Originally it was going to be “over the last twenty years” but I decided to be more flexible.
A lot of discussions about how society has changed or how the world is different always circle around to smartphones, social media, “no one talks to each other in person, they’re on their phones always” and the like.
Outside of those topics, what else has changed, by your perception?
No smoking indoors anymore. I remember when you could still smoke in a hospital. Then they limited it to just a “smoking lounge” on each floor. Followed eventually by a ban inside…to finally no smoking anywhere on hospital property.
Not to mention airplanes, restaurants and movie theaters.
In some airport I’ve had transfers in a few times (I want to say Detroit?) they have a smoking lounge that’s just four glass walls hooked up to a filtration system, and it cracks my shit up every single time to see the smoker terrarium.
I’d go further than that. I remember smoking being pretty common everywhere in the 1980s, and cigarette butts being common anywhere outdoors in a public setting.
I rarely see anyone smoking anymore, and rarely see a single cigarette butt.
That being said, where you are in the US is gonna be a factor, and there are some countries that do still see a fair bit of smoking.