Signal of the decline of civilization

I was thinking today about a marker for when civilization started going down the tubes. I decided it was when cars started to get antenna retractors. They got them of course because people were breaking off the sticks but why? It’s not that there was something worth stealing just a hatred that made someone want to just snap off the thing. The reaction from the car makers was to invent retractors. And we car buyers have been paying ever since for that meaningless hatred. And we keep paying more and more for these protective measures. Think about how much you pay for all this stuff that would not be needed in a different society?