People seem angrier somehow

[MissMarplesCat]

Probably noticed it previously but it really feels that way recently. Other than that, it might be my own perception, but I can't see why. Things are generally ok in my life, and I find it easy to get along with people.

So for a while I notice people are somehow less friendly, some openly rude. I am sure it was always this way, but I'm not too sure.

We have been away to a popular tourist area recently and instead of seeming happy or excited a lot of people looked pretty pissed off, especially on the roads, although the roads weren't packed.

Several people have been openly rude to me, especially men, and I wondered wtf, could it be something about me? I look pretty benign really, so can't see how, but if it happens enough you do wonder!

I get that the world is screwed up right now, and people are having a hard time in general, but to me it seems to be since covid, or maybe it was always there and I have only just noticed?

I don't recall people being so abrupt and unfriendly years ago, but I guess that's all I've got to go on.

I travel around the UK quite a bit with work, and have noticed it all over, not just in my own particular provincial backwater

I think it's been more noticeable since covid.

It's definitely more noticeable since covid, I believe it caused a bit of a divide and people became very opinionated on it, I nearly stopped seeing a friend because of it and my own mother also began to piss me off. I also think a lot of people are suffering with bad mental health, so rather than being "angry" or "rude" some people are genuinely unwell. Another thing would be stress levels, cost of living crisis is upon us and people are struggling to live and afford to eat.

There’s been times when some peoples rude behaviour has made me come home and feel like I don’t want to be around anyone or they’ve ruined my mood.

I can’t remember it being this way before covid.

GG1986 below has hit the nail on the head
I am appalled by how much things cost and how people manage I've no idea ( those with little children /teens at home especially) everyone seem stressed and miserable.
The roads are rubbish, the weather is miserable and life can just be shit. No wonder people haven't much patience and don't get me started on the work place , which is just dog eat dog in most places.

It's because people can hide behind a screen and not have to take responsibility for any feelings they hurt.
Or hide behind a steering wheel. Most of it's not personal but people are so comfortable now with being rude and taking their stress out on others who mildly inconvenience them that it seeps into everyday encounters.

Everyone's poorer than they used to be.

Stagnates wages and falling standards of living all round.

I think it’s this. I’m horrified by the level of violence in our society at the moment. So many road rage attacks, kids attacking others with machetes (murders of Max Dixon and Mason Rist spring to mind), women getting attacked just out jogging (Laken Riley) etc etc. So many horrible, horrible random attacks in the news everyday. And I suspect millions of other people just walking that very fine line between flipping into violence or madness or both.

*Stagnant

What I've experienced is with strangers, both people in workplaces (not my own) and when travelling. And a lot of these people are spending, many of them pretty ok financially.

I notice it far more in men, and I never used to think that way.
I see men in larger groups out and about a lot, no women with them, and they take up a lot of space, with no awareness or care to let people pass by. This is also across what you might call class brackets, so I have witnessed it across the economical divide.

I mean men have literally just walked through me, shoving me aside, not aggressively but as if they own the space. It is as if many of them don't have any awareness of how others may feel.

Maybe people are locked in their own worlds and notice others less than before.
Maybe our attention is becoming fragmented living a good deal of our lives online?
Just thoughts..
And perhaps women are a bit more present, because out there in the world, we have to be..

In my own town, I see women less and less using public spaces. Less runners, cyclists and people using public paths. At the same time, there has been an uptick in men hanging around those places, not sure why.

In other areas, I do see more women out and about, especially rurally, but even so, there's a lot less pleasantness in general.
Maybe people are becoming less trusting, so it flows outwards.

I agree it seems to have been much worse since covid. I think it’s a combination of lack of opportunities, cost of living, lack of consequences for actions and lots of online and social media fuelling the ‘me me me’ attitudes.

A lot of us have been plunged into poverty, very fast, through no fault of our own.

The huge Covid sacrifices we made and will be making for years weren’t worth it.

We sacrificed the young to the old, which I secretly think horrifies most decent people.

Social mobility aka hope has been snuffed out.

No end in sight to the misery and strain.

Definitely.

I work with the public and the veneer of civility is very very thin.

