Depends what you’re comparing. ALL humans in first world countries are infinitely better off than 100 years ago.The previous methods don't appear to be working either... NZ, Australia, USA makes no difference which country we are talking about.
Health, life expectancy, access to food, lifestyle, etc. stats all prove it. Our poverty is nothing on third world countries where they live with real life threatening poverty.
There are negative as well in loss of what we had for ALL cultures as we live more complex, restricted lives. Most of us long for the ‘good old days’ of even our childhood (when houses were cheap, etc.)