Etiquette while commuting on public trasport

Allow me a rant because this ^ is just a symptom of a wider social problem that were having right now.

The Gen Z are the worst, but it seems to be happening with older people too (30s) who I guess are millennials? o I I'm not quite there yet but not young enough to be a Zoomer so I dunno what I am. With the younger ones, they are blasting music full volume on their phones on DART and Intercity trains, totally oblivious to other people, sometimes with others but even if they are alone (have they never heard of earphones). Music does not even sound good blasting with edgy scratchy 'on speaker' mode anyway it sounds much better in earphones so WTF?

Then there is this having a convo full bore on speaker so everyone can hear you, it would annoy me greatly if someone had me on full speaker on the other end.

It's one of a number of recent trends I've seen that disturb me. I noticed the number of people actually READING (on a tablet or a paper book) has plummeted on public transport. In particular with kids and teenagers, I used to read books all the time on trains and busses, and I still do, but now I can see everyone from 12-35 scrolling endlessly through tik tock just waiting for that temporary dopamine hit from discovering something mildly interesting. According to a friend of mine whos' teaching secondary school the attention span of the kids has started to nosedive. If they are confronted with anything longer than a paragraph or two they can't handle it. Instead of reading about a topic they'll look for youtube or tick tock videos explaining it (and you can imagine how much of that is reliable information)

Putting this together with other trends I've noticed (in fitness, attitudes towards mental health etc) I think Generation Z is going to split in two as they get older into two groups:

1. Who works out and eats right, reads books, tries to self improve, values time and uses it well instead of wasting large amounts of it on frivolous bs, sees their mental health/emotions as something they can control not something that controls and dominates THEM, recognises the difference between normal ups and downs and mental health problems, never touches their phone during meals or other times they need to focus, recognises that every right they have comes with a duty towards others in society that it's not all about them them them. Is capable of delayed gratification so thinks strategically about their life, what do I want in the long term and what will it take to get me there etc

2. Never work out (see a fit body as 'unobtainable' or worse 'toxic') so piles on weight as they get older, never reads books or anything longer than a page, pathologizes every normal life stressor as if it's a mental health crises, wastes (collectively ) years of their life in front of screens chasing game scores or the latest dopamine hit from funny tik tock vids, thinks self improvement is stupid, is obsessed with their rights and what is owed them with no social conscience (unless it allows them to feel self—righteous and superior to others) or consideration for others in the world. Is vaping like crazy believing the horse crap that it's safe (as opposed to safer, possibly, than cigs IF you are trying to get off cigs) and will be totally SHOCKED in 20 years when it comes out that it's full of sh1t that damages their body that the companies kept secret. Is not capable of long term thinking just wants whatever makes them feel good now now now.

Group 1, which probably makes up (roughly) 1/3, is going to have far less competition than the generation that preceded them as their competition in work, socially etc is way weaker and so they're going to do great and probably have a longer happier life, they'll also make way more money. Group 2 will end up in a major MAJOR mental and physical health crises when they get to their 30s, 40's and 50s. Group 2 often gets painted as ''the youth'' but that's not fair they are not all like this, but it's a big enough chunk that it's going to come back to haunt us down the road. I've found having watched over the last few years the kid being involved in team sports in secondary school (usually) seals them into group 1, staring at a computer all day and gaming (usually) locks them into group 2, I wish parents would be aware of this a lot more.

I always do the same.

It generally involves both of us sitting really uncomfortably for a few minutes before the light bulb comes on.

Agree full, travelled on it in 2002 during the World Cup, very peaceful and congestion free apart from the day of Ireland first match in Niigata, where the Irish visitors all pilled onto the early trains, as reserve seating was a mystery to Irish Rail at that time.