Aussie vents his frustration over subtle change in the country as he vows to give up on the simple act

By MATT JONES FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Published: 00:31 BST, 1 April 2025 | Updated: 00:59 BST, 1 April 2025

An Aussie bloke has claimed Australians are becoming less friendly after he launched a revealing social experiment in his suburb. 

The man said Aussies would prefer to ‘ignore each other’ after he went out of his way to greet his neighbour and locals on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria last week. 

‘I thought I’d do the right thing and say hi so I said “hey mate” and [my neighbour] looked at me like “who the hell are you”,’ he said in a TikTok video. 

‘He had no idea who I was. I’ve only been here for four years but that’s okay, and that kind of sums up Australia to me now. This never used to happen when I was a kid. I’m 40 now but people were friendlier when I was a kid.’

The man said during a walk last week he made an effort to smile and say good morning to everyone he came into contact with. 

‘There was about 20 people I walked past and I said hi and good morning to every single person and they obviously said hi and good morning back and they smiled at me,’ he said.

‘Then the next day I’m like, I’m not going to say hi or good morning to anyone. I’m going to see if they say hi or good morning to me first, which I did, and not one person even smiled. 

‘I thought, is this what Australia is now, people just ignoring each other.’

@viralmindstv

What’s happened to Australia? 🇦🇺 3 days ago, went for a walk and made an effort to say hi and good morning to every single person I walked by. About 20 people and what’s fascinating is I said it while they were literally next to me which means if I didn’t say anything, they would have just kept walking. Soon as I say hi or good morning, they all looked surprised and happy. Almost like they live their life just ignoring people as people ignore them. They were genuinely surprised someone said good morning to them. The day after, I decided to not say anything first to see how many people would make the effort. Not 1 person and what’s upsetting is I walked past 2 people that I said good morning too on the previous day and they totally ignored me 😂 I don’t remember Australia being like this and I feel it’s getting worse, especially in the city. When I was in Mornington doing a walk through the beach, we were walking through a nature track… Walked past maybe 200 people and at least half of them smiled and said hi. So basically, if you live near the city, you become miserable, that’s what it sounds like. Country people have always been nicer and easy to get along with. Just wish everyone was nice and made a little bit more effort. Would make the world a better place and a more fun one at that. #melbourne #melbourneaustralia #australia #aussielife

♬ original sound – ViralMinds

A 40-year-old man has claimed Aussies are less inclined to stop and chat with each other in the street than they were when he was a kid (pictured, people sit on the grass at Bondi Beach)

Aussies were divided over the man’s hot take in the comments. 

‘That’s so true no-one says hello, I walk on the Cooks River walk and no one acknowledges to say hi, 30 years ago everyone said hello,’ one person wrote.

‘I say hello to the people I see on my walk. They say hello back but I’m betting some of them wouldn’t say hello if I didn’t. Sad state of our country,’ another said.

Some said the lack of friendliness was a generational thing.

‘I’ve greeted many people in my 60 years. The elderly are more friendly than those in their 30s and 40s. Most just grunt in reply or ignore all together,’ one person wrote.

One person said they ‘didn’t want to say hello to anyone’. 

‘I’m a five generation Australian. I have given up saying hello. People look at you as if you’re weird so I don’t do it anymore,’ they said. 

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Aussie vents his frustration over subtle change in the country as he vows to give up on the simple act

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