Has Society Gone Soft? The Death of Discipline, Resilience & Common Sense

What would someone from 1990 think if they suddenly landed in Britain in 2026?

In this episode of Business Babble, Johnny, Wicus and Mike take on one of their most provocative conversations yet, asking whether society has genuinely progressed or whether, somewhere along the way, we have lost resilience, discipline, personal responsibility and the ability to think for ourselves.

From social media and political correctness to parenting, education, welfare and the workplace, the guys explore how dramatically attitudes have changed over the last few decades.

Have we become too afraid to offend people? Are children being prepared for the real world or protected from it? Has technology made life easier while quietly eroding valuable skills? And have businesses become frightened to properly manage people because of the consequences of saying something unpopular?

Mike reflects on the decline of traditional trade skills and argues that modern technology and AI can make it easier to stop thinking and learning for ourselves. The conversation also turns to employers, with the guys debating whether increasingly complex employment rules are making businesses more reluctant to hire and manage poor performance.

They discuss:

• Whether society has become too soft

• Personal responsibility and the importance of consequences

• Why work ethic and self-reliance still matter

• The influence of social media on public debate

• Political correctness and the fear of speaking openly

• How parenting and childhood have changed

• Whether young people are being overprotected

• The decline of traditional skills and apprenticeships

• Technology, AI and independent thinking

• Welfare, taxation and incentives to work

• Why businesses are becoming more cautious about employing people

• Respect, gratitude and valuing what you have

• Why difficult experiences can help build resilience

This is Business Babble at its most unfiltered. Not everyone will agree with every opinion, but that is exactly the point.

Can we still have difficult conversations without immediately trying to silence one another?

🎙️ Business Babble is about business, life, leadership and the conversations people are often thinking about but rarely willing to have publicly.

This is your world. Shape it or someone else will.

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