I think lots of young adults/teenagers are self absorbed but some of your examples are bad.
First, kids never being on a bus. There is no way I would let my kids ride these days. We live in San Jose, California, and it is way too dangerous for them to ride on a bus. When they were little, their school district had bus service from near our house to school. My kids rode that bus. However, then the district changed it so the bus stop was over a mile away and the pick up time was 2 1/2 hours before school (6:30am). My kids were 6 & 8 at the time, and the school was only 3 1/2 miles away. I preferred us waking up at 7:30 and me driving them to school.
Two hours of homework for little kids is too much school work! Maybe in high school, 2 hours is okay but not 2 hours for elementary school kids. (I never had more than 1 hour of homework until high school back in the 70s.)
As far as backpacks go, lots of kids are having problems with heavy packpacks. My niece severely injurred her back when she was in high school. (I never had to carry so many books to and from school.)
I think kids never going to Church/Synagogue has a lot to do with their self-esteem problems. If kids know that they are sinful, and they know that God is greater than themselves, then it helps them to have a better perspective.
Parents are also self-absorbed these days and send kids to daycare all day long. Parents then can't role model good behavior. Simple things like making cookies for the new neighbor or helping a sick friend.
My friend called the school and asked them why they assigned the kids homework that they couldn't possibly do without help of their parent. The answer was "we think it fosters quality time between parent and child." She answered that the time she spent helping her child with her schoolwork was NOT quality time, it was tense, frustrated time, and besides how DARE they try to manipulate her and run her life through her child! Didn't do any good.