It has come to my attention that we seem to have another epidemic on our hands. While this disease will not wipe out an entire population, it is affecting more and more people each day. Its symptoms include lack of consideration for the people around them, being loud and obnoxious and disturbing everyone in the vicinity. This disease is known as rudeness, and it is sweeping through our entire campus.

Have you noticed that as we get older, people’s complete lack of consideration for those around them grows? Well I have! I know that college brings about a new sense of freedom to people, but that does not mean you use your newfound freedom to be as inconsiderate as you possibly can. In the past several months especially I have noticed that people just do not care about the way they act and who it will offend or annoy.

I have been taught since I was little and have always known to be polite and well mannered, no matter whom I am talking to or where I am. I think this concept should still apply in college. However, lately I have noticed people being very inconsiderate in very many situations.

The library, for instance, is there for school purposes and should be treated like so. But lately I have noticed people use the library as just another social area. I go to the library to study and people are walking around on their phones. It is very distracting to those in the library who are actually trying to study when the person next to them is on the phone just chatting away.

Another spot in the library that shows people’s growing rudeness is the computers. I see people playing around on Facebook on the library computers, taking them away from the long line of people, including myself, who are waiting to actually use them for school purposes. Yes, I know the computers are open to all people but I think that taking them away from the people who need to use them for school purposes is incredibly inconsiderate.

While the library has proven to be a known gathering spot for people to showcase their rudeness, it is also widely displayed in the classrooms. Just the other day I was in class and the girl a few rows behind me got a phone call. She answered with a “Hey!” followed by an “Oh nothing, just in class. What’s up?” She continued this phone conversation for a few minutes until our teacher called her out and made her hang up. I was completely appalled by this.

I thought it was common knowledge not to answer your phone in class unless it was an absolute emergency and even if it were an emergency to at least take the conversation outside. It just goes to show how rude and inconsiderate people have become to actually answer their phone in class and have an entire conversation as if no one else is around.

But in today’s society, where rudeness seems to be spreading like wildfire, all of these inconsiderate actions seem to fit the symptoms of the disease.

Another place where the symptoms of the disease are widely shown is the dorm halls late at night. Since the beginning of the semester, I have seen the disease take hold between 12 a.m. and 4 a.m., when people crowd in the halls of the dorms and make as much noise as they possibly can. People joke around with one another, yelling at the top of their lungs. They run up and down the hallways, sometimes banging on all the doors as they go by. The disease has made people not care if anyone else is trying to sleep; if they aren’t sleeping, no one else gets to either. Don’t get me wrong, I know that joking around with friends is fun and enjoyable for those not affected by the disease of rudeness, but we know not to do it at all hours of the night in shared living quarters.

So please, when you are somewhere that you know people are honestly trying to study, learn or sleep all I ask is that you respect them and their wishes to be able to do so in peace. Try being considerate and actually put your phone away not just put it on vibrate.  Please try to hold off on the side conversations so that people can pay attention to their own stuff rather than be distracted by yours. Be considerate and do not cause a riot at two in the morning and let people sleep. Being rude is not something to be happy about. We must stop the spread of this epidemic before it takes hold of the entire campus.