Why we often, mistakenly, think the past was a golden age

This argument – for example, “Why isn’t music as good as it used to be?” – reflects a historical selection bias, one colorfully described by the designer Frank Chimero. “Let me let you in on a little secret,” he writes. “If you are hearing about something old, it is almost certainly good. Why? Because nobody wants to talk about shitty old stuff, but lots of people still talk about shitty new stuff, because they are still trying to figure out if it is shitty or not. The past wasn’t better, we just forgot about all the shitty shit.”

Behavioural principles

Behavioural ideas at play in this post

Short, plain-English explanations of the principles behind this post, with links to related books and examples in the archive.

Expectation effect

Expectations change how the same experience feels.

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Choice architecture

The way options are arranged changes what people notice and choose.

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Affect heuristic

We lean on how something feels when making a fast judgment.

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Why we often, mistakenly, think the past was a golden age

Behavioural ideas at play in this post

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