Biggest changes in the past 5 years?

[sesop]

This may be a bit long. Thanks for reading.

I came back to the hobby after what turned out to be a 5-year hiatus after my first child was born. I didn't realize how much I missed it until last night when I looked at Leon and Scott's auction and saw several cards I had been looking for before I took a break. While I was disappointed to be outbid on all bids, I was kind of surprised by the hammer price- seemed low. A check on ebay later in the evening was a revelation- the listing mechanics are very different- baseball cards sorted into categories including "pre-WW2," which is different than I remember- while I can't recall exactly how it was, I do remember it being more specific somehow- a T206 category, perhaps? The prices on eBay, even some of the BINs, which were always outrageous fantasy prices, seemed more reasonable.

I have a slew of questions as if I've woken up from being in a coma for the past 5 years, but the biggest one is about the market in general. While I was never into cards for the money, I do hope that anything I buy will at the very least retain its value so that when my kids go to sell my collection, they aren't sitting on thousands of dollars in "worthless" cardboard. I guess that with more crap to spend one's disposable income on, there's less money for cards and thus prices haven't been as strong lately? Is my perspective skewed? faulty memory? Wrong context? Are there a lot of new people coming into the hobby? What about popular issues- when I "left," the T206s were king. Still true? How about some of the more esoteric issues- anything gaining in popularity? My mind has been going a thousand miles a minute with questions, but maybe the best way to address this would be to ask, simply, from your perspective, what have been the biggest changes in the hobby over the past 5 years? What are the biggest differences? I know everyone's perspective is going to be different, but I'd love to glean some insight from anyone who cares to offer some input to help a fellow collector ease back into things.

I see a lot of new names here- im looking forward to reconnecting with old friends, meeting new friends, and jumping back in with both feet!

Thanks in advance.