The lifestyle of "Hamster on a Wheel". We did not take it on. It is given to us by design.

Sometime ago, a wise man told me this:

1. The struggling life style most people have is created by design. Employers could give more money but they do not give to most because they want you to come back to work tomorrow and the day after. Why do we keep using this phrase so often... "Trying to Make Ends Met" in the richest country in the world?
2. If employers give you money, you will think of doing something on own and leave
3. You will also not live paycheck-to-paycheck. Employers do not want you to break the payroll. Labor on payroll is the capitalists' biggest resource to make money. More or more large businesses like Home Depot prefer to keep you on hourly wages to make sure you depend on the money to come back. Vacations and benefits are very limited.
4. The business industry including the Chambers of Commerce were terrified about Obamacare because that could give employees freedom from payroll by buying affordable health care and not have to go to a payroll job for benefits
5. The sad fact in American employment is the majority goes to work on a payroll for the employer provided health insurance
6. Republicans who are in bed with business will do nothing and prevent everything that can make it easy for people to get off payrolls. They are also scared of remote and independent working and the trends that will lead to breaking of the payroll regime.
7. The need for and dependency on the payroll keeps people on their toes. Everybody is chasing a dream which they think is within the reach but can never achieve it. It is an illusion. The Capitalists want you to keep spending your paycheck on goods and services. They give you credit cards, they give you loans etc. but nobody will help you with financial freedom.

Therefore my friend, the apathy comes from "Not Having Time". It is not that people are not compassionate about issues. They only wish every day that they could really had time to work on it, or offer help.

We all should take a good look at ourselves and ask why America the richest nation on Earth has longer work weeks and longer hours than in Europe with least vacations and longer retirement age. Almost 78% workers do not have retirement other than the meager social security. Republicans are increasing this social security age by one year every year.

If you have lived in Western Europe or South Asia, you will agree that you can make more money in America but will not keep any because there are so many outlets in addition to taxes. It is like a big piggy bank with an open bottom.

Bernie Sanders is trying to tell us that but our priorities are diverted by various forces... again by design.

Why should I care what causes apathy?

The diffusion of responsibility that comes from living in large societies and the anxious hopelessness when an individual helplessly stares down systemic issues has a lot to do with it. Think globally, act locally is all you can do but a lot of people get crippled at the weight of the first half. None of us really evolved to be able to think globally to begin with. We’re working on it.

Well about 50% of the population doesn't vote because they think, and I don't blame them, that even if they do vote that nothing is going to change because there are all the same corrupt assholes vying for those votes that will ultimately be working for corporations and will fuck the citizens.

Who cares?

For some, being apathetic is a defense mechanism.
It's far too easy to get completely overwhelmed by the current state of humanity, to the point of paralysis.

I don't care.

I think much of it is a subtle campaign funded by those hoping to keep us complacent as they continue to become wealthy beyond imagination..

Religion discourages questions, leading to an unhealthy defeatism or acceptance of ‘our lot in life.’ As in, ‘don’t expect it now,’ ‘because you’ll receive it in the afterlife.’ Seems another source of apathy...

Sheer laziness.
There are so many interesting things and critical issues to occupy the mind, it is almost immoral not to care.
Apathy causes the lazy to rationalize, for instance, not VOTING, by saying their vote doesn't matter. Bullsh*t. You're just a lazy, apathetic excuse for a human being.
Apathy is a disease of the mind, possibly caused by a conviction nothing matters, we all die anyway. A true believer, whether IN god, or perhaps especially in god's non-existence, might for that reason be apatheic. At least the theist has a brighter expectation for the future. (But an Abrahamic believer still has Armaggedon to navigate...by no means a cheerful prospect!)
Agnostcism is less likely to breed apathy, but may. An agnostic atheist might be more prone to it than an agnostic deist, for example, but the shadow of a doubt may spark some interest in the world around them!

I have noticed that sometimes exhaustion is confused with laziness. Likewise, I think emotional exhaustion is sometimes confused for apathy.

On the other hand, caring at all is scary and dangerous.

"Tis a fearful thing
to love what death can touch."

For me, any apathy I have come from the futility of my actions on the parts of the world I would change.
Some of it comes from my inherent nihilism. Technology, sedentary lifestyles, and a barrage of negative news could all be contributors.

some folks have joked here "who cares?" but in fact, that is a good answer, since it is likely not just one thing that causes apathy, so pinpointing one "root" cause will be incorrect.

g

Antidepressants. Pain killers. Boner pills. Sleeping pills. Not that they're bad, but if enough of us take enough of them, we're easier to control.

Lack of health care, no exact information (overload), relationship woes, little to no healthy food choices, no time for self care, staggering cost of life. Im also a little upset its so easy to, to even easier access to things of low quality. Yes, strange futility...

Emotional and mental drainage. We are completely overloaded and expected to care and react to a ridiculous amount of stimuli.

Apathy , at least in some instances , is caused by the ongoing demand from everyone , to send them or their chosen charity , the money you've worked so hard to earn . Facebook has decided everyone can ask that each of their friends should support whatever charity they chose for their birthday . I've got nearly a thousand friends after cleaning house , of my facebook account .

Such a broad question can only evoke this narrow response.

The most apathetic response would be no response at all, so I must notch it down a bit..... I don't care

social conditioning.

Combination of people feeling hopeless that anything important can be changed thru the political system or even mass movements, coupled with ever-increasing callousness that occurs from the struggle to survive and a toxic culture in our social and mass media.

The lack of real political representation of the public. Public opinions differ quite drastically from what policies get implemented by the political parties. Why should you feel exited when you get the feeling that your voice doesn't get heard and only big businesses have the power to make any changes?
Of course this is just one contributing symptoms of capitalism. One factor is also the lack of a clear purpose in a materialistic consume driven world where the only institution that gave any meaning (religion) is (rightfully) discredited and marginalized. We could argue about the prevalence of religion in society but it has lost a lot. Religion is only a tool for upholding hierarchies and the status quo. Today it is also only a slave to capitalism. The philanthropic part of religion that gave meaning, purpose, moral guidance is completely gone if it even existed in the first place. God is dead in that sense. And there is no real substitution either. No great ideology that could fill this human need. Maybe humanity must learn to live without that. To go on in this meaningless world, to care for each and everyone not because a God compelled it or to avoid hell or even because it is rational but because it's nice not to have a world full of suffering.

Self-centeredness, ignorance.

I would suggest that Emile Durkheim’s theory Anomie gives a sociological explanation regarding breakdown of some community norms and the disconnect felt by people in a family/society/culture.

The link below gives a very good description and analysis

[study.com]

Im very stubborn. I still believe voting counts. It could count for a lot more if we got rid of the outdated non necessary electoral college!

I believe doing for those less fortunate without expecting something in return is valuable to the person on the receiving end and the giver.

I've been in the position of needing assistance when I was much younger. I did get help. But the one that always stays in my memory is the person who had the postmaster put his/her envelope in my post office box; $20 was a lot of money in 1976. I never found out who did it. I've never forgotten or stopped appreciating that gesture either.

I'm especially sensitive and open to helping kids as much as possible!!!