Without any ambiguity, this century is considered the most developed and fast-paced century, which has shaped the entire world into a global village. But sadly, in this modern century, the role of ethics is declining. Our society has been deprived of all such elements (for example, honesty, patience, tolerance, integrity and giving respect to each other) which are counted in the list of ethics. On the one hand, our society is making headway in technology and materialistic things, while on the other, the same society has become a victim of unethical behaviour. Here, some common examples of everyday life can be narrated. Everybody in our society is witness to the unethical attitude and activities. Today, not only children but also young ones don’t show respect to anyone. On account of freedom of speech, they don’t bother with whom they are talking and what they are talking about. They use bitter and harsh words for their parents and elders without any hesitation. According to them, this expression is their right and it is dubbed a straightforward attitude. It doesn’t matter whether their attitude hurt someone badly or not. How horrible is this!
Secondly, our society is witnessing the dearth and death of patience and tolerance. Even the most educated people present the worst visage of impatience and intolerance. Our eyes have witnessed many scenes of this unethical behaviour. In our surroundings, everybody seems to be in a hurry; somebody is violating traffic signals, someone else is quarrelling with a shopkeeper, somebody doesn’t want to wait in a queue and uses their resources to break the queue, somebody is addressing employers or employees using foul language, somebody is throwing garbage in the streets and wrappers in the parks, others are spitting on the roads and walls, making fun of others’ physical appearance and being jealous of others’ success. The monster of corruption is hovering everywhere, the concept of honesty has disappeared and so much more. What is going on?
The question is; what are the reasons behind this situation in our society. It is said that education brings etiquettes and manners which are the essentials of ethics, and it creates the difference between man and animal, but sadly, nowadays, education only provides degrees, not ethics. The weak role of education is one of the main reasons in taking away ethics from our society. Some claim that social media is the murderer of ethics. Due to it, everybody lives in a fantasy world, far from reality. It has become like oxygen for everyone. Social media has transformed the lifestyle of everyone. Instead of using social media for useful purposes, it seems that it is controlling our lives. It has brought the whole world to us on a screen, but sadly, it has created huge differences among relatives. Sitting under one roof, with the man made machine—cell phones—all members of the family are deeply immersed in it, without caring about the presence of their elders. This demonstrates how ethics are slowly dying away. In addition to this, human attributes like patience and tolerance have become the victims of ego and superiority complexes. Everybody has become a slave to their ego and this triggers negative emotions like anger and intolerance. Resultantly, society is full of people that engage in immoral behaviour.
The prevalence of western culture is also one of the major reasons in demolishing ethics. In the name of freedom of speech and living styles, everyone is forgetting their own cultural and moral values. Those who follow ethics and cultural values are considered backward and conservative minds.
In order to bring improvement in society, everyone has to play an individual role. Before changing others, change yourself. Social media should be used for constructive purposes rather than just for entertainment. In order to reiterate, I believe that only those countries progress which have their ethics firmly in place.Young minds are the economic engine of developed countries. If these minds are devoid of ethics then nobody can prevent the country from falling to ignorance. It is high time we polish the minds of our new generation and inculcate the importance of ethics, lest it is too late.