Apathy might not be a conscious decision, but rather a result of: preoccupation (work, finance, health, entertainment, etc.), hopelessly negative news feeds, consumption of news rather than active digestion of it, political tribalism (as repeating after the filter-bubble, requires less energy than forming your own opinion; alongside protecting one's ego), etc. Briefly put: many working-class citizens might lack the overhead, required to give a shit (about problems not directly affecting their personal lives; despite often guaranteed to come bite them long-term).

People are generally incredibly myopic, yes.

This is why education is so important: to understand that we need to be more aware of what is outside our limited bubble of flawed perception.

Most people don't realise how many things they think won't affect them will ultimately affect them.

Also, being a selfish prick is nothing to be proud of.

Disagree. It's only very recently in human history that we know about stuff that isn't happening in our immediate surroundings. If we heard about it, there was at least a possibility we could affect it. Our brains have only started learning how to handle news from the other side of the world and to correctly assess whether it's a threat and relevant to us.

Of course, this is not exactly healthy and makes us feel helpless which is why anxiety seems to be more common.

Ok, and?

People care about events that make a compelling story. Whether or not they have an impact is secondary.

How stoic of you or whatever. Honestly, I wish I lacked the empathy necessary to see what's going on and still care. You should count yourself lucky as one of the "normal" ones.