Yeah, there were always folks keeping up with the Joneses, or pursuing the latest fad, or being obsessed with money to the extent that they had forgotten what it *could* buy, never mind what it couldn't. But it didn't seem so all-pervasive as now. People seemed kinder and gentler, and more human. They seemed like they had other things they cared about than what the media dictated.
And there we have it. We are a society where media is dangerous to the patter of tiny minds. It instills desires and values that weren't there, before. Because someone is going to profit, somewhere, somehow. And the price has been our quality of life.
Stop the world, I want to get off.