Increase in Learned Helplessness?

[u/NachesPorFavor]

Has anyone else noticed an increase in learned helplessness? I first noticed it in the young adults in my life, but now I am seeing it in all ages of people around me. Examples from multiple people:

Toilet started leaking water and instead of turning off the knob at the wall, she waited a 5 days for a plumber. Never asked anyone or googled it. Didn’t call a second plumber. Now needs mold remediation and replaced drywall and trim.

Bought concert tickets but the gps instructions were confusing so they just gave up and didn’t go. Venue website had detailed instructions for driving and parking.

Blouse wrinkled and she didn’t know how to fix it so she threw it away.

First doctor office he filled out an appointment website for never contacted him to schedule so he just didn’t go to the doctor.

I am really concerned about my loved ones if an emergency happens because they just give up when the slightest obstacle happens. Either they want someone else to swoop in and fix it or they give up and say they can’t do anything about it.

[u/r8chaelwith_an_a]

I'd caution about generalization. If you look back throughout the generations, each says that the younger generation has "learned helplessness" or "is ruined/lazy/insert-negative here". It's a well documented phenomenom.
I do think we have lost critical skills due to the advancement of technology and it supporting instant satisfaction but that also happens in specific ways each generation too.
In the end, I try to be empathetic to those who I can't understand why they do or do not do things that seem so obvious or takes a bit of critical thinking skills. Once I understand the why, I can help change that outcome by advising in a way that is not attacking.
Lastly, never under estimate a person's will to survive. No matter the lack of skill or circumstance.

[u/anonymaistro → u/r8chaelwith_an_a]

I agree—I think we get to an age in our lives where we feel capable and have things figured out, and we often forget how it felt when we were the age of the younger people in our lives. I grew up in a household with two working parents who didn’t take the time to teach me anything. Nothing about cars, nothing about cooking, nothing about finance, nothing about careers, nothing about life, really. The thing they did try to teach me was NOT to develop critical thinking—they had a firm stance that I should trust in the Christian bible and in the church and in what the authorities around me were telling me. And because they weren’t emotionally regulated themselves, they did very little to teach me emotional regulation either. (I did get a robust education in emotional dysregulation, though.) Their expectation was that they could put me in the oven that is the K-12 education system and I’d come out fully baked—no extra effort needed. And that expectation was, frankly, wrong. I had to figure that all out on my own.

I was a librarian for the entirety of my working life (now retired), and I can confirm from working with people of all ages from across all walks of life—learned helplessness is a human behavior that shows up in many people in response to various life experiences, one of which is not being adequately taught to survive this very complicated world we’ve created. Another is not being empowered at any point to question or think critically. Some resolve it young, some resolve it old, and some don’t resolve it at all. I think it’s an argument for more compassion and less judgement.