Strongly disagree with this.
In the 80s your car would have been a POS that was lucky to start every morning. Remember when having 100k miles was a big deal? Corvettes had 185hp...
I didnt have a color tv in the 80s, id venture to say that the 60" HD tv you can buy now for $400 costs less and looks a little better than that black and white tv.
In every field Ive worked in, from running my own biz, to sales, to now engineering the internet has made me infinitely more productive in my job. Not because I work more but because of all the troubleshooting knowledge I have at my fingertips. I dont have to dig through manuals. I can also browse forums to see if other people have had the same issues, In general a lot of employers are pulling back on working hours as they realize people are more productive when they have better work life balance.
As far as houses go they may not be nicer but theyre way more affordable Mortgage interest rates in the 80s were 10-20%. Now theyre 3-4.