Will the 2020’s be as Stress Free as the 1920’s?

You know, it’s pretty interesting that we are about to re-enter the ‘20’s. In the last 100 years we have had some really intriguing decades, many of which we may not look very positively upon. But, the roaring ‘20’s, the decade from 1920 through 1929, are thought of as one giant party when alcohol prohibition ended and financial prosperity flourished. It was a decade sandwiched between 2 World Wars and followed by the worst economic depression our country has ever known. To say the 1920’s were stress free may be a stretch of the imagination. Organized crime and racial prejudice are also signatures of the ‘20’s. So, the question is whether the 2020’s will be as fun as the 1920’s and stress free.

If something has a name, it has an identity. When someone says the ’60s it conjures up images of hippies and moon landings. The ’70s evokes disco and double-digit inflation, and the ’80s connotes MTV and video arcades. These decades were always mentioned by name during their times and were the subject of daily conversation by everyone. But not so since 2000. The nameless decades of the ’00s and the ’10s have no such identities, though certainly enough notable and iconic events have happened in those decades to distinguish them.

An entire generation has come of age growing up in these nameless, faceless, unidentified decades. So these young people might be in for a surprise when the TV media and the average people on the street will all of a sudden be talking about the ’20s all day, every day, just like we all did back in the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. Thus, the sequence of named decades is about to resume again, and will likely continue until the year 2100.

Today, communication is already drastically separating this new decade from the 1920’s. Back then, people living on the other side of the world were as exotic and strange to each other as a person’s imaginations allowed. The lack of knowledge and ability to communicate with other cultures and people in other countries was certainly a factor leading to drastic decisions like war. We can only hope that our abilities to communicate with people on the other side of the planet helps to temper building animosities. Awareness allows people the ability to become mentally prepared which helps relieve anxiety and stress.

We are also seeing yet another end to prohibition. The 2020’s has the potential to be a very uplifting and fun decade. Our stock markets are already playing with all-time highs, so we will have to see if our economy can keep it up for the next 10 years. But, technology will undoubtedly continue to advance creating more opportunity for better communication and more efficient work environments and lifestyles. If advancements and more open-mindedness can lead us to another decade with a reputation anything like the 1920’s, then we all have a lot to look forward to.

Read more at EarthSky.org.