[medion]

It’s a nice list, but honestly, none of these improvements are really life changing (except the reduction in crime that has been noticeable and good). Things otherwise got a bit nicer and a bit cheaper and a bit faster - but life would have been just fine without these improvements.

[alabastervlog]

The smoking one's huge. It's hard to overstate how incredibly gross most public spaces (and homes...) were before indoor smoking largely vanished.

[dcminter]

I went off pubs after the smoking ban in Britain; suddenly it was much more obvious that they all smelled of sweat and stale beer.

[aaronbaugher]

After smoking in bars was banned, my brother and I noted how run-down and dreary the places we hung out looked. We just hadn't been able to see it before through the haze.

I always hated the smoke and the way your hair and clothes would still reek of it the next morning. Now, on the rare occasions I catch a whiff of cigarette smoke, it's nostalgic and almost smells good.

[munksbeer]

Many of us still love going to pubs. So much better not waking up reeking of second hand smoke. I went skiing in Austria a few years back and some of the places still allow smoking inside. I couldn't handle it, I can't believe I ever did.

[tiborsaas]

> War on Drugs Lost

This one is kinda life changing if your life isn't ruined by getting caught with a joint.

[rsynnott]

> none of these improvements are really life changing

They don't really cover it, but one literally life changing one has been medicine; a lot of things that were a death sentence (and often a very nasty, slow, painful one) in the 90s are now quite treatable. Particularly cancers, but also there've been big improvements in cardiac treatment, and the treatment of certain diseases (particularly HIV).

[kaashif]

Yeah, it's no indoor plumbing or fertilizer, that's for sure.