Let's say I plan to go for a morning walk tomorrow.
Tomorrow comes and for whatever reason, I miss my walk.
I could hate myself or investigate "why", so I can put into place ways in which I can reduce the likelihood of missing my walk tomorrow.
Self-improvement in a nutshell.
When people say “Back in my day things were better”, what they actually mean is that things were simpler. But whether they were better is an arguable point. The question you should ask when people say this is “better for whom?”