I, along with other elderly, lonely and bitter people, have been saying it since the dawn of time; the world is going to hell in a hand-basket.
Things are getting much, much worse.
Young people are revolting, bad language is rife; there is more and more sex and violence on television, and knowledge of grammar is so bad that soon people will not be able to understand each other.
The idea of good manners has gone out the window, men are less manly, ladies are less ladylike and children no longer give up their seats for the elderly on the bus.
It makes one want to write another curmudgeonly letter to the newspaper.
But the most serious issue we, as a society, have to deal with - and it is an issue that could easily bring about the end of civilisation as we know it - is the evil virus that is the track pant.
Track pants are the tip of a very large iceberg that is shabby dress sense in modern Dunedin society.
Nobody should ever be seen out in a pair of track pants, but more and more one sees this sartorial affront flaunted in what was once a well-dressed city.
If you want proof, take in the very interesting ode to Carisbrook, The Brook, at 8.30pm on Thursday on Dunedin's very own Channel 9.
Several photo stills cross the screen in the show, one showing a packed crowd at the old ground, with every punter marvellously turned out.
Or as Otago Daily Times columnist and former sports editor Brent Edwards describes it, through a haze of cigarette smoke the ground would be full of men wearing "grey gaberdine coats and hats".
Nobody - absolutely nobody - wore tracky daks.
Those, truly, were the days.
Hosted by broadcaster Callum Procter, The Brook takes a look at the history of Carisbrook, and "what made Carisbrook such a special place".
From its beginning as "seven acres of unkempt wasteland" in the 1800s to remarkable sporting moments like the New Zealand cricket team's 1980 triumph over the West Indies, dramatic Bledisloe Cup games and the terrific 1998 Otago NPC win, the ground is paid a loving tribute.
Apart from Edwards, it features interviews with a host of Dunedin media luminaries, including the wonderful Iain Gallaway, sharing memories of Carisbrook.
The Brook is a result of that happy marriage of a local station producing good local content.
One can only hope the not-quite-finished version I received, with some sad lapses in the spelling of names, is cured by the time the show goes to air.
