Civilized or Wild?

This is a question I've had on my mind for a while now. What is a better way to live? A life of manners, etiquette, and sophistication, or a life of craziness, danger, and unsophistication?

I feel like nowadays nobody has manners anymore. Nobody ever remembers to say please or thank you, hold the door, do favors. Men dress with their pants at their ankles, girls wear leggings which basically makes them look like they naked from the waist down and belly shirts to compliment them. People don't know basic skills, like cleaning, washing, living a stable life. We buy things and waste, and we never savor what we have. Instead of speaking face to face, we communicate through computers and cellphones, and in the presence of people, we rudely take out our cellphones and text our friends. While we could easily exercise by taking a walk outside, we go to gyms and close ourselves off from the world.

I think about the conservative way of life, but then I begin to think it all seems like a waste of time. Instead of actually enjoying things, you spend all the time focusing on your image, perfecting yourself. A project that's never finished. And for what? So other people who also perfect their delicate images can admire you? Hours and hours go into this perfection, but are those hours better spent doing other things? In the end, is it better to have a life with all accomplishments being internal having an effect on your family and your life, or with external accomplishments that have an effect on the world, even if you don't live in ideal circumstances?

I'm scared for the future, whichever direction it may take. If I decide to take a good path, perhaps and business or medicine, what do I have in my future? I go to college. I get a job. I get married, have kids. For what? Every day would be the same exact job, to come to the same faces, have the same things to talk about. Some people have hobbies, but even then, all you do is talk about the hobby. What interesting things happen in life?

And if I do take the more adventurous path of an artist, what do I have in my future? I go to college, and I struggle to get a job. I live in a small place, possibly unable to have a family with my salary. I wait everyday for my opportunity to be successful, which may never come. I go through every day simply trying to survive, placed with new challenges. What for?

How do you live?