21 Awful Standards That Have Become "Normal" In Society, Even Though They Are Very, Very Toxic

Alcohol consumption is treated as normal, so not drinking is seen as a problem. People are expected to already know taxes, laws, basic medical care, and household safety details like cleaning chemical mixing and food storage times. Education is framed as preparing students to function as economic machinery rather than building broad life competence. Social media filters encourage the belief that people should look like edited, CGI versions of themselves. Healthcare tied to employment can force people to work full-time for insurance. Smartphones create an expectation of immediate availability and responsiveness, turning silence into social conflict. Women face contradictory standards about strength, limits, work, intellect, and readiness to meet additional demands.

""Drinking culture. Drinking alcohol is so normalized that people think something bad happened or something is wrong with you if you don't drink.""

""The expectation that you should automatically know things that weren't taught to you growing up. Taxes, laws, basic medical care, and even from what cleaning chemicals you can mix to how long food lasts in the fridge." "Instead, public education is geared towards making sure a student's mindset is ready to be another cog in the economic machine.""

""That everyone should look like a social media filter. It feels like every app has filters on it now - some of them automatic - to smooth out your skin, even its color, make your eyes bigger, add makeup, make you look skinnier, or make you whatever it is you aren't enough of already to be perfect." "I think it's making us expect people to be essentially CGI versions of people instead of actual people.""

""Healthcare being tied to employment. I don't want to be trapped in a job I hate just so I can get my prescriptions. I have enough savings and a low cost of living, so I could totally do a part-time job, but no...40 hours for insurance." "Now with smartphones, assuming that people are available and obligated to respond to you. I sometimes wish we lived in the older times when you had to call someone's home landline number and leave a message, and then wait for them to respond at their earliest convenience." "Now it's, 'I texted you, you didn't respond. Are we still friends, are you mad at me?' Like no, I simply just didn't feel like responding. I'm a busy adult, and just because there's a texting feature on my phone doesn't mean I'm always willing to engage in conversation.""

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