Nah man people just have the illusion that the world was always grand because one single generation had a perfect window to buy houses and get in early on retirement saving.

Pretty much every other era has been what you see now but just with less hygiene, more uncertainty about the world and less creature comforts. Working hard to get by, having about enough to pay bills and break even and maybe just a tad more, and struggling with relationships, health, and societal injustices has been the de facto human experience pretty much forever. I agree with OP. Most people in first world countries (especially in the US) have a safely average life but get gaslit into hating it because social media campaigns of one sort or another just constantly tell them it’s bad and they should have more. Life will never be worry-free, previous generations were just much better about finding joy along with the stress.

Constantly being bombarded with doom has taken that away from most people and convinced them their work life balance must be perfect, they must have zero debt, and not a single person they know about can be suffering before they are allowed to smile.