Getting your picture of the world through media means getting it from examining the extreme outliers? I don't have data, only a suspicion, this is relevant if i

Getting your picture of the world through media means getting it from examining the extreme outliers? I don't have data, only a suspicion, this is relevant if it can be shown that people get much more information about their world from media than they used to, and/or that the media has turned more global, meaning less local reports but fishing for extreme stories in the wider world. This could explain why (if) the image of the world, including the local world, has become more extreme, which could in turn explain more extreme and less relaxed attitude(s). In addition though, I think a contributing factor is cars, cars , cars everywhere. Having grown up in East Germany, I would be much more concerned about letting my kids (if I had any) roam around in the exact same area where I grew up in very freely. The roads are much more dangerous now for inattentive playing children. And as a local issue, a vastly increased number of ticks in the forests around my childhood home, but as I said, that's just a local issue.