It seems that no one else will give you a sincere answer. There are multiple reasons that we find ourselves in this situation. I likely cannot cover all of them without writing an essay, but I will give you some insights before I leave for another few months to focus on productive undertakings. Consider the following in an abstract manner where possible, as I am purposely leaving out talking points that are usually raised by either side of politics and are a constant source of debate.
Firstly, western people are becoming poorer: As the wealth in western countries becomes absorbed by China, western people feel more disenfranchised, and in their desperation, become susceptible to suggestion by the different extreme ideologies presented to them. They need an outlet, hope and usually, someone to blame.
Secondly, technology has been a double-edged sword: -People have become easier targets for foreign actors, who plant the seeds of hate to build civil unrest and impact their competitor's economy. Particular foreign actors have entire teams dedicated to influencing others on social media. -Big data and analytics have enabled attacks to become sharper and more effective (e.g. as demonstrated by Cambridge Analytica). -Parents spend more hours doom-scrolling than raising their kids; who end up being taken for a ride by algorithms from the comfort of their prams. They lack the interpersonal communication skills that their parents were fortunate enough to develop. Without respectable parents, they will follow "influencers" with agendas. -Grammar and spelling apps are leading people to speak in a uniform and simplified manner, which leads to a deterioration of their ability to form sentences that emit the true depth of their character. Soon enough, they will resort to having generative AI write for them instead of opting to express themselves in a way that is unique to them. I believe that this accelerates their decay and allows them to be misguided by insidious authors/editors with superior writing skills. -People are willing to give up privacy for convenience. They are happy to install a data collection probe like Google Nest to achieve home automation or hand over their biometric data to make authentication quicker. Their lack of concern not only applies to themselves, but to others that they interact with. -It is no longer necessary to save film for extra special moments, meaning it is no longer necessary to judge the importance of moments with care. Shallowness therefore prevails, which is on display every time someone takes a picture at a place setup to be "instagramable" - like moths to a flame.
Thirdly, content has become destructive towards our ability to communicate. -Contemporary content is on a vicious cycle to become captivating in less time to gain more views. Like a drug, the audience's tolerance increases and a higher dose is promptly needed, leading to content reaching new extremes. Consider how short videos with unnatural facial expressions, and zany concepts are now the norm. This leads to a few issues, such as low attention span and finding anything not as stimulating as fast-moving pictures to be boring. -For the sake of diversity and inclusion, entities are pushing for plain English to be used as much as possible in public (e.g. public notices, news reports). Unfortunately, this lowers the bar for everyone else as spaces where an extensive vocabulary are encouraged start to evaporate. The void that his leaves is rapidly filled by slang, popular African-American phrases and frivolous expressions such as "literally". -Music that glorifies crime, prostitution, drugs, poverty and filth is disseminated across the western world, leading to some people trying to emulate the spirit of such music. It manifests itself in how people dress, speak and act towards each other. -Unrealistic life styles are broadcast on social media by people who carefully curate what they show in order to build a reputation. Some of the outcomes are unhealthy life styles, unattainable goals, jealously and depression. The youth are more susceptible to this - you can imagine what type of people will be running the country in a few decades time. -Filters are used to make people more attractive than what they are in real life. Deception is rewarded and encouraged. -Memes, which are now mainstream, are used to make almost any discussion a comedy.
Fourthly, mature people are disappearing and the population is increasing: -The adults of today are not as serious about life as those before them. Growing up on South Park, The Simpsons and the like has led to a generation posting phrases as ghastly as "I am adulting". Professionals no longer aim to act respectfully, as clearly witnessed when nurses and doctors started dancing on social media videos during a pandemic. Some healthcare institutions have even sent out memos to nurses posting on cam girl websites with their uniform on. It is truly remarkable how far society has fallen. -People, even those who are professional, place their dirty shoes on seats and coffee tables without considering others. -Our finite resources are being rationed out amongst an increasing head count, hence there are smaller paper toilet rolls, smaller serving sizes, more substitutions of ingredients, more synthetics in clothing and a reduction of quality over. I think people can feel that something is amiss, but are unable to express or articulate their concerns well due to the second and third points posed above. -Some theorise that human beings are inflationary. Like commodities, when in abundance, the assets drop in value, and therefore people value each other less.
When combined, all the above factors have created a population of superficial, materialistic and arrogant people who are unable to communicate with decency and unable to articulate their true feelings. They operate on a style-over-substance basis, are inconsiderate while lambasting each other constantly over ideas that are not even their own, on platforms where snide commentary is in vogue. They lack critical and lateral thinking skills, and are quite comfortable at lying about their looks and situation. Being productive is not a concept that they embrace as they instead have ambitions of collecting likes and going viral.
Easily fooled by fake news and armed with memes, these are the contagious people that you are dealing with.
