Today's generation has it easy.
Your odds of dying or getting seriously injured in WW2 or even Vietnam (both of which had drafts) were much greater than your odds of dying in Iraq or Afghanistan (no draft) or in a terrorist attack.
Women, gays, and minorities had it far worse in the 1950s than today. As for white males, their life expectancy is over 5 years longer than the 1960s, and that's true even with the opioid crisis. People of all races, genders, and backgrounds don't have to worry about gas or food rationing now, but that wasn't true during WW2 and the 1970s oil embargo.
Median household incomes are slightly higher than the 50s, but the only reason everyone whines about income inequality so much is that the rich are now the mega-rich. The poor in the Great Depression had to worry about not getting enough food, the poor in the Great Recession worry about not being able to take vacations. Mining, construction, and many other dangerous jobs are much safer now than 50 years ago. Air and water quality is generally much better as well. Flint's water crisis is less severe than entire rivers regularly catching on fire, and LA's worst smog in 2017 would be considered an average day in 1967.
Standards are laughably low these days. You have pervasive grade inflation at the college (and sometimes even high school) level. People who are even a bit fidgety or odd get an ADHD or autism diagnosis and are given special accommodation for tests. Even for regular students, a high school education now is equivalent to an 8th grade education back then - just look at how many people struggle with basic Algebra and reading comprehension. As far as track goes, most track guys I know were running low 11s and 4:30s in the 100 and the mile. Today's median seems to be low 12s and 5:00, and even that's being generous. Ryun's 3:55 mile on a dirt track is leagues ahead of anyone else.
The only thing that sucks for today's generation is the lack of freedom. Kids are on a leash and always have to be accompanied. Back then, we biked half a mile to the local park, played baseball, climbed trees, and jumped in the lake. We came home muddy and dirty with an occasional scraped knee, and our parents didn't care as long as we were back by sunset and cleaned up afterwards. Today, someone would call child services within half an hour if you tried to let your kids do that.