Why so many people have more stuff, than in past decades, but feel like they are in more poverty?

I'm old enough to remember the 1960s though I was a child. In many ways, it was a more spartan time than today. Compare the transistor radio, which could only pick up a few stations, to the smartphone of today. At the same time, there was more of a feeling of prosperity. Why is this the case? One thing is that among the large middle class, there was more security about basics such as housing and health insurance. Yes, the luxuries were spartan, but something we didn't look forward to was more assured; going to the dentist.

Expectations were lower so I think there was a bit less of comparing one's lot in life with others. Yes, there was the phrase, "keeping up with the Joneses," but it seemed like less of a zero sum game for survival, or at least to avoid homelessness.

As we face big worries, from the left over climate change and from the right over the deficit, it seems like austerity is likely to be shoved upon the bulk of people; except as always, most of the super rich. Bad politics will likely keep people unhappy, but in an ideal world we ought to figure out how to measure our progress in less financial ways.

All the money, in the world, could not have bought the smartphone, back in the 1960s, yet today it's vast capabilities are, basically, taken for granted.

Measuring everything in financial terms is very limited. Multi million dollar computers of decades past have little capability, or portability, that so much less expensive things have today, yet measuring these gifts in money seems to be a broken paradigm.

What is the true worth of an experience, of friendships of community, safety and the environment? Money doesn't even provide an absolute measure of something like a smartphone. In 1960s it would be almost like having pure magic. Today, it's value pales compared to one month's rent in a cheap apartment.