Do you like the society we live in?

[rosequartz8]

If not, what are the things that you would like to change If you were given the power and opportunity to change things?

No, I wish people cared about and respected nature and animals.

No. I wish people would treat others how they would like to be treated for a start.

No, I bloody hate the way society is going and I fear for my children's futures.

No, I hate it. I wish we'd stop endlessly building stuff and messing with nature and wildlife. I wish that our obsession with having everything in plastic would end. The local refill store in my town is closing due to lack of business meanwhile our local Aldi is doing great and they have just built a second pound land. I'd change so much if I could but I can't and I hate it.

I don't like it at all. I think as a society we are becoming lonely even though we are more connected than ever with technology. I grew up when everyone knew their neighbours and made time for each other, that isn't there as much anymore.

Also people's lack of respect for animals, nature and each other can be hard to deal with sometimes

@Ricekrispiebun I agree.

I think overall things are brilliant. More people have been lifted out of absolute poverty in the last 20 years than at any time in human history. In the UK, we notice bad things happening so acutely because for the vast, vast majority of the time, things are well and the people you meet are good.

@Tempusfudgeit

I think overall things are brilliant. More people have been lifted out of absolute poverty in the last 20 years than at any time in human history. In the UK, we notice bad things happening so acutely because for the vast, vast majority of the time, things are well and the people you meet are good.

Thanks for pointing this out.

More people have been lifted out of absolute poverty in the last 20 years than at any time in human history.

Yet so many more are now in relative poverty. Our record on inequality is atrocious, and only getting worse.

Definitely good things are happening, but I think we suffer from a real lack of empathy, and the powerful use this to set the most vulnerable against one another ('Oh we don't mean you, we mean those other poor people who don't bother to work/those people just pretending to be ill')

One thing I'd like to change is to replace the current benefits system with one that actually believes people want to work (which such a large majority do that a few outliers hardly matter) and ideally some sort of universal income - it would save money by preventing total destitution and the consequences of it, it would allow people to engage in creative careers regardless of background (because currently they I don't see how anyone but the wealthy can afford to) and improve mental health. Would never happen though, as a UI would force employers to pay more and offer better conditions if people knew they could cover their costs in between jobs.

There are elements of it that I don't like, I dislike social media and the insta vanity that comes with it.
I pass by teenagers and a lot are like clones of each other, difficult to tell apart.
I miss individuality.

I don't like this society. It is very unequal and inequality is getting worse.

I would get rid of public/private schools so that MPs would no longer come from an Eton et al and Oxford elite. Our politicians should represent all aspects of our society and they should have a proper understanding of how society works.

Things such as healthcare, education, transport, power should not be subject to political interference and changes every five or so years. These important national infrastructure elements should be properly planned and protected so that they meet the needs of the population going forward.

Nature should be properly protected and animal welfare taken more seriously. Councils should not be allowed to cut down trees unless they pose a danger. More protected nature reserves.

Something needs to be done about anti social behaviour. Too many people get away with tormenting their neighbours with noise, rubbish, being aggressive and nasty etc. Vandalism and destruction of shared spaces affects everyone.

@CorrBlimeyGG

More people have been lifted out of absolute poverty in the last 20 years than at any time in human history.

Yet so many more are now in relative poverty. Our record on inequality is atrocious, and only getting worse.

Totally agree.

Being poor in this country is totally horrendous. Every support service has been cut to the bone. So many people are living in awful conditions and there is no help for them at all.
Not to mention people with learning difficulties, disabilities, drug problems etc.
If you are middle class, mentally and physically well, and wealthy then life is wonderful.
Our society places far far far to much value on money, and nowhere near enough on helping others.

No. Everything is a shit show. I can't think of one positive.

I hate all the celebrity worship and Instagram influence/ YouTube stuff.

I feel very lucky to be living in the UK in 2022. I always tell my children they have won the life lottery and to be very grateful for their lot and pay back that gratitude to society.

Compared to a lot of countries around the world, it’s fairly safe here, very little gun or knife crime, people on the whole are polite and will do the right thing (I know some cultures have a ‘family first’ fuck society attitude we done have here).

Catastrophic natural disasters are rare, we have a temporate climate, education and health care are free, there is a welfare system, lots of well run charities supporting society, women and minorities have equal rights enshrined in law,

I think we could do so much more to improve our society, but when you compare us to other countries around the world, we’re pretty lucky really.

I like the little society I live in because I’m lucky to live in a nice place and be surrounded by nice people, and to live in a country that has basic stability and services.

I don’t like some of society’s wider attitudes, especially the ones that come out around brexit and the wealth inequality.

I think we could do so much more to improve our society, but when you compare us to other countries around the world, we’re pretty lucky really.

I suppose compared to Honduras or Somalia it's alright, but that's a pretty low bar.

I think this country's rubbish tbh. Sick and disabled people die because they can't access benefits. People can't afford housing, heat or food. The health service is barely functioning and elderly people can't get home carers.

No. I find it baffling that we admire and promote pushy, self-serving, greedy narcissistic people to positions of high power and then fawn on them, even while they trample ove reveryone.

I despair of the fact that making money seems to be the leading, no, the only thing that these people care about. A Royal Mail that delivers letters promptly? Nah, let it take a month for Christmas cards to arrive, so long as we report millions of profit. Trains that run on time, with stations that are clean and well-staffed? Nah, filthy loos, broken ticket machines and tumbleweed with cancelled trains - oh but the profits! Hooray!

I hate that making companies 'more efficient' (ie stripping them to the bone) is what earns huge salaries while teachers, lecturers and nurses are devalued and overworked.

I hate the tickbox world we live in that doesn't trust anyone to make a judge,ent call of their own but has to be filtered through algorithms.

I loathe and despise all this. I hate that people wanted Brexit. It makes me feel that we have regressed into a petty, xenophobic land of idiots.

But day to day, I love the people I know: my family, friends, neighbours, our village, my work, clients and colleagues. It's a wonderful life.

@Toolsand

I feel very lucky to be living in the UK in 2022. I always tell my children they have won the life lottery and to be very grateful for their lot and pay back that gratitude to society.

Compared to a lot of countries around the world, it’s fairly safe here, very little gun or knife crime, people on the whole are polite and will do the right thing (I know some cultures have a ‘family first’ fuck society attitude we done have here).

Catastrophic natural disasters are rare, we have a temporate climate, education and health care are free, there is a welfare system, lots of well run charities supporting society, women and minorities have equal rights enshrined in law,

I think we could do so much more to improve our society, but when you compare us to other countries around the world, we’re pretty lucky really.

Really? Because conspiring makes me feel worse!

Look at the resources, money and power we have. And yet look how shameful we are.
It's disgusting this has happened.

@Youcandoityes

No, I wish people cared about and respected nature and animals.

Same.

Some of the horrible things in the news have broken my soul a bit. Little Arthur, baby Star. That’s what I don’t like about society.
I have to follow good news stories like on Upworthy to try and fix it.

no, the level of inequality is worse than ever. No I don't like it.

@IWasHotInTheNineties I felt the same way about Arthur, couldn't get it out of my mind for a long time afterwards

No. As a headline, more and more is expected of people, as well as less capacity to deliver it. We are typically living highly unnatural lives (e.g. poor diets and exercise), with very few of the benefits that are perfectly possible to achieve technically from our state of advancement.

Politically, democracy is entrenched but it is a very poor instrument in its current state for delivering any sort of sustainable vision to change this. Embrace the changes of technology. Embrace the environmental challenge. Evolve society.

But the general picture is so broken that it is becoming harder and harder to change due to social media bubbles.