So true! I wonder where you got this quote though. And it's true that most of our problems are actually begotten by how we act to a certain situation, and not the situation itself.

I can't really remember the exact place I ran into it, but if I do remember I would gladly let you know!

I wonder what could be have been causing all of this, is it because of the lack of structure, and also Western relativism? Agnosticism, atheism and nihilism are pretty popular nowadays even though most do not even know the implications of holding such beliefs.

I cannot pinpoint exactly what the cause of the problem might be, but I dont think that we can only point a finger at one thing and say "that is to blame". In my opinion the answer to the question "What is to be blamed for the degradation of modern society?" is vastly complex and cannot be answered with a single thing. I must warn you now that my next words might turn a bit philosophical.
The first things that come to mind as a probable answer to this question are:

• the change that new technologies have brought to the world. It has fundamentally changed the way people communicate with eachother. Just think back on the story you told us about Ma'am Leslie. Think about how much different this story would've developed if the story was lived today? Isn't there something magical in the 'unknown' and by that I mean that you send a letter and you don't know when it will be receiver of if it will be received at all. If its received and read, when and if are you going to get a reply back? And today we have the entire world at our fingertips - you want message someone ? Sent. You want to know if it is read? Seen. All in an instant. Another strong point which I recall now is a reference about guns - Guns dont kill people, people kill people. And just like that I cannot fully blame the new technologies for the detachment of the feelings from people. It is not the technologies that are the problem, it's just that people are using it wrong.

• another example I can think of is money. Yes, payments have existed in one form or another ever since life has begun, but now its all about the money. The papers that life itself revolves around. If you think deeper about it you might come to the same conclusion as me - our entire lives have turned to making a living. Earning more and more makes us want more. Why can't we be satisfied with just enough to satisfy our basic needs, greed maybe?

There are absolutely more things to list, but those are just the top two in my opinion.

Now I must bring you back to my previous reply - "It's not the situation itself, but the way we react to it.". All we can blame is that people are not using the technologies to their best. Another thing I think is unacceptable nowadays is ignorance and stupidity. And before you judge me, by stupidity I don't mean that people have to know everything, it's not possible. Again I will say that people are using their smart devices not for bettering themselves, but just to pass time - scrolling through facebook or any other social media. Let's face it - most of the content there is just pure garbage and a waste of time (except for cats, cats are always acceptable).

Anyways, I have taken up enough of your time for today. As a conclusion I would say that it is all up to us. It is up to us to choose what to believe, up to us what we use our devices for, up to us what we do with our time - do we better ourselves and learn new and interesting things or do we just waste our time scrolling?

Lastly I would like to hear your opinion on the above points. Do you agree or disagree, is there something I missed, or something I am wrong about?
Oh, and another question that popped into my mind - do you thing we should spend our time wondering what has caused all this, or it is better for us to spend our time searching for an answer to the problem? And another one - can we really find out a solution to a certain problem if we dont know the cause of it in the first place?

I would love to hear your opinion. Have a great day and weekend!