@crazy_horse
I also think there is a major need to pay attention to nuance.
There are multiple examples of differences between today’s orthodoxy and previous generations.
They can be categorized in (at least) the following way:
1) Instead of local shtetl rabbonim, we now have major intercommunal poskim
A shtetl rav has his kehilla, and could posken for them. It didn’t matter if other communities were more strict.
But today, a va’ad hakashrus (for example) needs to make food acceptable for a wide range of customers.
That might require combining certain chumros, in order that all kehillos are willing to use the hechsher.
This is also the crux of the issue regarding women’s pictures in religious publications.
Since a sizable part of Klal Yisrael believe that showing women’s pictures in magazines is a problem of tznius, the magazine leave such pictures out in order to market to those communities.
Thus even communities which don’t have an issue with women’s pictures, still end up with “censored” magazines.
2) People are more knowledgeable.
There were certain areas where halacha was unfortunately not being kept in Europe, even though there was no dispute about it.
The classic example of this is regarding women covering their hair.
There’s no heter for a married woman to not cover her hair.
Today, we have managed to raise generations of people who care about keeping these areas of halacha.
3) Relying on extenuating circumstances.
In europe, owing to many factors, often a minority opinion was accepted- not because poskim really held of it, but because the situation was “shas hadechak”.
Once we are no longer in such a “shas hadechak” often times those customs should be updated.
An example of this is chadash.
It’s not a question of being “frummer” than previous generations; it’s a question of acknowledging that the circumstances which justified relying on a minority opinion don’t exist anymore, and therefore the halacha should reflect that.
I once heard a shiur from Rav Hershel Schechter describing Modern Orthodoxy. He defined it as recognizing that circumstances have changed, and thus we need to apply the halacha accordingly.
Even though in Europe halacha alef applied, given today’s circumstances sif beis applies.
This is an area where we can have a machlokes haposkim whether a prior hanhaga was based solely on shas hadechak (etc) and thus should be changed today, or whether such a hanhaga actually was accepted as the psak and thus can be continued.
(Mishna Berurah often goes with the first approach, Aruch Hashulchan and Rav Moshe often go with the second.)
I think these three categories are perfectly understandable and not controversial.
4) Making new “Accepted guidelines” based on current situations
This would include new concepts such as expecting all bachurim to stay in yeshiva until at least 18, and preferably staying in Kollel as well, instead of having most frum kids start to apprentice by age 12.
This is a reaction to a variety of situations- the lack of yiras shomayim on the street and thus the need to be in yeshiva for longer; the fact that the average kid is anyway learning other subjects, and no longer is it acceptable to apprentice preteens; the amount of distractions in today’s world which makes learning harder, and thus requires more time.
This sort of discussion can be questionable, and different communities could have different stances. This might be what you are considering a “new” phenomenon which should be observed.