[animal531]

I agree with you, except that mostly everything you say seems to be applicable to individuals and not the society they live it.

You are far more better off than in the past, but maybe because of that you (and everyone else) sometimes (unknowingly) are performing actions that are degrading their society as a whole.

Maybe you're having children later, having them raised by a nanny because you're wealthy and/or are working more, maybe you're not allowing them outside to play/grow. Maybe because you're using Facebook you're connecting far more superficially with your friend circle. Your grandmother had the support of all her family, community and neighbors, whereas in the modern world we're going to be going through a lot of things by ourselves.

I think ultimately we can't really know if society is broken, we can only compare it what we had before and what we imagine it can be like. That maybe casts a very negative light on it, when in reality we're doing relatively decently.

[FeloniousHam]

Megan McArdle neatly summarizes the tension between liberalism and society you're talking about:

https://twitter.com/asymmetricinfo/status/992463509534453760...