Is Australia descending into a vortex of rudeness, and can we escape it?
Imagine a typical day in our increasingly agitated world. You scroll through social media, only to be met with a barrage of online abuse, either aimed at you or someone else. Then, you get into your car, only to be aggressively overtaken while adhering to the speed limit. You pull into a shopping mall car park, and another driver swiftly maneuvers to snatch your spot, then unleashes a torrent of insults when you honk your horn. Later, you find another parking space, but your car is then damaged by a runaway trolley, carelessly left behind by its previous user.
Even a simple trip to the cinema can become an ordeal, with people around you texting on their phones, propping their feet on seats, and talking throughout the entire movie. At the airport, while queuing for your flight, the person ahead of you might yell at the airline staff because they're being charged for extra carry-on luggage. Once you board, your fellow passengers might refuse to move from their aisle seats, forcing you to squeeze past them. When the flight attendants remind everyone to turn off their phones, many ignore the instructions, including parents and their children engrossed in videos played without headphones.
And the discomfort doesn't end there. The passenger in front of you reclines their seat for the entire 55-minute flight, and upon disembarking, those behind you impatiently jostle to get out before you've even had a chance to move.
For those blessed with extreme calm, navigating these situations might be effortless. However, for the majority of us, the selfish actions of others significantly diminish our everyday experiences. This can even provoke anger, unfortunately exacerbating the problem and contributing to a generally degraded atmosphere in our public spaces. It's no wonder many of us are starting to question the appeal of venturing out, preferring the perceived sanctuary of home to avoid such stress.
But here's where it gets controversial... A significant report released in December 2025 by Australia’s Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association revealed a staggering shift in customer behaviour. This landmark report highlighted a surge in violence, with physical assaults on retail and fast-food workers doubling since 2023. Furthermore, verbal abuse has become the norm, with a shocking 88% of workers reporting being verbally abused in the past 12 months.
In response, governments and businesses are taking action to protect frontline workers. Last year saw a notable hardening of laws across Australia, introducing a range of criminal sanctions to combat this rise in incivility. For instance, the Victorian Crimes Amendment Bill 2025 now creates specific new offences for assaulting or threatening “customer-facing workers,” including indictable offences carrying up to five years in prison. This legislation directly addresses the escalating abuse in retail, hospitality, and transport sectors.
Meanwhile, the Bus Industry Confederation reported in late 2025 that physical attacks on bus drivers had increased by 80% since 2022, while verbal abuse against them surged by an alarming 184% in some states during the same period. Consequently, many Australian bus fleets are now being retrofitted with full-height driver safety screens to enhance protection.
Adding to this narrative, a recent AskAnAustralian Reddit thread saw users flooding in with examples of deteriorating civility over the past decade. Common sentiments included:
- “Disproportionate escalation from annoyance to violence. Basically no self control.”
- “In the stores, on the bus, on the roads, on the phone … mass entitlement and selfishness all around. The social code is broke and I can’t see any way to fix it from here.”
- “Social media has opened up mass narcissism and everyone has main character syndrome. It’s every person for himself.”
While authorities and industries are cracking down on public incivility, what can we, as individuals, do? A great deal, it turns out.
Be the Bigger Person
As the Roman Stoic Seneca wisely noted thousands of years ago, “we are bad men living amongst bad men and only one thing will calm us and that is if we agree to go easy on one another.”
Choosing to “go easy” might feel like tolerating bad behaviour, but it can be a crucial step in de-escalating situations and preventing them from spiraling. It also ensures you don't become part of the problem. So, let that car merge, offer a thank-you wave to a fellow driver, and patiently wait your turn to exit the aircraft.
Marcus Aurelius, in his personal reflections, wrote, “The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injustice.” When faced with rudeness, the most powerful action you can take is to remain passively polite. This simple act can break the cycle of negativity and, in its place, initiate a contagion of kindness.
Get Comfortable with Discomfort and Inconvenience
Try to reframe minor annoyances – a delayed bus or a sold-out pastry – as mere inconveniences rather than personal affronts. When things don't go your way, contrast them with truly challenging news, like a serious health diagnosis. You'll likely find that most of our daily frustrations are relatively minor in the grand scheme of things.
Develop a Strategy for Managing Anger
When you experience a sudden surge of fear or a sense of injustice, such as when a driver behaves aggressively and puts you in danger, anger can erupt quickly and feel uncontrollable. However, when you feel that knot of anger in your stomach, acknowledge it. Treat it as a signal to pause. Take a few deep breaths before speaking or acting. Remember, once words are spoken in anger, they cannot be unsaid.
Practice Patience
Slowing down your pace or leaving a little earlier can significantly reduce the urgency and stress that often lead to speeding, cutting others off, or reckless overtaking. Realizing that these actions only save a minute or two, and that they can lead to accidents that consume far more time and energy, can encourage us to go with the flow of traffic, even when it's congested.
Acknowledge That Everyone is the Main Character in Their Own Story
A significant contributor to the epidemic of rudeness is the implicit assumption that others matter less than ourselves. This applies to the airline staff you berate, the gig economy worker you fail to thank for delivering your food, or the pedestrian you don't allow to cross the street safely. It's a failure of empathy not to recognize another person's inner life – to treat them as if they have no feelings, don't get hurt, or aren't afraid when we yell at them.
Each person we encounter carries their own unique experiences and emotions. They deserve to be treated with the same kindness and respect we would wish for ourselves.
Question the Systems That Push People to the Brink
This is a challenge that extends beyond individual behaviour to corporations, governments, and businesses. While individual civility is important, social bonds weaken when systems fail. If an airline consistently runs behind schedule and understaffs its operations, it bears responsibility for creating conditions that foster incivility. Similarly, if a call centre makes it difficult for customers to speak with a human representative, leading to long wait times and frustrated callers, the company must take responsibility for the abuse its staff endures.
While there has never been a perfect era of universal civility, and rudeness has always existed, we must all take stock and strive to do better to prevent things from worsening.
What are your thoughts? Do you agree that Australia is becoming ruder, or do you see this as an oversimplification? Share your experiences and opinions in the comments below!
