Have general public become noisier or have i become more intolerant?

[Frieda2024]

Just the above really. Get that it is really subjective but I am finding that lots of people seem to SHOUT their conversations at each other. It’s really draining. And the shrieking of kids constantly. AIBU? It’s like the shouty ones think everyone needs to hear their business. 🙉
On holiday in Spain right now so it is particularly bad but find the same in UK too. Don’t remember feeling ambient noise was so loud when I was in early 20s (about 20 years ago).

YANBU. So many people carry on as if they're being followed around by an invisible camera crew.

Both l think.
People shouting in supermarkets to each other just as I'm passing.. it's like a fog horn in my ear.
People shouting to each other in queues.. why not wait until the person is nearer.
Cafes/ restaurants..
Some do it so strangers can hear their business to show off.
But as l get older I've noticed it more.
I've stopped going into stores where the music is far too loud ( and I'm a music lover).

No, People are getting louder. Why they think we all want to hear their foghorn voices and their shrieking kids is beyond me.🤷‍♀️

Yanbu
Most people seem to be selfish noisy arseholes
Noise cancelling earpods have been a lifesaver for me

Judging from the responses here, it is a loud minority ruining the tranquility for a quieter majority…
i wish I had the cojones to say, ‘I beg your pardon but would you please pipe down?’ 😆😆 but I am an introvert really so just try to mind my own business and avoid a scene!

So…if some people have genuinely become louder (and more obnoxious!!), why do you think this is and can the rest of us do anything about it?!

Bump.

Totally agree with you OP. I’ve come back early from a day out. People seem incapable of talking at a normal level/volume.

No, people are getting louder. Why they think the rest of us need to listen to their braying and squawking is beyond me.🤷‍♀️

Currently got a neighbour three doors down blaring out music because they're having a BBQ, it's making my windows shake, and there's no consideration for their ndn who is 87 and has lung cancer

It's bloody mobile phones. People have their phones on speaker on full volume and then bellow into the end of them. Or they have earbuds in which makes them shout even louder when replying. Then that becomes the normal level of speech.
We live on quite a busy road in a residential area. There are people up and down all day to the train station just bellowing at no one. Then at night they do the same. Having the window open is almost impossible.

Ah Jeez, it's in the supermarket I find the volume seems to go up! Esp now, with school holidays - several children, all screaming/shouting/pushing/fighting and at least one will be shrieking; starts off screaming, then goes up a pitch (or two) and then up another pitch (at which point it could shatter glass - it certainly pierces my ears). The parents don't seem to notice either the volume or the pitch!

My NDN have a dd who is like this too - I don't mind screaming or shouting per ce, but the shriiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeking !!! she's about 10yo, and way too old to do this at every minor discomfort (like her brother looking at her wrong, or he's gone in when she wants to play or the cat's up a tree or .....)

I'm on holiday at the minute and the amount of people on facetime shrieking to eachother is shocking!

I think as you get older especially perimenopause in women makes you feel a bit more sensitive and noise can bother you more. People do seem to lack self awareness a lot of the time and consideration for those around them, we can all do it occasionally and do something thoughtless without meaning to but it does seem some people just don't care at all.

I do feel less tolerant of crowds and noise as I get older, I think I probably never much liked that sort of thing but I forced myself to go to nightclubs at least a few times in my teens or early 20's for the sake of fitting in or doing what my friends wanted to. Recently I was at a 70th birthday party and it was so loud what with the music being very loud and then people shouting over it to be heard. I felt ill and violated by that experience and I'd never sit though it again, I'd get up and walk out next time.

I live in a rural market town where EVERYBODY shouts! I was always considered loud in London but this lot make me seem like a whispering breeze. Been here for 15 years, it's not a new thing.

I've idly wondered whether the original inhabitants (13th century) were used to shouting across hills and busy farmyards, so passed their vocal habits on to their families. It doesn't really hold up as an explanation 🔊🎺

During Covid, people would stand on opposite sides of a lane to talk to each other, bellowing like the lane was as wide as the M4 and twice as busy.

YANBU. I frequently think that people,and just life in general has got much louder over the last 10 years. Maybe I'm just getting old and less tolerant.

People are definitely louder. It’s a combination of factors, including:

• general lack of consideration for others;
• mobile phones and iPads etc;
• people suddenly undertaking activities at home that in the past would not have been considered ok - eg having a bar in their garden.

I struggle more with it as I get older. Today a 4 year old sat behind me on the bus giving a running commentary of every single thing outside and shouted every single word in the most loud and piercing voice which went straight through the back of my head and actually hurt to listen to. I was relieved to get off. Even music I have to turn down, I just can't appreciate it loud at all. Just sounds like a racket.

YANBU both loud and grabby.

I was at a lovely campsite this summer. It had a beautiful field for ball games but everyone wanted to play right outside outside our tent.

The worst was a family group of 10 playing the nosiest game of volleyball squawking at the top of their voices. I know the Olympics were on but I do not what to watch or hear Sally's family from Grantham, battle it out for hours, all afternoon.

My theory is that as etiquette has changed everything has become less formal, we've become a more relaxed society with it often being an 'anything goes attitude' so our way of behaving has changed. Also there's a lot more of us than there was 30 years ago.

Yanbu.
Supermarkets are horrific, especially this time of year when the whole family traipse round the shop 😬 kids wanting food items and scream until the parents relent. Music in shops...always too loud. Also TV adverts! Always too bloody loud.

I've noticed I've become more sensitive to noise levels and wondered if it's because I'm peri/meno and am just less tolerant of arseholes people.

I also think phones play a part. Lots of people tend to shout down the phone when having a conversation whether it is indoors or outdoors. There are also so many show offs, constantly taking photos/videos of themselves and shrieking whilst doing it. People in their gardens are getting louder, some kids just seem to scream and screech when they play now and very rarely a word of stop screaming from the parents. You shouldn’t be able to hear someone’s full conversation when they live a few doors away and are in their garden or even house ! I find it much worse since lockdown as well. Maybe people are louder or maybe I just got used to less noise. Probably both.

Don't get me started on music in restaurants and cafes. It's supposed to be frigging background music.

I remember when I was little being told when out in somewhere like a cafe that if the people on the next table can hear you you're too loud. "Drawing attention to yourself" was the ultimate faux pas.

I went to a party years ago for two ninety-year-olds, organised by their family. The volume of the music playing was so loud that they couldn’t hear anyone speaking to them at all, yet neither complained. It was one of the single most thoughtless and selfish things I’ve ever witnessed.