The world has become disconnected from authentic relationships, communication, manners, respect, and grace. Here are several societal issues that are dividing us and destroying humanity as we know it.
1. Lack of Accountability
Lack of accountability is running rampant in today’s society. It’s always —somebody else’s — fault. Nobody takes responsibility for their actions and behaviors. It’s become much easier to assign blame than own up to things.
2. Lack of Gratitude
People are surrounded by so much excess, in part due to social media and non-stop news, that everyone thinks they should be living a life of entitled celebrity elitists. This mindset causes them not to be grateful for or appreciate the simple everyday things. The non-stop advertisements and excessive shopping add to a lack of gratitude while building up an attitude of entitlement.
3. Self-Entitlement
We’ve all seen videos go viral on social media of people acting entirely entitled out in the real world. Throwing chairs at Waffle House employees, demanding to speak to the manager, and assaulting Starbucks baristas with poo, are only a few examples of said media. People have inflated egos and expect the world to revolve around how they expect things to be, and it’s ruining society.
4. The Need to Always Be Right
People who are talking, arguing, thinking they’re the only ones who are right, and refusing to listen to anyone or any part of what one might say if on the opposing team are destroying communication and empathy. I say team because politics have become a game, and both sides are losing.
5. Lack of Empathy
The lack of empathy is the foundational issue underneath all of the others. If people would take the time to really listen to someone else, it would create more empathetic hearts and core understanding. But people don’t listen to learn. They listen only to argue back. Unfortunately, many have a mindset that if it wasn’t their experience, then it’s not true.
6. Loneliness
Loneliness is a desolate feeling that grows in the hearts of many. Technology has driven a wedge between actual human interaction. So many people live in a virtual reality. Isolation (not the same as much-needed alone time) isn’t good for anyone. Still, more and more people are isolating themselves today.
7. Social Media
Between its divisive news, misinformation, angry mobs, and self-esteem issues social media brews, it’s no wonder people’s mental health is suffering from it. Yet, this addiction isn’t acknowledged in the same manner as substance abuse. Far more people have it, and admitting it is the first step to a problem no one seems to be attempting to solve.
8. Meme Culture
Meme culture is ruining society because it’s made everything a joke. Regardless of subject, memes are desensitizing people to the severity of things. For example, when the Titan Sub Implosion occurred in June 2023, before they even found the wreckage, people were making terrible Titanic Sub memes that were making light of the situation.
After Matthew Perry died, I immediately saw inappropriate memes with many laugh reactions. It’s sickening, but it’s become the norm. I’ve caught myself chuckling at terrible things that a couple of decades ago would never have been funny. Meme culture desensitizes you, even if you don’t realize it is happening.
9. Short Content Videos
Shorts content videos, including TikTok, Facebook Reels, and YouTube Shorts, are annihilating people’s sense of long-term work for a long-term reward in exchange for a short, quick shot of dopamine. Sadly, future generations won’t harness an attention span to achieve long-term goals.
10. Targeted Media
Targeted media is destroying society by keeping people in algorithmic echo chambers. People are only seeing and reading new stories they agree with, further solidifying their bias. They see things from the point of view they already hold, and everything is viewed through the lens of black and white.
11. The 24-Hour News Cycles
News channels as entertainment — 24-hour news cycles are destroying society today. Everything is becoming politicized, and depending on the station, you’re being programmed to hate anyone who doesn’t believe like you. Both sides do it. It’s terrible.
I personally watched my father go from needing to have his wife hold his nose to vote for Trump because of his disdain for the man to full-on worshipping the ground he walked on. Fox News did that by playing in the background morning, noon, and night. It was painful to watch. Moreover, I’m confident this is the story for much of the MAGA cult.
12. Separation From Nature
Being connected with nature is my number one activity that connects me to God (besides prayer, of course). Humans are being separated from nature without realizing they are losing connection. Nature is where we obtain all the necessary elements for survival. People aren’t meant to live in concrete jungles.
13. Politicians and Greedy Corporations
That sounds like two peas in the same pod to me. Or a one in the same kinda game here. Politicians are puppets for the wealthiest 1%, and U.S. lawmakers and elected officials are not serving the people. Period.
14. Income Inequality
Income inequality between classes is destroying humanity. The divide is substantial, and more and more people are being driven to homelessness. It’s terrible.
It’s weird driving through cities like Baltimore, where they’ve implemented gentrification. I don’t think moving wealthier people around poor urban areas does anything to help bridge any gaps. All it would do, in my opinion, is solidify any stereotypes on either side of that equation.
I remember watching a documentary on it, and there was a private school filled with rich White kids across the street from this urban public school with terrible scores and more. The kids explained how it felt to see these White kids get opportunities they would never have in the same neighborhoods, and it broke my heart.
15. Working Yourself to Death
Literally! The average lifespan of an American is 77 years. Yet, we don’t retire (if we’re lucky) until we are 65. It’s a scam. We are not free people. We are on a hamster wheel, and most of us are barely surviving.
Watching my father work his butt off his entire life, only to retire and receive a Progressive Primary Aphasia (dementia) diagnosis one year later — horrifying. It’s impossible not to be angry, and it constitutes a working model that is destroying humanity.
16. The Cost of Living
Can I get an Amen? Going to the grocery store causes me so much anxiety nowadays. It’s ridiculous how expensive rent is, and it continues to grow higher while wages remain the same. The fact that any states in the union have a minimum wage of $7.25 is downright criminal. No one can survive on that. Rent hikes, price gouging, and inflation are unbearable for many Americans.
17. Extreme Political Correctness
Political correctness has evolved to the point that you’re no longer allowed to have an opinion that deviates from the — hive mentality. So, when speaking about politics, you’re either a fascist or a snowflake, depending on who you are talking to. Everyone feels the need to be angry or righteous over something — every single day.
No one can take a joke, and if you laugh at something someone has deemed “inappropriate,” you are labeled a bigot and have an entire perception of what that means attributed to who you are as a person.
There are things I don’t find funny and even offensive, too, so I CHOOSE not to watch them or scroll by without commenting hate. Still, it feels like freedom of speech is slipping into something else.
18. Golden Age Thinking
Golden Age thinking is romanticizing the past. It permeates every part of society. Politics, music, film, art, literature, and machine design are subject to this “I wish we could go back to the good old days” thinking. Rather than exercising forward-thinking to find a resolution, people are clinging to the mentality of how things “used to be.”
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Elizabeth Ervin is the owner of Sober Healing. She is a freelance writer passionate about opioid recovery and has celebrated breaking free since 09-27-2013. She advocates for mental health awareness and encourages others to embrace healing, recovery, and Jesus.