Saying please and thank you, used to be basic rules that were implemented in schools and homes. Nowadays, courtesies like those have been well forgotten and discarded through the years. Pleases and thank yous are two of the most well-known social courtesies. They simply show gratitude and respect towards other people. Expressing these small words and phrases can deeply change connections and interactions with others. In this day and age, little things like holding the door open for someone, smiling at someone when they pass, or simply just making eye contact, are often difficult for any individual to accomplish daily.
Social courtesies are a pivotal practice to use during everyday conversations and interactions. It used to be a common practice for people to open the door for anyone who was passing through behind them. Now, it has been observed that when given the opportunity to simply hold the door, many people would rather keep walking and let the door shut, rather than have a two-second conversation with a person while holding the door. One of the main reasons why this has been happening to society is because more time has been spent online, rather than having personal conversations, which in turn makes it harder for people to hold eye contact and have interactions. Teenagers and young adults have spent an increasing time on online games, virtual reality, and chatting with AI online. Since the pandemic, teenagers’s screen time has increased by 39%, which makes them more likely to prefer non-contact interaction rather then in person ones. Then when they are put into normal, face-to-face exchanges, they often do not know what to do with themselves.
Something easy that can be done to fix this is to simply smile at someone as they walk past in a public setting. Or maybe just saying thank you when someone does something nice. And next time hold the door open even if it means having to have awkward small talk with a stranger.
