Younger people are more political active and engaged than ever. They are shifting policies towards the left. Unions are become more popular throughout the west and are achieving improvements in workers rights. People from all around the world are engaging with each other regularly on the internet which reduces us vs them mentality. Climate change is at the forefront of political discussion and is backed by the largest investment funds in the world. Technology is getting better, easier to use means it's accessible to more people. Your family and friends aging is unfortunately part of the human condition. The fact that we are talking about wages not keeping up with cost of living is a good sign it means we have identified it as an issue and politically the issue is already bring tackled.

There's a lot of bad things to dwell on but to say everything is getting worse is unhelpful and demoralizing. If everything was actually getting worse I can honestly say I would kill myself. I believe there is a future for us all to work towards.