I think his wording was pretty close to “their ‘don’t give a shit’ factor is through the roof”
Honestly, similar with my work too. Covid seemed to amplify the idea for lots of people that ‘they don’t give a shit about you’ so people just stopped killing themselves trying so hard.
Those John Hughes movies have a great way of mixing cartoon nonsense and some seriousness. The 00s kids comedies always had this over the top goofiness that was too unrealistic, but those movies somehow made it work.