Contrary to intuition, the average number of hours people work has completely plummeted as well. It's down more than 250 hours a year since the 1950s. [1] At a 40 hour work week that means we now take a bit more than an extra 1.5 months off per year, compared to then. And on topics on forums such as these when you get into physical jobs such as, e.g. plumbers, people bemoan the physical exertion of these jobs and claim the workers are destroying their bodies. OK. Now let's go back to those 'less stressful times.' In the fifties you were looking 7 injuries per 100 workers, and a nation wide average of around 15,000 on-the-job deaths a year. [2] The total workforce back then was only about 62 million. That's 1 in every ~4,100 workers being killed on the job per year. Part of the reason for the rise of occupational safety rules is that so many people were dying on the job that it was hurting the economy!
And this is without even getting into the political differences of the times. In the 1950s people were still just getting over a world war that killed 3% of the entire world's population (imagine 231 million people dying today, to give that seemingly small number the scale it deserves) and brought entire cities to rubble. And this against an extremely capable enemy with genocidal aims, who nearly won. And without missing a beat we then entered into the cold war where everybody woke up realizing that there was a very real chance that their life could end on this day due to imminent nuclear war. Not some abstract 'doomsday clock' nonsense, but literally both sides actively positioning and aiming their nukes at one another ready to go off at a moment's notice - something that genuinely nearly happened multiple times, children practicing drills against nuclear disaster, and regular families building nuclear survival bunkers.
Today we live in a bit of a paradox. Relative to most any time in the past, we live better than ever. Yet people are less satisfied than ever. And I think there's a simple reason. Imagine Star Trek. What would really happen if we had e.g. holodecks? You can do anything, anybody, become anything, anybody, etc. And you would never need, or want, for anything. You would have no conflict, no animosity, and no hope for change since you already have everything. Want to know what the Great Filter of the Fermi Paradox is? Comfort. This would destroy absolutely all meaning in life for most people. People need to want. It provides a clean explanation to so many things. This issue we're discussing, upper class young adults on twitter tirelessly spending their days trying to find things to be offended about - or failing that taking offense on behalf of people they know nothing about, billionaires who continue to work 12 hour days to expand their wealth to no real point, and so on.
[1] - https://alfred.stlouisfed.org/series?seid=AVHWPEUSA065NRUG
[2] - https://www.ehstoday.com/safety/management/good_times_toll