Randall discusses this idea in the comics "The Pace of Modern Life" and "Isolation", having it seem that people have always been in some way self-absorbed, so while the specifics of these complaints may have changed over the years, the basic premise has always been the same. Is this the case, and are the any other, similar examples? What would be the oldest cultural norm that is still in practice?
I guess a broader way of putting this question would be: what facets of human culture and nature—despite popular opinion—have always been the same, and why don't we as a society change?
We have a plenty of textual evidence of people complaining about the youth, and how the world is surely getting worse than it was.
Some examples:
Our sires' age was worse than our grandsires'. We, their sons, are more worthless than they; so in our turn we shall give the world a progeny yet more corrupt.
Horace *Book III of Odes, circa 20 BC
The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.
Aristophanes (disputed) further discussed in his "Clouds".
The oldest suggested quote of such kind would be:
.“We have fallen upon evil times and the world has waxed very old and wicked. Politics are very corrupt. Children are no longer respectful to their parents.”
― King Naram-Sin of Chaldea 3800 B.C
However, the clay tablet on which this quote is supposed to be is nowhere to be found: and it is suspiciously missing from the archives of the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul where it was supposedly kept. Therefore, we should hold our judgement whether or not the quote is genuine.