Local asks, ‘Anyone else feel like Singapore is becoming less spontaneous and more transactional?'

Independent Singapore

2 days ago

SINGAPORE: Singapore is often praised for its spontaneous 'city in a garden' concept, diverse culture, and sleek urban landscape, but is everyday life here turning into the opposite: cold, less spontaneous, and more transactional?
One local recently raised this question on Reddit after a brief encounter with a hawker left him unsettled.
In his post, he explained that he had simply asked the uncle if he could mix two types of vegetables with his mixed rice. The request was, in his words, 'nothing fancy.'
However, he was taken aback when the hawker gave him a curt and dismissive response.
'He looked at me and just went, 'cannot,' with zero expression. No smile, no explanation, just a hard no,' the local recalled. 'It's a small thing, but it kind of stayed with me.'
He went on to reflect that this encounter seemed to echo a broader pattern he had noticed in daily life.
'Across the board — at food courts, in clinics, in government counters, even at banks — everything is smooth and efficient, but it feels cold,' he said. 'Like you're part of a queue, a form, a timestamp.'
Even casual social settings, he observed, seemed more reserved. People remained polite, but genuine warmth or spontaneity felt increasingly rare. It led him to wonder if, in the pursuit of convenience and functionality, something more human had been lost along the way.
He also questioned whether this shift could be linked to post-pandemic social withdrawal or whether he was simply projecting his own stress.
'Has Singapore always felt this transactional, and I just didn't notice it before?' he asked others. 'Curious to hear if others have experienced this too, or if I just need a holiday.' 'I've experienced plenty of warmness from strangers.'
In the discussion thread, several Redditors agreed with the local, with one commenting, 'Singapore has ALWAYS been like this, whether pre-COVID or not. It's really sad, but it's how the culture has formatted itself. I know many Malaysians and foreigners who have become EXACTLY like that due to simply having lived here a long time. It's really, really sad.'
Another explained, 'Becoming? Bruh, it's been this way since the 00s. The kampung spirit warmth died around the 90s to late 00s.'
'No one has any chill because everyone wants to earn a little more every day, wants to reach some arbitrary superficial dream a little faster, is extremely private and defensive of who they are and what they have, and is highly guarded against the huge wave of foreigners (of all nationalities) living amongst us and who are gradually eroding our culture and national identity.'
Still, not everyone agreed with this view. One Redditor pointed out that maybe those who feel this way just aren't in the right places, since they often see 'happy, hardworking faces' around them.
Another shared, 'Your experiences are as anecdotal as it gets. So are mine, yet I've experienced plenty of warmness from strangers, from random uncles in the park striking up a conversation with me to aunties at hawkers giving me life advice.' See also US sends top-level diplomat to Taiwan, angering China
In other news, a domestic helper took to social media to seek advice after growing frustrated with her elderly charge, who constantly complained about the food she prepared.
'If I cooked noodles, she would complain. When I cooked chow mein, she complained. If I cooked rice with a viand, she would also complain. If I cooked lugaw, she would complain too,' the helper wrote on Friday (Aug 1).
Read more: Maid in SG seeks advice after elderly charge complains about every meal