The relentless march of technology is taking its toll on British manners, according to an etiquette expert.
People have become so engrossed in their mobile technology that they are ignoring those around them, said Jo Bryant, a tutor at Debrett’s, the school of social skills. “We’re on our phones all the time, talking and texting and using social media and we’re ignoring everyone around us,” she said.
She added that the thank-you letter had been made virtually obsolete by social media. “Technology has taken such a toll on manners that we think it’s fine to say thank you or happy birthday via Facebook rather than face to face or with a card — thank-you letters are so rare they’re practically extinct.”
However, a thank-you slot on Saturday Live, on Radio 4, suggests that the failure to say thank you is not new. The slot asks listeners whether they owe somebody a thank-you. Dixi Stewart, a producer on the show, said: “The number of people saying thank you for something that happened 30 or 40 years ago is so many more than the number saying thank you for something that happened last week.”
Among the belated thank-yous the show has broadcast are those from people who had help with broken-down cars, had lost tents at Glastonbury or whose lonely Christmas was brightened by a visitor.