automation mostly and directly benefits owners/investors, not workers or common folk. you can look at productivity vs wage growth to see it plainly. productivity has risen sharply since the industrial revolution with only comparatively meagre gains on wages. and the gap between the two is widening.
That's weird, I didn't have to lug buckets of water from the well today, nor did I need to feed my horses or stock up on whale oil and parchment so I could write a letter after the sun went down.
some things got better. did you notice i talked about a gap, not an absolute. so you are just saying you are satisfied with you got out of the deal. well, ok - some call that being a sucker. or you think that owner-investors are the only way workers can organize to get things done for society rather than the work itself.
Among other things that's because we measure productivity by counting modern computers as 10000000000 1970s computers. Automation increases employment and is almost universally good for workers.