Many people no longer know how to behave in public spaces. You might assume that they never learned how to do so in the first place, but my theory is that the public’s social skills have degenerated over time. Some say that the events of the past five years have made people forget how to treat others, but I don’t think that’s the case. The problem is that there are fewer social consequences to misbehaving than ever before. While there are social consequences for acting like a Karen online, there are very few for acting like a Karen in real life. People will scroll through TikTok in a movie theater after spending $15 for a ticket and think nothing of it. There must be people who are willing to shush loud individuals and socially punish bad behavior; otherwise, we will have to tolerate grown adults throwing tantrums in public and be content with it.