Is modern life always "better" than it was in the past?

I wouldn't say modern life is always better than the past, but in some cases it is such as in cures for illnesses and viruses. Now we have developed so many different kinds of medicine to take that many of the diseases that used to be considered deadly are now not. People now in modern life are expected to live longer and are healthier than in the past. But our health isn’t the only thing that has improved; technology now has immensely advanced within the past years. People living in the nineteenth century wouldn’t have even had any idea what a cellphone is. However now a days we rely on cellphones, laptops, and the internet to just get through the day. But there are also some ways that modern life now is worse than the past. The pollution now has increased a lot over the years, which is ruining our natural environment. Greenhouse gases that are dispensed into the air only increase global warming. Water pollution causes about fourteen thousand deaths per year from the contamination of drinking water. Also due to the progress of automobiles, a side effect is that it is one of the main causes for air pollution. Ozone pollution can also cause health problems such as respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, throat inflammation, chest pain, and congestion. A good way to help decrease the amount of pollution is to recycle. Without pollution control the waste products from consumption, heating, agriculture, mining, manufacturing, transportation, and other human activities will diminish the environment.