It's way better than 1800 - and 1800 was better than 1400, which was better than 600 and so on

It wasn't, progress isn't chronological at all

1. Which people? Life for everyone except Europeans got worse over the modern period until just a few decades ago
2. If we hold place constant: Which era? It's still not chronological, Arabs definitely lived better under their Golden Age than they did in 1930
3. If we only look at Northwest Eurasia: Why did 10% of their population die in 1945? Why was there a Roman Golden age, and then half the population died from the Black Death, and then another golden age?

"life was hell because smartphones or electricity didn't exist"
people had better nutrition 6000 years ago in Pakistan during the neolithic than they've had at any point in the last millennium, including now. We know this because they were significantly taller.

Progress in human living standards has nothing to do with progress in technology. It has to do with human access to resources. Technology can be a way to attain those resources, but the progress doesn't come from the tech itself. Chinese people don't live better because they have factories, they live better because the wealth generated from the factories is used to trade for cement (for housing) fertilizer (for food) and grain (for animals). And most importantly because the government CHOOSES to distribute these things somewhat equally