Back then there was no stream of constant fearmongering on all the news channels. People read their local newspapers, some obituaries, local ads. There were a couple pages of truly important global news and that's it.

Now even to the most Internet-savvy it's often not clear what's truth and what's the alternative truth. We don't need to look for the things we want to hear - hyperoptimized algorithms deliver it to us directly to maximize engagement, so for majority it really feels like everything is getting worse.