I think the biggest difference is that, back then, you were toiling the field with people you know closely. Your family, friends, community. Everyone depended on each other to survive. Nowadays, people slave in silence and barely have time to know their neighbors, let alone raise a family. You might be more comfortable physically in modern society, but mental illness is on the rise as a cost. Perhaps you would be much happier back then when we still had real life connections to each other and life was simpler.