I feel that there was a trade off. Life became much more complex and the speed of life rose. On the other hand with the advent of widespread fertilizer, advanced tractors, and the death of the sharecropping system, it has gotten much easier to produce food to feed everyone. 50 years ago one could come right out of high school and get a job somewhere other than McDonald's, these days that is not the case.
So in summery, it got easier for everyone to live, but the lives became more demanding.
