Does it seem to you like people are right about at their limit of annoyance lately? It sure seems that way to me. Screaming at one another, completely losing their composure on airplanes, in stores, and for that matter, nearly wherever they happen to be. Not to mention shooting one another, which is getting more and more common, at least here in the US.
Some of this might be simply the kinds of things that are getting mentioned in various media, of course. There are trends in what gets filmed, written about, and reported, and it could be that people acting out from pure annoyance is the hot story of our time. But I don’t think that can be all of it — I think there really is more acting out, shouting, threatening, and pure aggressive rudeness than there used to be, at least in very recent times. Go back far enough in history and you can read about US Senators hitting each other with walking sticks during actual sessions. And there’s been no shortage of local violence at any time.
But I still think there’s an upturn in aggressive annoyance and people acting on it. It’s no secret that when you’re already irritated about something, another completely unrelated annoyance can shatter your self control much more easily. Parents can lose their tempers at the kids simply because of a bad day at work that the kids have nothing to do with. And for that matter, a bad day with the kids can have consequences at work, too.
So maybe what’s going on is that our basal irritation rate is generally elevated. Why might that be? I think it might have something to do with frustration about all the things — big, important things — that seem to be going very wrong in the world. Most people, I think, want to do something to help. And yet what can we do about something as huge as climate change? When there’s a global pandemic, how can we help? What can we do about something as vast as “the economy,” or “inflation?” Or war? For one thing, I would love to reduce my use of fossil fuels, but I can’t afford to replace my car with an electric one. And even if I could, I’m uncomfortable with the unpleasantness of many materials needed for batteries — how they’re mined, and what happens in a few years when the batteries need replacement.
I also can’t do much of anything about the political nonsense I see and worry about. Or the violence all over the place. Even though statistically, there is less violence now, and in a broad sense things are getting better in so many areas, it just doesn’t feel like it.
That’s the thing; everything feels very frustrating just now. We seem frayed. Near the ends of our emotional ropes. Maybe there’s just too much change. And it can be annoying.
I don’t have any solutions, but I suspect just calmly speaking and writing about these things helps. Also remembering that most of the people you meet, most of the time, are probably okay. And so, most of the time, are you.
