a designer's personality...

an interesting observation of late:

are all designers trained to hate the world, and thats why we strive to make it better?

i have always had a certain amount of crowd anxiety, frustration with servers at restaurants despite being one not too long ago, and have shaken my head at the behaviors of people so immersed in their iPhones they almost cause accidents crossing the street.

i always thought it was me, and yes i know that falls into the narcissistic behavior of everyone as well. but then i was at dinner last thursday with a former professor of mine and at least three times during the meal that i can recall, we looked at each other and shook our heads in reaction to people in the environment. our server was less than enthusiastic about working a thursday night, other customers disregarded the public setting yelling at their loudest, and all we did was shake out heads in dismay.

so, my question is simple. where as designers do we draw the line between observing the world and society and being a member of it? when must we stop criticising people and realize that we too are human. i feel that as designers we take it for granted that we understand how a system works and how a story is told, but at what point do we become victims to our own skills and personalities? at what point are we as guilty as the users we shake our heads about in the restaurant.