Most people are taught some form of manners as small children. Things like saying “Please” and “Thank you” and holding the door for an elderly person are examples of good manners. Most people were taught to wait their turn and not interrupt someone who is speaking. There are many little courteous gestures and ways of speaking that come to mind. 

At one time, not so long ago, this was considered common courtesy. Somewhere along the way these courtesies fell by the wayside. Society is a pale shadow of its former polite self. Common courtesy has been replaced with new attitudes and ways of conduct. 

Every person for themselves

Some people seem to have adopted the attitude that only they count. It’s as if being selfish is the new, accepted norm. Perhaps these people feel as though they may be in harms way if they stop to help an elderly person cross the street. It doesn’t matter if the elderly person risks getting hit by a speeding car, as long as you don’t, right? Of course the average person doesn’t actually think that way, consciously. However, it is rather obvious that is what is going on by not offering to help.

It is rather sad when people do not want to be bothered to help a fellow human being, especially society’s aged. The order of the day seems to be, “If it doesn’t affect me, I’m not going to do it”. People seem so concerned with advancing their own careers, lives and agendas that they just don’t want to be bothered with other people.

Too busy

This is the age of technology and it is a rather exciting time. People can communicate from across the globe via video chat as well as send and receive important documents in a matter of seconds. All of this and more can take place while in the comfort of the home, office or even a taxi. This makes business and even personal life so much easier. Technology has really improved life in so many ways.

Technology has also made some people dependent on those devices. They are so busy texting, video chatting or staring at the screen to notice life happening around them. Phone calls and texts are so much more important than opening the door for the guy loaded down with boxes. People don’t have time to eat dinner with their families because they are too busy on social media websites. 

Technology is not the sole blame for the decline in proper etiquette. Some people are so busy hurrying from one place to the next, that they don’t have time to bother being polite. They just shove their way through the crowd and keep on walking. 

Uncool

The last and final new attitude seems to be that it is not cool to be polite and friendly. It must be better to be rude and ignore each other. This attitude might be expected from a teenager dealing with life at that age. However for full grown adults to treat each other this way is another matter altogether. 

People wonder why today’s children are so mean and unruly. The answer might lie in the society children are growing up in right now. Children learn from watching other people, including but not limited to, their parents. Even certain movies and television shows portray manners and politeness as being “Uncool”.  

What does it say about modern day society when it is too busy to hold the door for an elderly person? What does it say about modern day people when they are too selfish to bother smiling or saying a kind word to a person sitting at the bus stop with them?

Yes, most people have cause to be concerned with personal safety. Yes, it pays to be cautious in public and even at home. It is true that tragic, true stories exist of good Samaritans being hurt, robbed and even murdered. The news and social media are flooded with horror stories of good deeds being punished. 

What all of this says about society is that manners have been largely replaced with greed, violence and selfishness. These things have always existed but not in the grand scope that can be seen today.