Is society more violent?

[BluebellsBluebell]

News this morning, 2 stories on increase in violence:

Teaching union reports rise in violence.

Railway workers state a considerable rise in violence towards them.

Society is more violent now or aibu nope its not.

Twenty years ago I worked in a primary school as a TA. I was hit and punched by young children on a weekly basis. Not sure what it's like nowadays.

There's no consequence for violence these days nor an expectation of just common courtesy. We've lost our way with just treating each other like human beings.

I think society is considerably less violent. The most obvious changes are violence against children from teachers, parents, authority figures, and violence against women from husbands and boyfriends.

I think in some ways, yes. However, it depends which area is looked at. 80s police were famous for being pretty rough themselves. The death penalty used to exist etc. However, potential violence against authority by the general public is more widespread? (Not sure I’ve described it quite right or not?)

I think it’s an intersection between a number of issues, including lack of Police funding and man power, lack of early intervention for almost every issue imaginable including those that link to violence, change in societal views of authority and general pressures around poverty and lack of services meaning people are often at the end of their tether already.

For example, even though we all know violence isn’t the answer, continually pushing patients to wait years for any medical help is going to increase the number of angry patients. Even as simply as the patient or mother of the patient (or child with ALN or any equivalent), it’s not understandable for you to be frustrated, yet whichever secretary or similar is on the end of the phone is allowed to be downright rude, which isn’t really ok either. Both parties are under pressure and need to empathise with each other. The majority of people are not physically violent, but the more society is pushed and pushed, the less it will respect the authority that put it in that position and the more people will be taking more means to try and get through life. By no means the whole picture, but definitely a part of it.

A rise between 2021 and 2022 is not surprising at all. In 2021 people were in lockdown some of the time, and in general people were more likely to be out and about in 2022 because the pandemic and its restrictions were more familiar.

I don't think society is more violent but the violence might play out differently and be more visible.

An example of how violence has changed is the violence between parents, teachers and children. In the past teachers could use violence on pupils, which led to pupils not displaying violence to teachers. Now it's reversed, pupils know they can't face physical punishment so there's no real comeback from being violent towards teachers. In the home, the violence used to be parents smacking children or "giving them the belt" - now that's not allowed and so children are free to be violent themselves.

I think the pandemic broke something in society. DC didn't need to go to school and still got their grades. (Many) adults didn't need to go to work and still got paid. Since the pandemic ended everything is broken - the NHS, the roads, the social care system, education, etc. People have shorter fuses. Dangerous driving has become a lot more prevalent. People don't want to wait, don't want to queue, don't want to be stuck in traffic, don't want to be told 'No' or 'The road is closed' or 'You'll have to wait'. There is an epidemic of selfish, entitled behaviour.

I saw the same news report this morning, and teachers from a local secondary school have recently threatened to strike due to feeling unsafe. My son is only 21 but I feel grateful he's out of the school system as it sounds like behaviour has deteriorated in those 5 years since he left.

Pure conjecture but I wonder if the pandemic and lockdowns have caused a shift in some way. I know they've permanently changed some of my behaviours/attitudes, but not in an extreme way.

I feel a bit mixed . I have seen bus drivers shout and scream at people and get pretty aggressive. I have experienced teachers shouting at me down the phone as a parent play mind games. My son has had the same Schools are become over controlling. And people are starting to realise that. And it's causing upset. Obviously there's other situations to. Such as gangs /drugs /dv etc

I think it might also depend where people live ? I'm in a rough area of London so probably see it more than if it was a nicer area.

It’s not a straight forward yes or no. Violence and the targets have probably changed but overall, no idea. We also have far more access to news and information than we ever had before so that skews the picture.

Definitely is, this morning started the news with the level of violence in schools and teachers leaving.
If that wasn't grim enough it went on to the violence and attacks on railway staff?
Being nice makes life so much easier?
People need to stop fighting all the time. It's no good for them.

There was a very disturbing news story a week or two ago, about primary school children with catapaults attacking and killing wildlife - ducks, squirrels, rabbits, deer etc. These attacks would be filmed and shared on WhatsApp groups. That shocked me - that large numbers of fairly young children can take pleasure from inflicting pain and distress on animals, and not feel any guilt, but rather pride in it, and upload it to social media. When I was at primary school, I remember the odd child laughing about hurting an animal but it was unusual and most of the children thought this was wrong.

Then again, I'm old enough to remember Happy Slapping (also related to social media), and even further back, the Chelsea Smilers.

Certainly witness a lot more anger in the general population than, say, 20 years ago. Thankfully, very rarely see violence.

There seems to be more of an undercurrent of stress and rage. And it breaks through, we’ve all wanted to yell at someone or slap them from time to time but we hold ourselves back. These impulses are now given free rein and the perpetrators know there will likely be no consequences.

Add poverty into the mix. There has always been poverty but now we are confronted at every turn with celebrities, influencers etc living the high life. It makes inequality harder to bear. And that frustration breaks through too.

Yes it's easy to look at social media and assume everyone has everything, which might lead to resentment.