Biting our tongues or practising restraint seems to be a thing of the past as the demands on our lives increase.
"It centres around the pace of our lives and that sense of constantly being distracted," said Pauline Connelly, the assistant director of Centacare Catholic Family Services.
And the fear of missing out can heavily affect how we respond to things, she added.
"When we lose the ability to reflect, we disconnect from our values, our ways of being."
Ms Connelly said it had also become a lot more acceptable to respond harshly to comments.
She said moments of affirmation-seeking on social media could mean the impulsive quickly became the repulsive.
Taking time to be ourselves
Ms Connelly said by taking the time to reflect before reacting, we could often avoid saying something we'd regret.
"I think it is really important to see how we could be changing culture and the culture that our young people are accepting as normal," she told ABC Radio Adelaide's Afternoons program.
"More than I have ever experienced in my life, there is this lack of what I would consider graciousness.
"There is this raw anger that is just below the surface."
Ms Connelly said with people feeling so on edge, we often reacted before thinking instead of pausing first.
She said these reactions were borne out on social media, through road rage and people simply boiling over through impatience.
"There's a sense of entitlement that goes with [being delayed]."
There was also a danger of being funnelled into rejecting ideas through social media feeds that only displayed preferred beliefs.
"It's as equally as important to be able to listen to the difference of ideas without becoming aggressive about that difference," Ms Connelly said.
Finding perspective
She said an interesting experiment, the next time you became angry in a car, was to ask yourself why.
"There are probably a number of things that have happened through the day [and that is the trigger]."
In an unusual turn of events, Ms Connelly said you could actually use occurrences like being cut off to practise and build your patience.
"Be grateful for everyone who pulls out in front of you," she laughed.
