In the post-pandemic period, we returned to our in-person lives, with a shift in our behavior in effect of being isolated for two years. We have become more reliant on using social media and following trends, changing our behavior as society becomes more tech-focused. This is seen by our humor and relationships, as we have become more outspoken and direct, which in some ways has helped us socially, but has also negatively affected our behavior, with ideas communicated rudely in language. With these behaviors shown in our transition back to in-person lifestyles, lack of decorum is evident through overexposure of oneself and others, inconsiderate behavior towards other people, and common disruption to services in public areas, all for the pursuit of comedy and self-obsessed behavior.

Online culture has made it accessible to disrupt public spaces. These days, it is unavoidable to break away from social media, influencing trends and ideas through fashion, humor, and media. In fact, because of the rapidness platforms are shaping mainstream culture with, it is imminent for alternative platforms or groups to stop social media currently, even if fads are promoting dangerous ideas or not. However, a common trend that should be brought to attention more is the invasion of privacy in public spaces through social media. Comedy-based influencers go up to people in malls or parks and record fake interviews in the pursuit of comedy. Anonymous users take pictures of people they deem “weird” as an excuse to make fun of their looks online. Users online name-drop people they know, causing internet drama for the sake of attention. These acts of zero consent are incredibly invasive and damaging, for the person to not only be stripped away from online privacy, but also to feel humiliated from this overexposure. And due to how common it is to find someone recording something “funny” online, and the reactions of the comments encouraging this behavior and aligning with the creator’s views, the extremities of these actions are not being clarified with people at the moment. This ultimately undermines this social decorum, as it does not matter if the person being filmed had felt uncomfortable in the moment someone had posted them, it only matters if the actions justify the means of gaining a popular reputation.

There has been non-stop disrespect that has been found in public spaces these days. Pre-pandemic, established rules were never violated as much and there was not much conflict against these rules. But post-pandemic left people to become more pursued with themselves and what they want to do, which ultimately caused them to disregard set-up rules in general. This has been a common recurrence in concerts recently. Concerts are supposed to be enjoyable for audiences to see their favorite artists and interact with many other fans of those artists. But this enjoyable experience has only declined in crowds with the loss of concert etiquette. In big crowds, when an artist is performing a slower, sadder song, the crowd is often heard yelling the lyrics at the same time. As well, artists such as Bebe Rexha are facing danger, when a phone was thrown onto her face, hurting her to the point of getting stitches. At the end of the day, going to a concert is a privilege and a huge opportunity to hear music you love and meet new people, but excitement can only limit itself, and it’s unfair to take that out on your favorite artist. And as well,  it’s become common to see artists without acknowledging them as humans recently, with hate trains occurring to artists like Chappell Roan on fan boundaries, these harmful notions are often ignored and misplaced with fans prioritizing typical “fan behavior” rather than treatment of their favorite artists. With this, common etiquette is being shown to decline, taking advantage of performers through active ignorance of concert boundaries.

Additionally, disrespect for public services has been evident recently and continues to grow for selfish reasons. After being isolated for so long, we again have gotten too comfortable with interacting with workers, by causing arguments while they are helping us out in whatever we need. This behavior is often associated with “Karens”, who embody entitlement by causing conflict in public spaces. Whether it is for minuscule reasons or not, such as a product being unavailable, a Karen will still have a way to call the manager and disturb the overall peace of the services. This phenomenon gives a hard time to these workers, who still have their own lives outside of work and trying to do their jobs correctly without unnecessary complaints, such as continuously asking for a manager when a worker simply responds to questions honestly. According to a 2023 study by Georgetown University, about 75% of frontline workers in major industries around the world have dealt with disrespect and incivility by customers on average once a month in 2022. This study proves the normalization of public districts, damaging the work environment and harming the personalities of public service workers. With this, public discourtesy is constantly enacted, with numerous cases of common disrespect to service workers rather than showing modesty to workers on doing their jobs or even pointing out valid criticism to help them do their jobs.

Inevitably, the loss of public decency is apparent, with no consent to privacy, constant rule-breaking for selfish reasons, and overall harmful treatment toward others in public services. With these actions constantly occurring, it’s vital to remain level-headed and courteous to those around you to help others when the world has been promoting inconsiderate behavior against them. The world won’t magically become better, but we can improve ourselves every day and learn to become more understanding toward others’ environments and situations.