The 1990s really was a better world in a lot of ways. That McDonald’s video below got me thinking about it. And I don’t believe I feel that way just because I grew up then. No, my 1992 was not particularly great personally. I was getting beat up a lot and was roundly hated by nearly all of my peers and just about everyone else too.

Have you been in a McDonald’s lately, though? They obviously don’t want you in there. The seating is de minimis; the decor is brutalist grey; the front counter is abandoned and the entire environment is clinical. It’s designed to make you leave as hastily as possible and not want to come back. They want you to use their app and if you must, the drive through — they’d prefer you order delivery, however.

McDonald’s has become, like many parts of our civilization, an inhuman place, a territory optimized for the needs of technology and those serving it. If they could — and soon they probably will — they’d eliminate the dining area altogether.

I don’t like crowds, but even I preferred when McDonald’s had raucous birthday parties going on, people meeting up and having fun. And when it didn’t feel like a prison dining facility. What the fuck are we even doing with this shit?

The future, as I’ve said before, is terrible.