I think you'll find that people always grown old and "ground down", way before the "money system" existed.
That's just a fact of nature.
People tend to think more conservatively with age, but not always, and even so it's not always a bad thing; because they also have the advantage of experience (whether they make good use of it or not), and the reverse can be true of younger people.
Nostalgia doesn't have to be blinding - in small doses it can be positive or even neccessary, giving a sense of continuity and purpose.
I'm not a very nostalgic person - and even though music is a big part of my life, I wouldn't volunteer to go back to the 70s
But to reject the very notion that aspects of life and of musical experience
could actually be richer in the past seems odd.
That, to me, could easily be a psychological protection mechanism, just as much as overblown nostalgia is.
You said something that stood out earlier - "it's not healthy to think that way".
That kind of proscription always makes me wary - and I wondered if you might be talking as much to yourself as to us?
Anyway, it's something to think about