128 Today's people are friendlier than the people in the past.
Over the past few decades, the need for friendliness has changed both between individuals and among people in society as a whole. So, it has been argued whether today’s people are friendlier than the people in the past. Some might argue that today’s people are much friendlier than those of the past, while others might not think so. However, I am deeply convinced that today’s people are definitely less friendly than those of the past. Actually, I have a couple of reasons to support my idea and will explain and develop them in the next following paragraphs below.
First and foremost, people in the past were friendlier than people are today because they relied on each other more. In the past, neighbors had to cooperate in order to accomplish something or even give each other a helping hand to make their daily lives easier. Therefore, having a good relationship with each other was indispensible. So, in order to achieve this, they needed to know each other more and treat one another with great friendliness. In contrast, today’s people don’t feel the need to be friendly to one another because they are very independent. Although some people might say that today’s people are more open to diversity and foreign people than those of the past, the personal relationships people share today are less intimate and honest. A famous American drama called ‘Gilmore girls’ is a good example. In the movie, a woman lives with her only daughter in a very small town that never changes in 1990s. She shares a very intimate relationship with her neighbors and townspeople. This is because everyone relies on one another. A neighbor who is a professional cook always helps her out when she is trying to host a big party or an event. A townsperson who has a coffee-shop makes her coffee every night. Not only that, she could find someone who would give her a ride to her workplace anytime. Since she is a supervisor in an inn, she allows her neighbors to rent a room for free whenever there’s an emergency. Even when she had long been in a bad relationship with her own rich parents, the relationship is easily covered because she and her parents need each other. In contrast, today’s people are living very independently from one another. They have too many possessions and are constantly fighting for more. Therefore, today’s people are less friendly in comparison with those of the past.
Moreover, people in the past were much friendlier because today’s people are too busy to treat people nicely. In this fast changing bustling world, everyone has a tight schedule. The increased competition in society today is making everyone too busy to maintain politeness or close relationships. Though people in the past lived in a more inconvenient world with less wealth or development, people today are very stressed out and constantly angered due to their tight schedules regardless of today’s wealth or developments. The movie ‘Set it up’ is a good example of this. The movie first shows a bustling atmosphere of New York. The main character is a very diligent and professional secretary who works under a very mean and unfriendly boss. Since the boss is a workaholic, she needs to stay with her in the office over night. In a floor underneath the main character, there is a male secretary that works under a very mean boss as well. Both the man and the main character struggles with the same thing: isolation and unfriendliness. Although both of them try to stay optimistic in hard times, they are often depressed because they couldn’t share any intimate relationship with their co-workers. However, they realize that their bosses are actually really nice people who are just too stressed out about the work they have to do. They are too busy to participate in family events or even maintain a good relationship with their spouse. Therefore, it is obvious and absolute that today’s people’s hardships and difficult circumstances are preventing them from being friendly, compared to those of the past.