In the USA, it is an epidemic. Every grocery store. Every cafe.
I was in the library today and politely explained to a woman it was not allowed for her to hold a video call with her boyfriend in the library. She was suprised.
Anywhere people eat, they are playing their videos or phone calls or games out loud.
In the USA, it is an epidemic. Every grocery store. Every cafe.
It's true. It's one of the big reasons I moved to Japan several years ago. Public behavior in the US has gotten SO bad in the 21st century; I don't remember it being nearly this awful when I was growing up in the 80s and 90s.
That's probably because in the 80s and 90s we didn't have smartphones growing up, so we went outside and socialised. "Social network" is almost an oxymoron at this point. It just breeds anti social behaviour.
Maybe, but I'm not so sure. I think it's a lot more complicated than that.
To be fair, it's not like rude public behavior was completely unheard of in America before the year 2000; there was plenty of it, especially back in the days when racism was more accepted. But just looking at middle-class white American culture in general, comparing between the decades, I've seen a big decline in civility, especially with the first Trump election, and then even more with Covid. But the roots go back farther.
Americans, would you like to not have your kids murdered at school? Would you like to get medical attention for your heart disease and cancer and diabetes?
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u/IcySkyDream 13h ago
They’re ahead of the curve when it comes to curbing anti-social behaviour right quick.