Lack of Ethical Standards in Society – Root Cause of Many Issues

During the course of the past three decades, there has been a tremendous surge in technology throughout the world. As a result of that, there is a tremendous improvement in the standard of living of people. But we have another side of the picture that is not so pleasant. Along with technological advancements, there has been a simultaneous decline in the moral standards of society.

Now, it won’t be inappropriate to succinctly elaborate upon a few important, corresponding points.

• People of contemporary times, especially youngsters, are more focused on furthering their careers and amassing wealth. Here, most individuals are not hesitant to even deviate from the path of morality, to achieve their objectives. Excess significance is attached to materialism, and ethical norms are conveniently ignored. In this pursuit of personal interests, many issues of social and national importance are left unresolved.

Virtues like integrity and kindness are irrelevant to these young people; these things are only treated as hindrances.

• If this scenario continues, we are soon going to have a generation that is grossly self-centered. And, the obvious consequence of this is that there is hardly going to be anyone striving for social welfare. Chaos and turmoil could then become inevitable.
• Owing to declining moral standards, there is now no clarity about the definitions of “good” and “bad.” People are coming up with their own interpretations of these two terms, based on their convenience. As the line separating good and bad has gotten thinner, addressing key issues plaguing society has become tougher than ever before. Any course of action initiated for the betterment of society is facing opposition from many groups. This disturbing trend aggravates already- prevalent problems.
• In this age of materialism, every person is viewing other people with mistrust, fear, and skepticism. Each individual prefers to keep to themselves, totally unconcerned with people in the vicinity. This pattern of choosing to be isolated isn’t helping the long-term interests of society.
• At this point, it is paramount to emphasize that the Covid-19 pandemic has played its part in the further decline of standards. In the first two years of the Corona crisis, people were forced to lock themselves in their homes and stay away from socializing. This only increased the emotional distance between humans. This is so much so that even after the lessening pandemic severity, people are unwilling to freely communicate with each other.
• This is an aspect where we again must make mention of growing technologies. Digital technology has led to the advent of many smart devices that support countless apps. These gadgets and apps enable a person to get many things done with just a few swipes on the screen.
• Slowly, individuals are viewing these facets of technology as replacements for human presence. More relevance is being given to gadgets, and not people and the erosion of moral standards is a logical outcome of this attitude.

It needs to be understood that this article only speaks about the general patterns in society seen nowadays. Otherwise, there are always exceptions and individual instances where people still cherish the age-old ethical values.