It's as though people are unmasking.

Well since covid yes, people are quite insular and isolated and therefore quite self centred

Equally, everything is wrong and I think that makes people angry. We have poor health care, rubbish roads, nothing works, roads closed and not working, public transport half arsed and not working, everything is expensive, no customer service anywhere, barely any functioning public services, no money, outrageous government decisions, not fit for purpose at all. Shops are rubbish, public areas are full of shit and litter. No public toilets. NOTHING FUCKING WORKS ANYWHERE.

And Im peri menopausal so Ive been angry so far for about 5 years. Could be another 5 for all I know. Im furious most of the time.

We do have many more worries than in the past, so that will show somehow.
Loss of ability to engage face to face, due to too much time on mumsnet LOL
And lack of trust. We had been put through the mill with this one.

I agree with most of the comments here, but how do we explain the wealthier, less put upon demographic? I think it's something more than the cost of living somehow.
I know many and their lives are on the up and up, and it still feels colder, angrier, somehting.

I think we feel overcrowded which doesn’t help. I saw a graph that showed just how many extra people we have on this island in the last decade and it’s phenomenal. People feel like they have less money in their pocket and everytime they try and go anywhere it’s packed.

the next raft of tax rises are going to make life even more difficult so I don’t expecf anyone to lighten up anytime soon.

Yes, I was going to say that I feel men and boys (I work in both primary and secondary schools) are becoming increasingly unpleasant and disrespectful, looking down at women and behaving arrogantly and disrespectfully, spanning all social classes too.
I am sure it is a consequence of unfettered internet access to pornography, combined with an increasing sense of hopelessness about their futures combined with drug and alcohol abuse. I live in a rural town but I can't walk around without the stench if cannabis wafting everywhere.
I think this situation is absolutely petrifying and endemic , with little to no consequences.

I agree with this and I have noticed this too in my - previously very nice - little south Norfolk town. It’s the Andrew Tate effect isn’t it. The kick back against feminism, or so they love to preach. Vile.

I think youre onto something with everywhere being packed and overcrowded.

We went to a Christmas fayre today. Its my babies first Christmas and I'm so excited I've been looking forward to this fayre all weekm it was hard to park because there were so many cars and people were driving like dicks. We struggled to get the pram round because the place was so packed you couldn't move. I didn't get to look at many stalls because I just couldn't get to them, we couldn't find a place to stop and watch the choir we were just blocking the flow of the endless tide of people so we couldn't enjoy the performance. After an hour of being barged into and not being able to enjoy anything we were both in a bad mood, our excitement thoroughly pissed on and we left. I find overcrowded places very stressful and feel claustrophobic like I just need to get out it's hideous. We couldn't actually get out there were so many people in the way which made it worse. I was so disappointed and it thoroughly ruined my good mood.

The worst thing is we live in a tiny village, very rural and remote because we hat crowds but there were still so many people. Where did they all come from?!

Often I find I can't enjoy an event properly because there's too many people and I feel crowded and like I'm constantly in other people's way or people are bathing into me and I hate it.

Overcrowding plays a big part. There are just too many people squeezed into too small an area. The traffic is horrendous, and we mostly live in overpriced boxes with people jammed on top of us. Any zookeeper will tell you that if you put too many animals in the same cage they’ll attack one another. We’re simply not meant to live like this.

Then there is good old social media, which is making everyone jealous, narcissistic and hyper-competitive.

Totally agree

Yes this is also another very valid point. The amount of people everywhere is just crazy it’s really increased dramatically (or seems to have) in the last 10 years. Can’t drive anywhere any time of day (except maybe 2am) without roads being packed. Can’t even do mundane normal tasks like nipping to the shop quickly without it being rammed, never mind any special events.

I find it quite stressful when places are packed with people and it really ruins experiences that you pay extra for.

Definitely a post pandemic thing. And it will be some time I believe before we really begin to unpick and learn about what that experience actually did to people. It sometimes frightens me.

I live in London. For the past several months I have noticed people being really horrible in the buses, bathing, pushing, saying nasty things if they think you are in the wrong place. It is discernibly different. Buses are so full now too. Think we are all being squeezed.