Decided people are becoming even more mean

There is still a lot of kindness and good out there. For the most part, I still have faith in my fellow humans.
The rest of it is sad and I do agree that there is more entitlement and less inclination to confront people behaving objectionably. I do understand this too, as you never know what you're gonna get!

I agree. I think ita really complex, but don't think it's necessarily liked to people increasingly living on top of each other. I know lots of older people that were brought up sleeping three to a bed because of multi generational living. People used to have larger families. Just look at post war conditions in the UK. Tower blocks are not new. Its now a lot more unusual (in general) for siblings to share bedrooms and less families are living in city centres (look at school closures in London). And I think this is actually contributing, when you're living closely with others you are forced to learn to bite your tongue, negotiate fairly, pick your battles...now you are more likely to be able to put headphones on somewhere to at least be 'virtually' alone, exist in a virtual echo chamber, abuse people online you don't like the look of etc. I wonder what would happen if social media was banned

Try going through security at an airport. Folk diving in front and putting trays on so you can’t get your tray onto the conveyor. Then shoving you out the way to pick up their stuff. Oh and getting on the plane is all sorts of fun…people walking up when their group hasn’t been called yet and trying to board..,wait your turn! I know you have overhead bags but wait! The best one was a guy standing one the aisle at the front row reading a text on his wife’s phone that she was holding. Are you sitting next to her, well get in your seat then read it? If not it can wait, I just said ‘aye great place to stand pal! 200 people are trying to get past. Move!!!’

Also why do people just stand in the worst place imaginable so people are inconvenienced by then either yammering shite with their pals or just in a world of their own. I used to say excuse me but now I say ‘you are in the way of everyone!’ They react like I’m the person in the wrong despite the fact they are standing at the broom of an escalator or similar! People are more stupid than before Covid and I have had to become flightless ruder to get them to think.

The phone thing drives me mad BUT hardly a day goes by where I don’t see someone offering their tube seat to someone who needs it

In London the arsehole count has shot up.

If you’re not fleeing a deliveroo or cyclist on
the pavement you’re being sworn at by a man or elbowed by anyone aged 3 up. Phone screamers on every corner.

Bus drivers are becoming tetchy.

I think you are completely right @Se@SerenityNowInsanityLater I think that in some ways life is easier but in many ways it is harder. Life was more simple in previous years: go to school, get a job, buy a house, get married and have children. Everything is so much more difficult to do. Even low paid jobs need certain qualifications which can be difficult and expensive to get. The variation in education is huge and there seem to be a lot of children with behavioural issues these days. Finding a partner can be tricky as there are fewer social opportunities. There are lots of pressures for people and also expectations and so it is more difficult to maintain these relationships. I qualified for a profession years ago and I look at the newly qualified salaries and they are pretty similar to years ago. House prices are ridiculous and both parents working full-time puts a huge pressure on people. Being a single parent is also a huge stress. We went to Cornwall on holiday this summer and it was unbearable. It was too busy and too fraught. One of my best friends lives there and she says that she doesn't leave the house until the evening in the holidays. I think there are too many people for our tiny island which is making quality of life worse. I think with global warming we need to have the potential to be self-sufficient (for example if other countries stop exports of food items ). Looking in the future looks scary with all the problems in the world and that makes people irritable.

I agree there's just too many of us and we are increasingly experiencing queues, traffic jams and delays. I think people become short tempered and mixed with the entitlement of some people, we seem to have lost manners and politeness. I see it in my work, in a queue? Suddenly you're a 'special' case that needs to be at the front. Can't bring your dog into my food outlet? Suddenly he's your 'emotional support dog'.

Generally agree. Would have felt sorry for the lady with the doll, though. Clearly unwell.

I think it's been declining for years but Covid has exacerbated it more so. In years gone by you would often bitch about people you didn't like or about something that had happened whilst you were out and about behind closed doors. You'd do this with your social circle and immediate family. There is less of a village nowadays and people really do seem less bothered about letting others know about them being disgruntled. I think you'd often say someone was a grumpy old man and that it would be that youngsters were bright, youthful and full of life and joy. I think actually it's now across all generations the grumpiness. There really is no British stuff upper lip nowadays.

@SerenityNowInsanityLater Great post, absolutely nails it.

I think probably there is a bit of confirmation bias. You see what you are looking for.

I also suspect:

• the lady with the doll, probably some kind of special needs at play?
• the lady on the queue, quite probably had previously queued and been told to pop back?
• the couple “huffing” at the child - really how bad we’re they? Is it possible you are projecting a bit?

Yes, there are inconsiderate people out there, and quite possibly those three were genuinely just as bad as you say. But I also guarantee that there were at least as many acts of kindness and generosity, but you didn’t spot them because you weren’t in the mood to see them.

Agree 100%. Appalling driving manners and skills. Rude and insufferable people out and about and a massive drop in standards of behaviour and accountability. I have developed something akin to fear of people.

We live really rural and need to move to a town as we are getting older and DH is really unwell. Neither of us can bear the thought of having immediate neighbours though. Looking at houses for sale in our chosen town makes us feel panic stricken when all we can hear is buzzards and the cockerel at the farm quarter of a mile away.

There are a few people in my gym who play their phones on speaker. I find it infuriating and I'm tempted to go and get mine and play it on speaker whilst sitting next to them so they can't hear their phone and see what they do. But I can't because I leave my phone at home.
Has anyone tried this? What happened?

Oh god the loud phone clips! I find that the weirdest behaviour. It drives me nuts!

I think there’s just too many of us living on top of each other. I find myself just becoming increasingly unable to cope with the constant sensory and physical onslaught that comes with the general public. We’ve become very loud and extremely attention seeking, rude, brittle, jaded, and that’s because social media does several things off the top of my head: Kill critical thought and dialogue, feed isolationism (not introverted behaviour but isolationism- just saying, as a diehard introvert who really likes and needs social interaction despite my nature), fuels self centred, egotistical vanity (I’m the Big Me, I am! Self Care for me, zero fucks given for you) while killing off self awareness, self respect, and respect for others. We’re very disordered and dysfunctional.
Covid, lockdowns, and excessive access to social media haven’t helped. A privileged few influence the many via social media and the result has been this malignant cult of celebrity that’s spilled over into everyday life. That’s a whole other thread. I digress.

There’s very little in the way of simple pleasures for people. Having a coffee with a friend has become an event, an Insta post, a financial luxury for many. And why bother going out to meet people when everyone has become so exhausting with their expectations on high? I avoid certain friends because I don’t want to be on their fucking feed! I just want to talk. Not be part of some stupid story! No photos!

We’re too many, too close, with too much worry and responsibilities and yet not enough to do. We constantly invade each other’s lives and allow our lives to be invaded, everything is up for grabs on social media and yet, we’re so lonely.
We’re not at peace.

I think most people are really bored and really short of money and really disappointed that their phone life hasn’t upgraded their real life.

And that’s my Saturday rant. 😆☕️

Yes, I think there has been a big change in behaviour in the last few years and certainly since I was a kid.

I was in a hospital waiting room this week with a woman in her 30s loudly playing clips on her mobile phone. She did not care that we could all hear her phone or that some of the content she was playing could be disturbing to those of us forced to listen. It was loud enough to drown out the waiting room tv that was playing bbc1 quietly. It seemed especially selfish to do it in a place where none of us could just get up and leave as we had to be there. She was apparently there to accompany her bf (so wasn’t actually the patient herself) but she didn’t once speak to him. People no longer seem concerned that they are terrible company for their loved ones or that they are pissing off strangers.