35 Posts Calling Out Social Norms That Should No Longer Be Accepted

According to the author of the thread, they decided to ask the question online after thinking about how societal standards change over time. "Things that are normal today can become abominable as time passes as more about it is known by the general public. Other things that people judge now will become more accepted," u/Nebulaud told Bored Panda.

A major issue that the redditor sees in this day and age is how much screen time children get and the type of content they're exposed to. "The internet is not a babysitter," they said.

"At first, I thought that giving your child unrestricted access to a tablet as an excuse to rarely pay attention to them was a rare thing, but I kept seeing it happen more and more. It describes my childhood, but I now often see small children and toddlers watch things that are clearly too disturbing to be consumed at such a young age."

They gave an example that they think is particularly problematic: "The current big thing is Sprunki, which is a bait-and-switch horror Incredibox mod with colorful characters that devolves into a gory hellscape once you get to Black. An interesting concept, but not one suitable for the children that YouTube pushes it towards with its algorithms," they explained.

"There are also other media that are pushed by algorithms, like other horror games, provocative music videos, politics, f****h games, true crime, etc. These also still appear on the YouTube Kids app. Other parts of the internet are also unsafe for kids due to both people assuming that most users are at least teenagers and people seeking out kids to exploit," u/Nebulaud explained that some violent or adult content that people are "frequently baited into" can "scar even grow adults."

From u/Nebulaud's perspective, social norms should benefit the society they are in. "If they start causing more harm than good, lose their purpose, or were never good in the first place, then they should go instead of remain as an annoying husk," they told us.

"Ones that I hate but weren't in the thread are children being viewed as subhumans unworthy of respect, changing your mind being viewed as shameful, being expected to be fully informed of and take a side on every political issue you never heard of, automatically hating people you don't understand, and mental health being viewed as expendable."

Bored Panda asked u/Nebulaud for their thoughts on developing better boundaries and a healthier work-life balance. "If you can, find ways to permanently make work easier. Find more efficient tools and techniques that help cut out the grind or make working less complicated. However, do not do too much at once unless you're ok with the company possibly increasing your workload. Try to reduce the mental labor," they shared.

Something else to consider is figuring out a "plan B job in case you get fired or your job gets too bad to continue." It might be worth doing this even if you don't have to use it, as "it will boost your confidence because you have a possible safety net."

The author had some more practical advice that all employees should keep in mind. "If a boss is particularly bad, document what they do wrong and send it to the higher-ups or HR if your company actually has a good one. If you are talking to a higher-up, mention both the proof of abuse and how the boss's misbehavior is reducing efficiency, thus costing money. If the boss breaks the law, also involve the respective government agency."

People’s relationship with their jobs is an excruciating point for many of them. What employees want is fairly easy to grasp but hard to implement in practice: purposeful and meaningful work, a salary you can live on with dignity, career opportunities, a decent work-life balance, friendly colleagues, and an empathetic boss, to name just a few.

Instead, many workers have to fight against burnout, anxiety, overtime, toxic workplace environments, and being undervalued and underpaid. It’s no wonder that many people feel demotivated about their jobs and the entire work industry as a whole.

If you can barely make ends meet and have no time or energy left to be with your loved ones or to enjoy life, then what exactly is the point of working hard? People understandably get frustrated when the balance is skewed in others’ favor instead of their own.

Burnout essentially means that employees feel chronically exhausted, distance themselves from their work, and become negative or cynical about their jobs. In short, poorly managed workplace stress leads to reduced professional efficacy, according to the World Health Organization.

Employees who are burned out don’t just do worse professionally, they are also more often absent from their jobs, have lower job satisfaction, and can struggle with long-term physical and mental health problems.

The American Psychological Association states that in 2021, 79% of employees reported work-related stress in the month before the survey. Meanwhile, over half of the respondents said that this work-related stress had negative impacts on them, such as a lack of interest/motivation/energy (26%), as well as a lack of effort at work (19%).

Furthermore, 36% of workers said they experienced cognitive weariness, 32% revealed that they were emotionally exhausted, and 44% reported physical fatigue.

Meanwhile, SHRM’s Employee Mental Health in 2024 Research Series revealed that 44% of American employees feel burned out at work. 45% feel emotionally drained and 51% actually feel ‘used up’ at the end of their workday.

Burned-out workers are thrice as likely to be actively looking for another job than employees who don’t suffer from burnout. On top of that, burnout means that a person is less likely to go above and beyond what’s expected of them at work.

“If you consider how many workers are feeling burned out and the direct and indirect effects burnout has on an organization, it should really raise a red flag to organizational leaders,” explained senior SHRM researcher Daroon Jalil.

According to SHRM, some ways to address burnout include staying optimistic throughout any challenges you face, giving yourself some credit, reframing your perceptions and expectations, limiting your demands, and leading a healthy lifestyle.

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