Is Self-Awareness Slowly Eroding?

Is Self-Awareness Slowly Eroding?

Or is it just me being a bit grumpy?

Photo by Oosman Exptal. on Unsplash

I’m sitting on a train waiting to go to London for the day. A couple are sitting in the seats behind me and are talking VERY loudly.

I’ve got another 2 hours of having to listen to their conversation.

There are people around us and I know that if I wanted to have a chat with my wife I’d keep my voice at a reasonable level because no one else wants or needs to hear what I have to say.

But this couple seems to have zero awareness of personal privacy or respect for those around them.

I want to turn around and yell

Will you shut the fuck up!

It’s the same with mobile phones.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve had to listen to someone with their phone on loudspeaker having a chat. I don’t want to listen to anyone else’s conversations.

I want to snatch the mobile phone from their hand and smash it on the floor.

Maybe I’m being a bit old-fashioned in expecting everyone to have the same level of consideration that I do.

Is this just me being a picky and slightly grumpy old man? Or is it symptomatic of something worse, an erosion of self-awareness?

With the focus on iPhones ever present in everyone’s hands, there is a disconnect between what is happening on the screen and what is happening in real life.

There are times when people around us forget that the people they are near actually make up a part of the real world and not part of the online world of the iPhone.

This disconnect results in an infuriating disregard for others' personal space and privacy and the need to speak loudly, letting everyone around them know every detail of their lives.

It’s the same with swearing loudly in public when you’re chatting to friends. There are other people around who don’t need or want to hear that language but for some reason, people seem to be oblivious to the feelings and sensitivities of those around them.

I remember when I was a teacher and on playground duty. Over the years, I’d wander around the playground and occasionally I’d hear the odd

Oh fucking hell

I’d look at the culprit and immediately, they’d apologise not realising that I was within earshot.

Within four or five years there was a subtle change. When I heard an exclamation

Oh for fuck’s sake!

I’d call it out and had a student look at me quizzically and say

What?!

I wonder if it’s a symptom of the times we’re in where there is scant regard for other people or if it is more a case of me being hyper-sensitive to the general lack of consideration and manners.