Old vs New: What's better? (Part 3)

[Alolan_Apples]

Today is my last day I would talk about the differences between the past and the present while going over what's better. Like I said, there are deeper reasons than nostalgia when it comes to whether the old stuff is better or not. No, I don't have my nostalgia goggles on. Some things actually had more advantages in the past as much as they have them in the present.

The five I picked yesterday were film, video games, music players, television screens, and video players. The first two, judging by the quality of gameplay (gaming) and creativity (film), really have gone downhill, but they weren't at their best at the roots either. There was a specific timeframe where they were at the peak, with the 1970's to 1990's being the best era for film and the 5th and 6th generations being the best for gaming. The ones prior to the times they were at the best, were decent classics, but were cheesy compared to what we see now (films were mostly black and white while games were 8-bit or 16-bit). Even back then, they were better than the stuff after the times they were at the best. But there are always decent movies and games no matter what time it is, even if the overall feeling declined. The other three, I did have to admit missing the older models as they shared their advantages (mostly durability), but the newer models were a lot better because of the space efficiency, energy efficiency, safety, and cleanliness (I'm referring to more digital storage). So the first two have gone downhill, but had a timeframe when they were at the best as the other three were better now, but had advantages a while back.

Today's nitpicks are going to be very weird because of how it's picking on social elements rather than technology or media.

1. Lighting - to be honest, this is the only one on today's list I'm happier with the newer versions than the older versions. Sooner or later, LEDs are going to dominate the lighting industry. We may even get to a point where LEDs will be the only lights to use. Lighting went under many improvements over time. There were candles, torches, gas lamps, and oil lanterns before the light bulb was invented. After the invention of the light bulb, we had to deal with incandescent bulbs for a long time. The problem is that they are big, they produce a lot of heat, they aren't as bright, and they can burn out easily. And we heard about how bad they are for the environment, but energy saving bulbs have toxic materials. LEDs are safer. They produce little heat, they are very bright, they last a long time, and they can be placed anywhere. As a bonus, they have the ability to be manipulated to follow any color and have adjustable brightness. I would be glad to stick to LEDs and leave the old lights.
2. Legos - this would be another unfair thing to judge because I am 23 years old. But here's a fact I would like to let you know. While the target audience is primarily 5 to 12 with a few that had an age limit of 16, adults still play wiht Legos or build Lego models. The Lego Architecture theme, was targeted towards mostly those who are 18+ to satisfy their Lego demands. It's nice to see companies appeal to their older generations as much as they do to the newer generations. But here's the thing. Lego is one of those things like cartoons where there's a generation bias (sets were a lot better when you're a child than before your childhood or after your childhood). I was in that target demographic from 1998 to 2005 (2009 on some themes). And yes, I still build with Legos and own them, but I'm not a Lego nerd like I used to be. I'm more on the gaming side. But let me say this much. When I was a kid, I used to read Lego magazines a lot. So I knew which years had which sets. In my opinion, I felt that 2003 was the year Lego was at its best (there are other reasons why 2003 was my favorite year of my childhood as well). I was also very poor back then, so I could only get some Lego sets and not all. And yes, I did see Lego becoming less appealing to me as I got older (even Bionicle, my favorite Lego theme). But really, it hasn't gotten downhill objectively. Trust me. If you were a child in the 70's or 80's, you would think Lego is going downhill in the 90's with no hope of improving. And that was before I was collecting Legos.
   Now if there's anything that Lego has improved over time in the old vs new debate, it would have to be their appealing to their widening demographic. It used to be that they only appealed to little boys. But as more people (young adults and girls) played with them more often, they made more themes for each set. It would be convenient if they started re-releases of older sets (more particularly Bionicle and Star Wars) to appeal to older generations that missed out or to make things fresh for the newer gens, but it makes sense that toys have certain years that they are hot. It's not like the media.
   To summarize this, Legos have gotten better objectively, but there was a time I thought was better than today's.
3. Wired vs Wireless - in an age of modern technology, we had connections to other systems. Many things were wired in the old days, but wireless has become more common today. The advantages of wired tech is that connections are a lot faster, a disruption in radio waves won't affect our connections, we don't have to worry about battery changes or recharging, and everything is direct. But the disadvantages are that they are easy to trip over, a damaged wire ruins the connection, wires can be easily damaged, and if wireless never existed, we have to work harder to do simple tasks even if we're tired.
   This time, I would have to say that I have no opinion on this, but this is an old vs new thing too.
4. Indoor vs Outdoor activity - another thing that differs on generation rather than just two things happening at once. A long time ago, kids used to play outdoors a lot. Over time, they have been spending most of their time indoors. Some of them being safety reasons, but others we can blame TV and video games. They prefer to stay indoors and watch TV now. That's not a problem, but since fewer kids are going out to play, it sounds like a problem because of health issues. Plus, they can get more anti-social if they spend less time outdoors. I know there's more fun indoors, but I think times were better when kids played outdoors more.
5. Social Media - the showstopper to the nostalgia blogs would have to be social interactions over time. A long time ago, people used to spend more time with their local friends. Now they prefer to spend more time online. A long time ago, people in restaurants used to have a nice conversation. Now they are attached to their phones. Cell phones have advantages us, but one of the drawbacks is the lack of social interaction.

Today's entry seems rushed, but I want to finish going over what would be better in the old days or better today.