Probably not, but an interesting question.
It is one of the signs of the last days for the coming of the Messiah, so it is. It’s not the only one.
However, we live in a completely different world than the beginning of the 20th century. Society was pretty stable for man throughout his history right until the 20th century. Pretty much anybody born at any time, until the 20th century, would not have found his life too different from all other points in history. It’s only been the 20th century that has been really, really different.