Manners maketh man...or woman...or child. Are manners important to you?

We were sitting having dinner with friends and the topic of manners came up.  It took an interesting turn, when my friend said that if Alexa or Siri wouldn't follow through with a request unless a please or a thank you were included, it would certainly help with society's lack of manners.  It got me thinking, as this is not the first time the lack of manners in our local community has come up recently and it is another of my soapbox issues.  If manners don't cost anything, why do so few people feel the need to use them?

My understanding is that it's a combination of things.  As you know, I grew up in Zimbabwe where manners were very important and instilled in us at home and at school.  I remember all the way through my schooling, we were expected to stand if a teacher/adult walked into the room, stand if a teacher/adult walked by us at lunchtime, always allow an adult/teacher through the door first, acknowledge teachers/adults on the school premises either with a hearty "Good Morning" or "Good Afternoon".  If you were found to be lacking in any of these, there were consequences.  Even at home, similar rules were upheld.  If an adult walked into the room and there were no seats left, you as the child were expected to give up your seat.  Again, at home you were expected to acknowledge any visitor that arrived as well as address the adult, if it wasn't a family member by, Mrs or Mr So-in-so.  This is certainly not the case in the little market town that we now live in.

So why is that the case?  If manners don't cost anything, why don't our kids use them?  Are parents too busy to instill good manners?  Do parents not see the importance of good manners?  Or is it just one more b thing to nag the kids about?  Parents are powerful role models, so are we not displaying good manners?  This got me thinking of a daily annoyance that I have, whenever my kids and I are walking on a path.  If there is someone coming in the opposite direction, I always get my kids to walk in single file.  This to me is good manners.  However, this is very rarely acknowledged by the passing person/s but more often then not, it is not reciprocated by oncoming people traffic.  This makes my blood boil.  If you can see that we, as a group, can think of you and can go single file - why can't you?  And don't get me started on pushchairs that come down side by side!  Is this just another symptom of the self-centred society that we have accepted as the norm?

As I read Olivia Rudguard article, the impact of digital assistants isn't helping with the decline of manners.  Children witness adults barking commands that these assistants, then follow out without complaint.  Where does that leave us as parents, as a society with declining manners?

Please let me know what your thoughts are on this subject.  Remember, it takes a village to raise a child.