpler times," he said. "People were happier. Life wasn't ruled by instant gratification, endless notifications, or the pressure to always be connected."

It was a fair point.

It also made me ask myself a question. If I had the choice, would I actually want to live in those times?

Surprisingly, my answer was no.

I enjoy revisiting the past through its music. I smile at old photographs. I love hearing stories from that generation. But I wouldn't want to give up the conveniences, opportunities, and possibilities that today's world offers.

In fact, I've noticed something else. As much as I admire old cinema, I rarely have the patience to sit through an entire classic film anymore. Somewhere along the way, my mind has adapted to a different pace. Not necessarily a better one, just a different one.

And that led me to another thought.

Perhaps knowledge changes us in ways we don't fully appreciate. Once you've experienced a new way of living, thinking, or doing things, it is incredibly difficult to return to not knowing it. You cannot unknow electricity, the internet, antibiotics, GPS, or AI. The mind resists going back because its idea of "normal" has shifted. 

Maybe that's why every generation romanticizes the one before it. We remember what was beautiful about the past while conveniently forgetting its limitations.

The past deserves our affection. It gave us timeless music, enduring relationships, and memories worth preserving. The present deserves our gratitude. It has given us tools that have made life safer, faster, healthier, and more connected than our grandparents could have imagined.

 

Once you've experienced a new way of living, the mind finds it almost impossible to return to not knowing it.

Perhaps the answer isn't choosing one over the other. Maybe it's carrying forward the warmth, patience, and human connections of simpler times while making the best use of the remarkable world we live in today.

After all, progress is not the enemy of nostalgia. The two can coexist quite beautifully. Right?