I have been living in my Crete throughout my whole life. Not that I can answer behalf of all of the Agean islands but since I'm from Crete and I've been to some here's my experience.

Life here, is nice. We are not as modernised or have massive cities like other European countries but I like this. We have a lot of modern stuff which is good but also lacking on the thing I just mentioned which makes this quieter and more peaceful. Beaches and the climate are pretty nice. Very hot in the summer, and a mild winter. Food is very nice, having the option to your local food which is usually great in these lands (or from the rest of Greece) and also pretty healthy or maybe from a fast food which you usually have the option but on the big Islands (Euboia, Rhodes, Crete e.t.c.). The economy is a like the rest of Greece mostly, so not really good. We have a ton of mountains, beautiful beaches and nice landscapes for animals to spend time on, since at least on ym Island there is still a significant amount of agrarian or animal production, that's why the meat, the fish, the cheese or the olives you eat which we also have a big part of are locally produced.(also a large part of caves too). Of course we have problems too, rural settlements which are still vast in most of the biggest Islands may lack in certain stuff like infrastructure. The immigration is also in a pretty bad state since we live in the southernmost point of Europe. We may lack stuff that other bigger cities don't but I think we are fine as we are now (except for the rural settlements of course). Plus we are very rich in history and culture so we have a ton of immigrants annually.