10 reasons why life was easier/better/happier in 1900 - in a primitive, homestead minimum sized cabin, with dirt floors:

1) No digital accounts to keep up with - this includes user names, passwords, documents saved, documents lost as websites upgrade and shed past documents.

2) No home office supplies to keep track of, like, where are the scotch tape refill rolls? What about thumb tacks? Pens? Pencils with erasers that still work? Postage stamps? 

3) No email accounts to keep track of, update, remember how to log into, etc.

4) No digital challenges to accept or decline.

5) No television noise. At all. 

6) No idea what is happening anywhere else in the world; this is actually peace bringing. Thing about it ...

7) Very few possessions to keep track of/care for, as there was little space to store anything but necessary items. And usually, no stores and/or no money for buying anything.

8) Quiet was everywhere ... you could hear all the birds around you.

9) Creek nearby to walk down to for water, and to listen to ...

10) Fewer things to remember; only really important stuff - like, who were your family members, where are they now ...

I wish I had a photograph of my family's homestead cabin, when I saw it in 1960. It had completely fallen down, and the moist air, rainfall and tiny organisms of the Ozarks were all hard at work decomposing the structure. My dad could now remember, nor tell from the size or location of the structures, which was the 'house' and which was the 'barn' - both were tiny.