Are we less tolerant to noise? Neighbourhoods have always been noisy

[Fishareidiots]

Just that really.
In generations gone by I expect everyone used their gardens much more as there was less on telly, plus they weren’t all at cinema, b&q, softplay, swimming. So what has changed?
why is it now that there are so many complaints about kids playing, chatting, sunbathing in bikinis, drinking alcohol etc.

There may be more bad behaviour but I think people are a lot less tolerant and less “live and let live” than they used to be.

Its a byproduct of the post-COVID thing of atomisation, the fetishisation of “introversion” and the “hate people” phenomenon which you see a lot on here.

A subset of the population expects to live its life without coming into contact with anyone outside its immediate family and work colleagues (and the latter grudgingly). Its entirely unrealistic.

Its one thing to get annoyed if people are playing loud music and drinking at 2am. But its simply not reasonable to expect others living in your vicinity to be mute. There was a post on here yesterday suggesting that they and their neighbours do “shifts” using the garden. Endless complaints about noisy children/noisy dogs, people objecting to seeing neighbours in their gardens.

If silence and isolation are your most prioritised values, don’t buy a terraced house in a city and expect the rest of the world to fall into line with your neuroses. Move rurally and enjoy the peace. Otherwise, within reason, you have to make peace with the sound of human beings.

Whoever naice people are.

The OP speaks of older generations, so it’s not clear what period is in question, but far fewer people had cars, shops were closed on Sundays and bank holidays, lorries and other vehicles were smaller and less powerful and there were hardly any of the gadgets and appliances that there are now. So of course it was quieter. You don’t need inverted snobbery to know that.

>>>>no one can say if the same equipment was available 60 years ago that those using it wouldn’t have made the same choices

@frozendaisy of course we can because portable boom boxes have been available since the 80s but people didn't have them on high volume in their back gardens because they had more respect for other people.

You can see it clearly with tablets and mobile phones. These have been available for years but it is only relatively recently that utter selfish twats have starting listening to audio on speakers publicly and allowing their children to do so and having phone conversations loudly on a speaker. Previously people would use ear phones or use a phone like a phone to their ear and speaking into the microphone.

There has been a slow creep towards selfishness and no consideration for others that has now become more and more common. There is no collective checking of this behavior either because people are scared of being assaulted or abused.

Look at that horrible video of the 80 year old woman using a handrail to climb stairs and being blocked by the selfish black youth refusing to move to allow her to pass because 'you've got legs'. She tried to complain to tube staff and then British Transport Police but they said there was nothing they could do. At least there is enough collective morality for there to be a public outcry about it. Sixty years ago it would never have happened because there was greater discipline. A youth would have been raised not to behave like that and if they did publicly, someone whether that was a train guard or a member of the public, would have given him a clip round his ear.