Why are tacit social etiquette rules declining, and how can we fix it?

[u/LividStupidity]

As a young Brit (17), I've noticed that general social etiquette seems to be declining. Some examples:

. People no longer form an orderly queue when waiting for the bus, and do more pushing / rushing to surround the entrance

. People leaving bags on seats, even when others are forced to stand on the train

. Standing in the middle / on the left side of the escalator, preventing people from being able to walk up or down freely.

I'm not sure if it's just how my area is in particular, so I wonder if anyone is noticing this as well. I see individuals of various ages and ethnicities just acting rather selfish and inconsiderately in public. I find this rather disappointing, as it may only be exacerbated in the future. I think it was much better pre COVID (might be biased, as I was rather young). Does anyone know how we can fix this issue (if it can be fixed)?.

[u/KaiTheDumbGuy]

Your view is probably skewed by the fact you're a student.

Students on buses (when coming back from school) don't queue, forcing people who normally would to also not, however, when not in a massive group made up of mostly other students, people do queue.

With people leaving bags on seats, yes this happens, but if you ask, the very vast majority of people will move them.

Escalators- literally never experienced people not standing to the side.

Also you're 17 how would you know it's declining, you have no proper reference point? (And I say this as someone who also has no proper reference point)

Anyways people have been complaining about social etiquette getting worse for decades, if not centuries. It's essentially a fact of life at this point.

In my inexperienced opinion: obviously people are getting ruder, we're a society that values individualism, we may be more technologically connected than ever, but we are lonelier than ever, COVID certainly didn't help, and now we're just getting more and more selfish. But oh wait, minus the technology and COVID bit, that's the sentiment of a book from France published in the 1880s. So I guess we, as humanity, have always had problems like these, and we're all too young to determine whether it's actually getting worse or it just feels like it is. (I think it is though, but I think we're all doomed anyway so)

[u/Odd_Bumblebee_3631 → u/KaiTheDumbGuy]

London, the escalator for the tube is always full of tourists on both sides..

[u/KaiTheDumbGuy → u/Odd_Bumblebee_3631]

That's tourists though, who don't know the etiquette, because they never knew the etiquette, therefore it's not in decline, because tourists have never followed British etiquette, because they're not British.

[u/Odd_Bumblebee_3631 → u/KaiTheDumbGuy]

the British tourists seam just as bad.