To think the social contract has completely broken down?

[KenAdams]

It seems as though everything if affected, from parking in disabled spaces when you don't need them to talking loudly in train quiet carriages to not tolerating people that are different or have different views to you or caring if they are drowned or tortured.

I'm not sure if it was COVID that ramped up the every man for himself mentality but everywhere just seems like a cesspit at the moment.

Of course it could just be the places I frequent but I travel a lot and I don't even think its a UK thing, it seems to be everywhere.

I don't think I'm alone in feeling this way.

I don’t know, I’m quite content, my children are happy, healthy and thriving, I enjoy life and generally find people pretty decent 🤷‍♀️

What's considered basic manners seems to have changed.

People having loud speaker phone conversations and watching films or videos with no headphones on a his or train would have been a notable rare occurrence just a few years ago, yet it's horribly common now.

It seems to me that people increasingly demand cooperation and consideration, and there's usually a big fuss about rights and what you're entitled to if it doesn't happen, or doesn't happen enough, while having a "Why should I?" Attitude if asked to cooperate or show consideration for someone else.

But then I think every generation thinks similar of the generation after them, so maybe I'm just getting old.

I think the entitlement has reached new heights. So has chronic loneliness. It’s like people forgot to grow up. It’s far easier to live behind the screen and cry if something doesn’t go your way, just waiting for the others to solve their problems but not offering anything in return.
My daughter’s generation is the last one who didn’t have a phone/tablet since birth. She doom scrolls, but she knows how to snap out of it and meet people face to face, she’s got the emotional intelligence to process what’s going on around her, and act accordingly.

Maybe they’re all cooking something and I have no idea, maybe they’re onto something. But they don’t seem content, they seem dissociated.

It started with Margaret “no such thing as society” Thatcher.

It has.

The sheer number of cars that drive through just gone red lights. It’s astounding.

Are you happy in your personal life OP?

Entitlement is the thing. And it is exacerbated by low level aggression.
The world has gone slightly mad.

I read this somewhere, I think it’s true:

Modern relationships now operate on what might be called “calculated vulnerability.” People share enough to maintain connections but rarely enough to risk real hurt. They help others but with clear boundaries and expectations.

I think one factor is people (especially younger people) experiencing other people mainly as two-dimensional avatars on a screen - it stops them realising that those "characters" are in fact still people.

I sort of wish it was practicable to turn the internet off for a month or so to break its spell!

I think that’s a wee bit patronising. OP might be feeling negative because (1) she isn’t generally happy; or (2) this is an issue that is making her unhappy; or (3) she is deliriously happy but notices and is intrigued by this issue. She just asked for opinions. Seems logical to me 🤷🏻‍♀️

And nothing wrong with enquiring
as if you’re unhappy in life it is not beyond the realms of possibility that you see the wider world as pretty bleak too

How anyone who’s on MN can deny it I can’t think, given that we see it constantly all over threads - it’s not illegal, they can do what they like in their garden etc etc. Every other thread is a clear demonstration that just because you can doesn’t mean you should and yet people with continue to defend it. And these people have kids and spread their anti-social views to them.

Very much so. This isn't from a personal lens in relation to what's happening with me. I feel like a bit of an outlier in that though.

3 but probably just the normal amount of happy 😄

Totally agree and also @Fruitlips you can be the happiest person and still make this observation!
I am unlucky to live in a rough area and it’s just getting worse and worse. People treat the street like a tip and the driving and parking is selfish and dangerous. Noise all night and people acting like they live in isolated mansions not terraces with close neighbours. It’s really hard and not fun for those of us who can’t buy our way out. It was still poor and rough ten years ago but people weren’t as selfish and entitled with how they lived.

social contract has gone pfffft.
it used to be

• study and you’ll have a better life
• work hard and you’ll have a decent life
• if you get ill you’ll be looked after
• vote, and you’ll influence the country
• be polite and others will be polite to you

COVID turned everyone in to selfish entitled twats and it seems like manners and just general decency are a thing of the past.

Of course you can
it was a question
not an assumption

From the 80s Wonder why they needed that poster if if was never done

I really feel this too OP.

I’ve said quite frequently to DP recently that there seems to be a lack of compassion for anyone else in society now. So many people are happy to kick downwards and it’s very much a case of “I’m alright jack so screw you”.

People don’t care about doing the right thing - as long as they can legally, then balls to anything else.

I find it quite sad too. I lead quite an insular life and I’m happy in my bubble but when I see what’s going on in the world beyond it feels pretty awful now.

Individualism has a lot to answer for. It's gone too far. Accelerated by technological advancement, people have been conditioned to expect the world to cater to their individual wants and needs. There is no acknowledgement that the downside of this that people people are now less willing to make sacrifices or put the community ahead of their personal comfort.

I feel like people used to 'behave' because of a deep rooted sense of expectations and to avoid shame.
I.e you wouldn't dream of getting in trouble with the police because all the town would know and your parents would be so ashamed of you, you wouldn't go bankrupt because it would be put in the newspaper and everyone would read it etc.
The message changed to be more yourself and not care what people think and its brought on a 'fuck it' attitude.

Communities have also broken down with people moving around, migration etc so you really don't care what you neibours think or who they even are.

I don't think it's a good thing.

1000%

Young adults are having to face up to the fact that as a group they are going to experience a lower standard of living than previous generations.

This is a new 'social contract' and they are the first group to be faced with this in living memory.

How would you feel as a fresh out the blocks 20 year old with all your 20 year old friends and face the reality that no matter what you do some of you will be facing a lower standard of living than what you were raised with? Yes I know they have to get on with it, but there will be some adjustments, so I really don't think if they want to play their mobiles out loud on a bus v having affordable secure housing is in the same ball park.

Sometimes people can only see the social contract around themselves, parking spaces, bus journeys, but rarely look at the social contract that we have to try and continue to pass on a better world to the young. We are not doing that. No wonder they don't really care what the older ones think.