The new bad manners

Millennial etiquette: It’s OK to queue jump but TV spoilers are a no-no

If you think it’s good manners to give up your seat for a lady on public transport then you were probably born before 1981.

Two thirds of ‘millennials’ – those born roughly between 1981 and 1996 – think ‘ladies first’ is an outdated custom, according to a survey. And more than a third would never surrender a seat on a bus or train to an elderly or pregnant passenger.

The poll found that under-40s have now replaced once widely accepted golden rules for etiquette with a new set of good manners for the internet age. This includes not reading someone else’s mobile messages, not spoiling the plot for people who are watching TV series, and not talking about politics.

While one in five believe it is acceptable for people to jump a queue, most millennials have a problem with ‘manspreading’ – the practice of men taking up too much space by sitting with their legs wide open.

The changes in acceptable behaviour were charted in a survey carried out for Privilege Insurance, which said that more than 80 per cent of millennials no longer accept the rules their parents lived by.

The shift has left many complaining about the decline of proper behaviour, the survey found, with around 70 per cent of people saying the country is less polite than a decade ago. Among once-important rules that have fallen in popularity are holding doors open for others, which is now ignored by one in five, and not talking with your mouth full, which is no longer observed by more than a quarter.

Only one in six now think that putting your elbows on the table is impolite.

Some kinds of behaviour which were wrong in the past remain, however, unpopular with a younger environmentally conscious age group. More than 70 per cent of millennials still think littering is wrong.