We live in the 21st century, the century of constant changes, the century of haste and speed. The German word «Zeitnot», or time trouble, can be used to describe every day of our present life.
We live in the century of intellectual overwork, and all the processes on the whole are ten or even more times more intensive than those of the 19th century.
That calm and in a way slow mode of life is irrevocably lost for us nowadays. The accelerating pace of changes, that took place over the whole twentieth century, and is still in progress, has completely altered human nature.
But let’s assume, that a modern man has just been transferred into those days. So, in case he’s deprived of the memory of his previous life, everything will be all right. But if he’s not deprived of it, that mode of life is sure to cause a lot of trouble, beginning with the absence of modern conveniences, modern transport, technical appliances, electricity, as we completely depend on them, to say nothing of absence of information. What we need today is information, coming fast.
What is our life today? Since early childhood it’s adaptation to all the changes, taking place in the world. Since early childhood it’s the process of intense absorption of knowledge, and the volume of it is really inconceivable. It’s the process of recurrence of phylogenesis, or historical development of a human being, in ontogenesis, or individual development of a person.
So, these are real challenges that temper the character of a human being.
Was it a good thing to live in those days? It’s rather difficult to answer this question, but from the objective point of view, without taking into consideration all these conveniences and all things like that, it had mostly positive traits. Daily routine, mixed with not very frequent events, keeping regular hours seems to us nowadays a boring thing.
Besides, there are two different words, ‘get accustomed’ and ‘get adjusted’. Getting adjusted means getting used to something, and reconciliation with circumstances in some way; while getting accustomed means taking something up, so that it doesn’t contradict to your nature.
So, in my opinion, it’s not possible for a man to get accustomed to the way of life of the 19th century, but it’s possible only to get adjusted to it.
To finish with, it’s good to say, that there’s really no distinct, final answer to this question. We can find a lot of examples, when people, having a good position in the society, leave their previous success behind, go to some remote nook of the country, placing themselves in the conditions of the 19th century. Is it an inexplicable irradiation of human mind, or is it insanity, caused by the life in the 21st century? Maybe, such people subconsciously look for a resort, being eager to escape of modern life?