Many things that were considered luxuries have become necessities. Cherise has a good list, and I'm sure there are more.

However, I also think that we can go back if we had to. It would be a tough adjustment but not impossible. We have just become so dependent on these things that the thought of living without them is scary. To tell you the truth, when I watched that short lived tv show about the cop that was transported back to the 1970's (I can't remember the name of it but Lisa Bonet was in it as his girlfriend), the depictions of the people and life in the 1970s was kind of scary to me. I was just a kid then, and made it through just fine. But the thought of no computer, internet, cell phones, etc. seems almost barbaric. And that was only 40ish years ago.

My mom is fond of saying that she thought she was born in the wrong century and that she thought she would be happier in another. I try to remind her of all the problems inherent in that. Status of women, level of technology, etc etc made life very difficult for many people. We tend to see the life of the rich as the life we would want to have back then but there were very few rich people. More than likely, we would all be serfs or slaves or something.

So I am digressing as usual. We consider many luxuries a necessity because we really don't know how to live any differently. How many of us can go and find drinkable water that doesn't come from a faucet. Maybe some. How many people can get a variety of food that doesn't come from a grocery store. Again some, but many people no longer have the land to develop or cultivate crops and animals.

We could go back but it would be tough, and it would take a few generations to stop lamenting the loss.