Does anyone else feel like all kindness, social norms, etc are gone?

[Anonymous]

Have you all seen the Gen Z stare? It's real and pretty shocking! It's like they have no affect on their face. You talk to them and they just nod and don't say anything back.

I now work so hard with my kids about how to make small talk with strangers. They practice on our neighbors. And they hold the door for everyone, let people off the elevator first, and don't hog the middle of the sidewalk/aisle/escalator.

[Anonymous]

Try looking for the kindnesses. You'll see more of them.

Kindness can be contagious - to people being kind, to those receiving kindness, and to those who witness it. (Unfortunately, rudeness is contagious too. So, try to create a ripple of kindness for others.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I definitely feel like we’ve lost a lot of social norms. I think a lot of that comes from people increasingly living in an online world. That impacts how we have conversations especially about difficult topics, norms around fashion (or even simply what’s considered appropriate clothing), and day to day niceties like saying thank you to someone who holds the door or lets you into traffic. The pandemic eroded norms more and made everything optional; people routinely do not rsvp and bailing is so common it’s almost the default. And I do agree that many people are stretched very thin—cognitive overload (some of which is a result of too much tech/constantly being “on”), managing kids while also caring for elderly parents, dealing with personal mental/physical decline that comes with aging. I think in the past we had tighter IRL communities that acted as support systems and that’s broken down in many places so people are facing these challenges on their own. Lastly I think that greater diversity in a community (like in a large urban area) leads to a lot of different cultural norms which when faced with norms different from your own can feel rude or off putting.

Yeah, things have been deteriorating for a while and it feels accelerated when the element of deterioration is not of your own generation. My generation's (elder Millennial) big "contribution" was the pornification of society, which is why the norms for dressing, plastic surgery, hair extensions, drag makeup, etc don't seem shocking to me. I don't think it's "classy," but I think that reactions to it are outsized. But we're living in a 4chan/8chan world now, and that means it's my turn to be shocked and appalled by the "ironic"/casual racism, misogyny, homophobia; name calling and childish taunts from what should be respected figures or offices; illogical and disjointed arguments intended only to inspire anger rather than make a true point; etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are living on the edge with no margin. They don’t have enough money, they don’t get to rest, their health is poor, and the political situation is not ok. When you are in a constant state of stress you don’t have the energy to handle slights in a gracious way, and you’re not taking the time to be appreciative and kind either.

Poor people were a lot more poor 50+ years ago.

They were. Everyone now has a chip on their shoulder, no matter their income. Just as many aggressive selfish well-to-do people, on their phone, barging past, or driving aggressively through traffic.

People are selfish at all income levels.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are living on the edge with no margin. They don’t have enough money, they don’t get to rest, their health is poor, and the political situation is not ok. When you are in a constant state of stress you don’t have the energy to handle slights in a gracious way, and you’re not taking the time to be appreciative and kind either.

Poor people were a lot more poor 50+ years ago.

And? You think the poor people 50+ years ago were nicer or something? Guess what- if they had every kind of stress and no social support, they weren’t.

DP but they were much nicer and more generous 60+ years ago for sure from accounts from family.

Part of it was there were still consequences back then for poor manners. Sometimes severe consequences, so people had better manners by default.

I wonder if the people who thought everyone was nicer 50-60 years ago are minorities, or LGBTQ+ or women, probably not?

Don’t be a dingbat. Most people posting are likely women. People were nicer. I can tell you people were certainly nicer to minorities and gay/lesbian Americans 25 years ago. Now it’s like daggers are out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's an eerie and unsettling feeling. Anyone else? How to cope?

Of course,

MAGA/ Republicans/ White Christian Males/ Bible Thumpers/ Trad wives etc, have decided that the Ten Commandments do not apply to them and that they are anti-American.

Coping isn't easy these days. It is going to be horrifying by January 2026. By 2028, when we lose all freedom,s our children will be set to be living in a dictatorship, and America, the land of the free, will be completely gone. The next novel virus alone will be such fun for a two-bit con man.

If you want to cope OP, start by preparing from food to what you will do with money because the $ will be crashed with the economy, and given we are headed to not only lose all freedoms, healthcare, jobs, and income prepardness is what you need to do.

If you come to this thread and say I am overblowing Republicans' crap and what is happening in the US, you never read Project 2025. You never listened when the Heritage Foundation or Peter Thiel spewed. They are telling you what they are going to do. T

[Anonymous]

OP I am very very worried. I am probably older than most of you and I see a huge change.

My hope and prayer is that the pendulum swings the other way soon when people realize how unhappy they are and that this toxic atmosphere hurts everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP I am very very worried. I am probably older than most of you and I see a huge change.

My hope and prayer is that the pendulum swings the other way soon when people realize how unhappy they are and that this toxic atmosphere hurts everyone.

No it doesn’t fool

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's an eerie and unsettling feeling. Anyone else? How to cope?

Of course,

MAGA/ Republicans/ White Christian Males/ Bible Thumpers/ Trad wives etc, have decided that the Ten Commandments do not apply to them and that they are anti-American.

Coping isn't easy these days. It is going to be horrifying by January 2026. By 2028, when we lose all freedom,s our children will be set to be living in a dictatorship, and America, the land of the free, will be completely gone. The next novel virus alone will be such fun for a two-bit con man.

If you want to cope OP, start by preparing from food to what you will do with money because the $ will be crashed with the economy, and given we are headed to not only lose all freedoms, healthcare, jobs, and income prepardness is what you need to do.

If you come to this thread and say I am overblowing Republicans' crap and what is happening in the US, you never read Project 2025. You never listened when the Heritage Foundation or Peter Thiel spewed. They are telling you what they are going to do. T

This is all true. As a now-dead person once said, "I can't stand the word empathy, actually. I think empathy is a made-up, new age term"

If we don't have empathy, what do we have?