Concertgoers throwing things at performers, people talking on their cell phones through movies, tourists defacing historical landmarks in pursuit of the perfect selfie — the first truly post-pandemic summer has shown the bad behaviors unleashed during the stress of COVID aren’t slowing down.
What they’re saying: “I think it’s a breakdown of social norms,” Megan Ranney, dean of the Yale School of Public Health, told Axios.
- “The pandemic really did change us very inherently because, for the first time in anyone’s lifetime, it was like every man for himself. You know, we were fighting over toilet paper,” said New York-based neuropsychologist Sanam Hafeez. “It broke life as we knew it.”
The big picture: Obviously, not everyone has lost all sense of decorum. But anyone you ask likely has their own fresh anecdote of witnessing entitled customers barking demands at staff or an angry outburst at a restaurant. “Adult tantrums, rule-breaking, rudeness and general bratty behavior has not only become increasingly common on airplanes, it has spread,” the Los Angeles Times recently wrote.
Of note: Of course, all these changes can’t be blamed on the pandemic. Experts also noted the increasingly volatile political environment is contributing to a general loss of civility.
The bottom line: The pandemic — combined with plenty of other cultural forces — has shaken up the way we live, increased stress and some bad behavior along with it.