Is the world really any worse than before or are we just more consistently exposed to its negatives due to technology?
No. It is momentarily worse now.
Hardship creates reason (God’s learning framework). In hardship, reason is required so that people can individually come to understand and accept why they don’t get everything they want, or that they must work hard to acquire it.
Rational people create just societies. Just societies produce wealth. Unfortunately, affluence produces irrationality and entitlement. This is because the people can get nearly everything they want without producing or earning it. Or, malevolent people in the government tell the people that the government will give them everything they want. That is, destroy wealth, and create future hardship where the cycle can begin again.
Irrational people govern unreasonably. Irrational people destroy wealth—not understanding how it is created. Irrationality leads to nihilism.
It is a cycle. The cycle will continue until society learns how to develop and preserve rationality outside of hardship.
