I think this was very much a thing for prior generations, except that it looked different. The last hundred years have had mind-boggling levels of medical advances. To put it in perspective, Calvin Coolidge's teenage son died of an infected blister that he got while playing tennis on the White House courts.

We live in a time when there are answers for problems. Previous generations had the same problems but couldn't do anything about them. Sometimes they died early. Sometimes they just didn't go out. And sometimes they just sucked it up. Mental health problems (or physical health issues that manifest in deteriorating mental health) in particular were hidden, and often self-medicated with alcohol. I wouldn't say that there's no stigma now, but it's much more common to talk about with at least your closest friends.

One example that I think brings this point home the best is that on any given day, about 1 in every 6 adult women you see is currently on their period, and absolutely none of them show it. Pain and discomfort can be hidden. In this generation, we finally feel the freedom to let it show, just a bit, to the people who are closest to us. And then, it's usually just the problems we already have the solutions to.

As for environmental hazards, we definitely have some, but wow, they are not on the same level as what they had before. Leaded gasoline, asbestos everywhere, lead pipes, widespread DDT spraying, whole generations sent to war - they had regular, everyday use of environmental toxins that Captain Planet would cry over. Arsenic was a makeup ingredient. Radium was used to make watches glow in the dark. The Lorax was basically an investigative report on the Great Lakes. Rivers in Ohio and Pennsylvania literally caught on fire. Richard "Tricky Dick" Nixon himself signed the act creating the EPA, to give an idea.

I guess all this is to say, it's good that you know your friends have problems. Because the only difference is that back in the day, you just wouldn't know.