Modern Manners report
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Are people becoming less polite in everyday life?
Now do people still treat each other with respect or are good manners becoming a thing of the past? Are some of the unwritten rules of social etiquette things such as saying please and thank you, being considerate of others and knowing how to behave in public starting to disappear. Well our reporter, Florence Okoje, has been looking into this. She joins me in studio now. Florence, good morning. You are very welcome.
Thank you so much, David, for having me.
See, there you go, there's politeness. But uh are we becoming a less polite society? Have good manners gone out the window?
Well, you'll certainly find plenty of people who feel that manners have taken a bit of a back seat in recent years, whether it's being considerate in public spaces like you mentioned, or acknowledging the people around you. There's a lot of people who feel like those little social niceties are becoming less common. And it does depend on who you ask. Um, there's a bit of this kids these days, a bit of a generational divide, with older people kind of pointing the finger at younger generations. Like myself.
How did Florence Okojie's field interviews reveal attitudes toward manners?
And I found out while doing that report this report. So I went to Stony Batter and I spoke with people about whether they think that some of the traditional displays of politeness are now becoming a thing of the past.
Yes, I do believe that people have lost their manners. I think people have lost um just maybe thinking about other people um since COVID since everybody was kind of left alone in their own minds and I think people have lost even saying thank yous and giving someone a smile. Yes, definitely. People are more just rushing around and everybody's under gal gal gal. People's more stressed out and more impatient and impolite.
Do you feel like Ireland has become less polite? Have we lost our good manners?
No. It's straightforward no. We're still the same people as we always were, mind you. I actually got feel old when I get in the loose. People get up and s give me the seat to do
Yeah, I do do think they're less free. The youngsters many.
What generational differences did interviewees mention about respect and entitlement?
When I was growing up we had we had respect. Today there's no respect. I definitely think there's like strange entitlement with people of older generations and a lot of older women as well have this kind of rude entitlement that they just walk in front of you or shove their way in front of you on escalators and everything. Um and buses. Like I'd gladly let someone go ahead, but there's just this kind of weird expectation. I think people are more introverted now, so I think the older generation they are more outspoken and they talk with people and do all the formalities but the new generation they just cut to the chase basically.
Coming from somebody who's obviously a young man, what is it that prevents you from doing that? Um from saying hi, hello or thank you or you're welcome?
Uh for me it's the fear of something going wrong, so if I talk to less people there's less chance of me getting it wrong basically. I work with children I do and we're constantly constantly having to tell them, say please and thank you. Like we're having to constantly pull them up, like you know I mean, wager manners. So it is an issue, even at home, like it's coming in from a very young age, not just adults nowadays, it's it's at home. No, I don't think people in Ireland are becoming less polite. What is happening is the way of being polite is changing, as it does with every generation. The same number of people who had good manners a generation ago have good manners today, and the same number of people who had bad manners a generation ago have bad manners today.
Why are public‑space noises and sauna etiquette becoming new etiquette concerns?
It's just that there are different good manners and different bad manners. Different bad manners
So there's a mixed reaction there, but it does seem like overall there's a perception that there has been a change in behaviour. Have businesses noticed it?
Yes, um, and apart from the lack of basic pleasantries as those people mentioned, um a lot of people did talk about the lack of awareness, particularly when it comes to how loud people are in public spaces.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Are people becoming less polite in everyday life?
0:02–0:59
2
How did Florence Okojie's field interviews reveal attitudes toward manners?
0:59–1:51
3
What generational differences did interviewees mention about respect and entitlement?
1:51–3:12
4
Why are public‑space noises and sauna etiquette becoming new etiquette concerns?
3:12–4:30
5
How are businesses like Outcast Sauna using code‑of‑conduct posters to teach politeness?
4:30–5:48
6
Do we need to relearn basic etiquette such as saying thank you and holding doors?
5:48–6:48
7
What does social‑psychology research say about changing norms of politeness?
6:48–8:06
8
How has the pandemic and social media shaped our perception of rudeness?
8:06–10:05