What is Common Courtesy to You?

What is common courtesy to you?

Urbana High School Principal Matthew Stark said, “Common courtesy, in my view, is a polite way to act. Please, thank you, holding a door for someone, [and] acknowledging someone for helping are all examples in my view.”

All these acts of kindness would be considered common courtesy anywhere in America. However, is having common courtesy and using it becoming a thing of the past?

In this day and age when you can communicate with people in a few quick seconds and do not have to be face-to-face with them, it begs the question: is each generation losing the ability to be able to interact with one another? As a generation we are losing valuable face-to-face time with the ability to send a text.

When you need to get into contact with someone, chances are you either text or send them an email depending on whom it is you are contacting. Before, you had to be able to have an understanding of how to be polite if you wanted to have a conversation with someone.

Now, you can send an unemotional text to someone and get the same answer. The difference is now you do not ever have to see that person.

Stark said, “I hope it is not [becoming] out of date, but I think sometimes we forget to make it (common courtesy) a priority.”  When people do not have to interact with each other many seem unsure about how to go about it.

You can see it every day in UHS. When someone holds the door and the person does not thank them; or when someone drops their books and no one stops to help them.

Is it possible that due to technology we are losing our touch with our polite side? We, as a society, are not able to interact with each other face-to-face and that is taking away valuable lessons on how to interact with society.

If this is true, how is this going to affect our generation when we go into the work force and cannot interact with each other in a polite way? Perhaps we are becoming a society that will rely completely on technology as our ways of communicating.

If we as a generation lose our way of communicating with each other in a positive manner, how will that affect our society later in life?