Are people getting meaner?

[namechange143]

I’ve been thinking that since covid people have become a bit more, well…..mean.

Looking back through old posts on here, people tended to be more encouraging and positive, this now seems to have turned into a bit judgmental & people can’t wait to put someone down.

I posted a thread a few months ago, whilst severely sleep deprived (& perhaps a little moody) about night feeds, I mentioned that I used pre-made bottles for the night feed. Instead of advice, some people decided to start telling me off for wasting money “FFS where a waste of money” whilst offering no helpful advice at all!

A lot of posts seem to love blaming the poster for anything that’s happened to them “well why did you wear that” etc.

Has everyone become hardened after the lockdown?

Hard times make people harder

I agree! I think it's after the last couple of years with covid, I have noticed a lot of people have become more selfish and mean!

I think people are becoming less helpful and caring. I'm determined not to become that way but it's hard to meet people who are the same way. There's a lot of every person for themselves rather than community spirit these days. My impression.

Maybe it's all the hoarding and panic buying for self-preservation that have made people so self focused? In the end, I guess the human instinct is for survival.

YANBU

Most definitely, people have become harder. I think the fact that people didn't see other humans for almost 2 years, coupled with the fact that you feel impenetrable on the internet has turned humans.

Mumsnet is much bigger than it was and I think that leads to people feeling freer to say whatever they like.
I actually think society is softer generally.

I supppse it's soft and selfish, people are totally focused on their own lives. Unable to understand and unaware of other people's feelings.

If people ask for advice on an open forum you are going to get it from many different people. So the people at the gates whose kids are a nightmare will give advice here, and you won't know who is whom, when in reality you would never ask them for child rearing advice.

So it's difficult to judge online.

The pandemic seemed to strip away the veneer of social niceties from many people. What you're looking at is the true self underneath. People haven't changed that much they just can't be bothered with good manners any more.

I think they're angrier and more stressed.

I can’t say I’ve noticed any difference to be honest. Generally the vast majority of people I come across in my life are nice and if anything, the people I know took something good away from the lockdown experience. MN isn’t really representative of the wider population - and particularly not on a thread about night feeds where most people will have a small baby, also be sleep deprived and moody, probably a bit depressed, getting used to life with a baby, relationship probably going down the pan etc which is ultimately going to feed into grumpy and spiteful comments.

On Mumsnet maybe you're right. But it's not something I've noticed in real life.

I see it over and over again on here, poster’s just pulling the op down, scrutinising what they are saying just to be dam right nasty. There is no need for it, keyboard warriors hiding behind their laptop, almost like they get a weird power rush for pulling people down.

It’s often the same posters doing it too. I try to not let it get to me how it once did, now I just tell myself what unhappy sad lives they must lead to be so full of hate.

Absolutely agree with this statement.

Is it ‘mean’ or is it people losing patience with an insufferable lack of resilience or common sense over sometimes the most pathetic things?

Yes, everything seems to be going down the pan. People have no money, customer service has never been worse, staff shortages everywhere, bills going up, a sense of hopelessness about the future, the rich getting richer, the poor getting poorer, today's pensioners getting pensions and hoarding wealth the next generations can only dream of. We've hit the peak and it's downhill from now on.

It's not as supportive here as it once was. I check before I post, just in case, it's the equivalent of treading on eggshells.