To think there's an off/bad vibe out there?

[ARichSeamToMine]

Does the world feel "off"?
Sorry if this seems ranty, I'm really interested in the vote though.

I'm feeling like there's a weird vibe out there.

I live in London, meet a lot of people through work and am not just judging by my circle.

I've been struggling to articulate this.

I'm late 40s and have seen recessions etc before.

Was out in the City tonight and I would say bar and restaurant were busy for a Monday night, so good there. The street I was on had several completely closed offices, pubs and two gyms, which was sad.

I understand that changes in social habits have been affected by working patterns etc.

I just feel there is something else at play

I increasingly find that people are a bit...strange? We saw groups in the bar, who presumably went out together from choice, just gazing at their phones. I was never anti tech but I'm starting to wonder if there is something in the idea that it affects communication skills.

my friend is worried about her dad because he constantly watches videos of fights - this is a TV show in the US now I hear.

I know a lot of people in my age group feel very "meh" and have little enthusiasm for things, but it's not just middle age. I don't think so anyway.

I'm happy if people are happy, but starting to wonder if they are happy. I meet a lot of people who don't want to go out, are up at 5am walking a dog, they take care of themselves with a good diet, often vegan, don't drink alcohol.

I'm not saying any of these things are bad. I can see if the City is reasonably busy on a Monday night, hospitality must be recovering, which is great.

But something out in the world feels off...like people aren't interested in much.

My online creative writing group has almost no posts. The tutor is regularly cancelling workshops and looking to do online only.

I'm in touch with a couple of exes and we are staying friends but they seem to do nothing but gaming. One in particular has no friends and is not bothered.

I might get flamed but I do wonder if men are particularly prone to doing less stuff if they are single.

Again, that is fine if they are happy. But I get this sense that people aren't happy.

Social anxiety seems very much on the rise.

Just curious to know if others get this vibe.

YABU - people are fine and just living life as usual

YANBU - people are losing communication skills and becoming unhappy

Yes in the 80s the terror for parents was heroin and glue sniffing, and headbanging was supposed to give you brain damage, there were research reports on the news etc. then Aids came along, and there was the palpable fear of a nuclear exchange taking place, maybe by accident! (that nagging concern is difficult to explain to people who didnt live through it now) the game changer is social media though, that allows you to access the world in a completely different way to back then, it is bound to have an effect on people`s attitudes and even mental health.

People have been increasingly absorbed by social media for years, but maybe lockdown made it worse.

The whole COVID thing was weird.

Brexit was weird and has changed the whole experience of moving around Europe.

The gap between the haves and the have-nots seems to be widening, and a lot of folk are really struggling with home ownership in a world of AirBnB.

The sick, obscene cruelties of October 7 haunt me, and it turns my stomach to see how instantly the fashion for pro-Palestinian rallies took hold. It makes the world feel vicious.

@CrashyTime Aids did decimate the gay male community. If you were a gay man that did not have AIDS you would still have known many people who did die. There was quite a period of time when it was not even known that HIV existed. You got ill and you died.
But for most people it was just another scaremongering background noise that had little impact.

You’re last paragraph really is very important.

it almost feels like 1930s Germany - people suddenly feeling emboldened to be openly anti Semitic!! No wonder Israel wasn’t going to turn the other cheek!

The world is going to shit!! We fail to learn from our past time and time again.

The thing with the 80s the country was split in two between those who did very well out of Thatcherism and those destroyed by it.

Now, even those who are financially well off (asset wealth, retired or high income) are still often full of rage about all manner of things. Everything is polarised.

Those of us who voted for Brexit are now reaping the consequences.

Sadly, those of us who didn't vote for Brexit are reaping the consequences of somebody else's actions. I thought at the time that the fairest (but impossible) way would be for those who wanted to stay in, to stay in while those who wanted out would be the only ones to suffer the consequences.

We're just seeing the results of bad policies from the past: 'austerity', Brexit, changes to local government & funding. The bad effects didn't happen overnight for all of us. If you were the person who lost their day-centre years ago, then it hit you straight away. But for most of us, the bad effects have been slowly increasing in the background as it were, until now they're affecting almost everybody.

The worst thing is the loss of hope, socially. We don't have any collective vision of the future, where to go & how to get there. Even if things are bad now, if we could trust in a sensible government (of whatever persuasion) to do the right thing & look after people's interests & get the country back on track, we'd have something to look forward to, believe in & work towards. But what is there?

