[zanny]

We are barely living any differently than we did in 1962 - our vehicles are not any fundamentally different (maybe more fuel efficient / safer due to standards implemented), the way we grow and consume sustenance has not changed (green revolution was mostly in the 40s / 50s), the vast majority of our electricity comes from the same sources (long dead plants), we die of the same things (cancer and heart attacks), our education system is the same (in America), our roads are the same freaking roads from the national highway system in that decade (in the USA).

Besides the communication revolution as a product of the internet, and the ability to create images and sounds much more effectively using those devices, the average persons life has not changed much.

We have changed in some ways though due to that communication revolution - it has had profound effects on workforce distribution (labor jobs, if any chance exists, are simply deposited where the labor market is cheapest while stable enough not to have large overhead from unstable nations), wealth in the USA has been dramatically concentrated in the richest 0.1% as a result of that globalization due to computerized communication, we are much more involved as a species with each other, etc.

And communication improvements are great. But they are a tiny aspect of life, and they are about the only thing getting noticeably better. A lot of that is due to copyright, patents, and draconian laws holding back self driving cars, stem cell grown replacement limbs, 3d printers in the home, thorium power, and a bunch of other just-out-of-arms-reach revolutions in the way we live our lives outside of that audio / visual space computers vastly improved.

[dingfeng_quek]

Consumer goods are, however, much cheaper now as compared to 50 years ago (at least in urban Asia where I live). It makes a huge difference between spending 10% of my income on daily necessities, as opposed to 50% like my ancestors did.

Arguably, this matters mostly to those below a certain threshold income (difference of 2% and 10% not as big as 10% and 50%), i.e. matters more to the poor than to the rich. I think American citizens tend to be richer than the rest of the world.

[zanny]

The cost of a loaf of bread in that decade was 5 cents, the average wages per hour in the US was 35 cents. Today, a loaf of bread is $2.50 and the average wages is $12 an hour. A house would be $10k to build (my grandparents built their house in '72 for $15k, it is now worth $250k) where a person was making $6k a year. Today a house averages $250k and you make $60k. In actuality, the costs of necessities have gone up, but the costs of almost everything else dropped due to globalization. But you can't outsource growing food, buying land, or building houses really well.

[karl_nerd]

While I agree with a lot of your points; in 1962 a lot of people in us/europe went abroad once or twice in their lifetime. Now, many go twice a year.

[zanny]

Was that systemic of high prices in traveling / hotel fees, or because of other causes? I can imagine a lot of things - a fledgling tourism industry, the Cold War stifling international travel, not enough information / knowledge about foreign nations, no advertising campaigns attempting to attract people to visit. That could be due to a lot more than just "travel / hotel costs have dropped a lot" (only because I don't know if they have).