What has been the most influential decade in general terms since the end of WW2 ?
I reckon the 1970s showed the biggest changes both socially and technologically.
All decades are important but which one changed lives to the biggest extent ?
Thé sixties saw a huge social revolution with technological advances happening late on but for me the 70 s saw a real revolution for the world.
I recall Old Years Night in 1969 and thinking to myself, « blimey the 70 s are here already, great times are ahead « . The war seemed light years away…
I reckon the 90s, for good or bad, the development of the Internet, destruction of the iron curtain and flat screen TV (joke)
the 60s of course
Brought us closer to art, fashion and music.
Yes Barbara,I can see what you mean.
all those wonderful memories of dance and getting aquianted with the Good food guide and Ready Steady go.
Who really needed drugs…not me
Never really saw the point of drugs though I did dabble briefly like many in those days.
I suppose the French would cite the 60 s as their most important decade.
I know in Gt Yarmouth in the sixties we still had bomb damaged buildings not cleared behind our house. That’s why I feel the 70 s saw most advances.
Yes, the internet from the 90 s was a major leap even though I first worked with computers in 1975 !
Did not even dabble with drugs even though I spent time with musicians who did. Never been a drinker.
Sadly I am 100 percent hopeless at IT. My keyboard …can not find the arabesque or question mark…can not drive a car or follow choreography.
It is a world of IT.
Although I was only just into my ‘teens’, I vividly remember the events of one year I believe was my most influential: 1968.
It was the year of the Tet Offensive in the Vietnam war – and the realisation that despite its military might America was actually losing to local fighters with few resources; it was the year of the Prague Spring, when the people of Czechoslovakia asserted their human rights against the military might of the old Soviet Union; and in western Europe too student and worker protests brought France to the brink of revolution (the president was evacuated by helicopter from Paris to a French army base in Germany). It was a year of turmoil – but also of tremendous optimism and hope that people acting together could really change the world for the better.
But perhaps most important was the emotional response to the photograph below, taken from Apollo 8 on Christmas Eve 1968 - I had it as a poster on my bedroom wall as a teenager. Never before had anyone seen an ‘earthrise’ from behind another celestial body. To see our own world in this way – as aliens might see it, a precious little ball of life in the dead vastness of space – was a deeply moving experience. It gave extra impetus to youthful demand for a better future, evidenced at Woodstock the following year – but moreover, it led, I believe, directly to the modern environmental movement – which I believe will shape all our futures - a movement driven originally not by the science of climate change, but the revelation that the earth really is a terribly fragile home …
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Got to be the 1960s…start of the Rolling Stones culturally and Vietnam War politically
I think it is the 2010s when we finally moved from an aural / written society to a visual one and all the risks that that entails.
Imagine a programme like Civilization being made today! An articulate man standing in front of a camera and just talking. Inconceivable.
These days we are moving to a world where people have the attention span of a tweet message and picture and believe this is where they gather knowledge and information.
We are now living in a world of selfishness, impermanence and ephemera and the sound bite, where “celebrities” can become “leaders” of their countries, where people walk the streets looking at a small screen oblivious to the world around. And this is only the beginning as we move fully into a world of virtual reality.
Yes, the technology and the possibility to do this came in the decades earlier, but it is in the second decade of the 21st century that we are beginning to see the real impact of those developments.
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How special it was to watch a band called smile at the Royal College of Art kensington Gore.
This was Freddy Mercury and boys. Saturday afternoon in Kensington market and Biba an explosion in finding fashion.
We had the time of our lives in the late sixties
I am sure it was fantastic but I find it a little sad that by your statement you haven’t enjoyed yourself as much for 50 years.
Perhaps worth seeking something new that you really really enjoy doing that can recreate that same level of fun from all those years ago.
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That’s a bit patronising Mat. When people say they had ‘the time of their life’ that in no way implies that they haven’t enjoyed life immensely since - or that they aren’t enjoying it now.
In terms of having fun - of the sex and drugs and rock’n’roll variety - the 70s were best for me (and for most British people actually - as research has shown - until 1979 when Thatcher came along and spoiled the fun) - but this was clearly down to the insights and feelings and liberation that came in the late 60s.
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The attention span of a tweet message and the brain of a gnat to understand it.
Hi Geof - it wasn’t supposed to be it just sounded a little sad to me, but I take your point.
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This is a difficult one from a historical perspective Sue. On the one hand history is full of examples of older people lamenting the negative impact of big changes in technology - especially media. What older people say about mobile phones and social media now, they said about printing in the 15th century! Or television in the 20th. On the other hand, some developments really have been negative in retrospect. The car, for example?
Sorry to disagree Sue but technologically the 2010 s have been immense but the groundwork for all that was done way before then. What’s happened since has been a natural progression imo. As I said, I worked with computers in from 1975 so, hardly a new concept.
Socially the 60 and 70 s were incredible, nothing like that has happened since those days , again imo.
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Oh i did move on to enjoy other interests but it always came back to catering cooking and events.
The cooking school activity was memorable…still like the idea of continuing to do this.
Good to see you have found your full stop on the device you are using.
Izzy x
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Ah the punctuation is so important to you all.
There is still a little time before I reach the full stop.