In the 80s a lot of people were doing one night stands/multiple partners, and it was spread in bodily fluids especially blood, so you can work out the "high risk" activities, one involved a needle, the other didnt, everybody was potentially at some risk depending on their lifestyle/sexual activities and the lifestyle/sexual activities of people they might be picking up in clubs/bars.

"if we could trust in a sensible government (of whatever persuasion) to do the right thing & look after people's interests & get the country back on track, we'd have something to look forward to, believe in & work towards. But what is there?"

The popping of the property/debt bubble is one thing I am really looking forward to, that gives me hope because most of today`s problems are based on that absurd bubble (and social media/phones)

The popping of the property/debt bubble is one thing I am really looking forward to, that gives me hope because most of today`s problems are based on that absurd bubble

How do you see that coming about & playing out? What effects do you think it will have on people?

I think things feel so bad now because wealth inequality has become so stark.

Up until recently, there was always hope that you could make something of yourself, find a nice place to live and exist comfortably. It may have been unrealistic, but it didn't feel entirely out of reach.

But not anymore. No matter how hard you work, you'll have nothing.

During the pandemic, the government gave out so much money that it equates to £12,000 for every adult in the UK.

I didn't receive anything.

That money is now in the pockets of the ultra rich, or has been given to the children of the ultra rich, who are buying assets and seeing their wealth increase substantially by the day.

im not sure you can understand simple economics if you’re looking forward to that happening. FWIW it’s unlikely to, again because of simple economics

What makes you say that? It isn't actually true. I have to note that a lot of people I see complaining (not here especially, but IRL and elsewhere on the internet) have three children or more. Obviously life is going to be a struggle if you do that. It is false to suggest that upward mobility is completely stagnant. Difficult, yes. Impossible, no.

Can you explain some of your economic ideas?

Interest rates returning to normal or going higher due to more inflation will bring it about, more and more people will have to drop their house price to sell, or just stay where they are, people with lots of mortgage debt might struggle and some may have to lose their house because they can`t afford the debt but ultimately cheaper basic shelter is good for ordinary people.

@CrashyTime

This is an apostrophe ‘ it shows missing letters or possession.

This is something else. no one knows what it is,but it makes your writing go weird`

I don't think you are particularly Pollyanna. While you may share optimism and naivety with the literary character, your posts here come across more as dismissive and unlistening with an inability to read the room.

Please do explain your simple economics, I’d love to hear.

I think a lot of this feeling is much bigger than the UK, so I would not put too much down to things like a particular government or anything like that. Things feel weird in places with differernt governments too, and difference political backgrounds.

Even the homeless tent thing - I know the tendency is to blame the Tories, but you see the same thing is the US, and it's been growing since the Obama era and is bigger than ever - and also worse in states with Democratic governance. It's bad in Canada too under Trudeau.

Germany are legalising cannabis. That will cheer them up.

People staying where they are pushes prices up due to lack of demand. It’s happening where we are and I know family elsewhere experiencing the same. There is very little on the market so when properties appear they get snapped up quick.

I was rather admiring the weird patchwork font effect and wondering how it was achieved!

Might be a Greek varia, or an accent grave.

Pretty cool accidental discovery, opens a whole new dimension of possibility on MN! 😎

It’s called supply and demand. Even in harsh economic climates most people now, with protections in place (unlike the 80s) won’t lose their homes.

People simply won’t sell unless it’s out of probate (not likely to be first time buyers propertie) or they are forced to sell. Nothing on the market, lack of rental properties means higher prices.

Most people have 5 year fixed deals when they come to an end if interest rates are much higher they will usually just extend the repayment period back up by 5 years reducing repayments.

In order to really have an effect high interest rates would be needed for probably a decade or more, this would likely stagnate the rest of the economy so not likely to happen.

if the housing market stagnates too much the government is likely to intervene and this will maintain the house prices.

We might see a correction of a few percent from the peak as is happening now, but there’s literally nothing coming on the market in most places. First time buyers might get lucky with some nearly completed new builds

Ok, looks like one key separates the two on a normal keyboard, but I always use ` instead of ", the second one needs to have the full caps key pressed or else you get the number 2, maybe that is why I just always use the first symbol, but it is only on here that the typing goes weird.

@Kdtym10 except unemployment is going to increase. Various charities and private companies delivering public services are collapsing where I live or reducing their staff. People do not realise how much is outsourced these days.