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IMO, three things need to happen to make this go. First, the media needs a sea change towards not making parents hysterical. We've seen this happen in waves ev

IMO, three things need to happen to make this go. First, the media needs a sea change towards not making parents hysterical. We've seen this happen in waves ever since there was mass media (D&D, satanism, metal, gangs, etc., in my personal lifetime) but this is the first time I think it's actually caught on as a cultural standard for something like 2 decades straight. Second, social media needs a sea change towards not making parents hysterical. I think that's where the 2 decades straight came from. Since neither media nor social media will change anything that lowers their viewership, that means the audience needs to reject the hysteria. That leads me to the third thing. Third, California needs to explicitly adopt play outside laws, and free range parenting needs to become the normal standard in Hollywood movies that -don't- involve kids falling into drugs or other trouble, and -don't- portray the parents in question as overwhelmed or neglectful. As a country, we seem to take a lot of our impression as to what's "right" from California, particularly for parenting and other age-related things, irrespective of local laws. I think CA adopting the laws may happen eventually. They don't conflict with our normal legal standards for parenting. I think it'd just have to be an explicit and well-publicized adoption to spark much of a landslide elsewhere, much like with CO and recreational cannabis.

kkielhofner 4y ago
The media and social media hysteria is very real and highly elevated. My friends with kids will frequently say “Well things aren’t like they were back in our day”. “Our day” being the 80s and 90s. Yes, things aren’t like they were back in our day - crime has been on a steady downward trend (absent a tiny rise relative to prior years in 2020). By all available data regarding violent crime this is one of the safest periods to have ever lived in human history. When I talk to my mom about her youth (into her 20s) in the 1950s - 1970s (and into my childhood) there were at least a few known active serial killers roaming the country (Ted Bundy, Green River, John Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, etc, etc) at any given time. Anonymous drifters would roll into small towns and randomly kill entire families (In Cold Blood). People were disappearing left and right. Muggings and random violence in cities like New York was completely out of control (compared to today’s standards). Sexual assault especially was on a completely different level. In my lifetime alone from 1993 to 2019 violent crime has fallen 49% [0]. The chances of me or anyone in my family being victims of violent crime today is HALF what it was “back in our day when things were different”. Yes, things are very different. Better. Safer. Turn off 24hr news, get off social media, and go outside and enjoy it. [0] - https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/11/20/facts-about-crime-in-the-u-s/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/11/20/facts-about...
- StanislavPetrov 4y ago
  Not only is crime lower, but there were no cell phones back then! Today a child is only a phone call or text away at any time, and it is trivial for a parent to track their child in real time. As a child in the 80s I would regularly come home from school, fling my book bag in the house, get on my bike, and ride off with the other kids, not to return until nightfall. My parents had no idea what I was doing or where I was going. The level of fear and paranoia now is insane.
youniverse 4y ago
Recently a friend of mine was walking in a public park in LA while there was a children's event happening on the field. He was making phone calls and watching the kids have fun and play for a few minutes. He got confronted by a hysterical mob of parents, demanding to see his phone if he was taking pictures of the kids! He shows them that he has no pictures, they still are vivid calling him a threat and call the cops on him. One couple was incredibly heated and both threatening him directly. I believe he said the mom said something like "if there weren't so many ring cameras around I would bash your face in right now". Police said something to him about "the times we live in..." and being careful lol! Wildest thing to me is that his appearance is of a young clean cut college student. I would maybe understand if he seemed a bit older but still with no proof nor proximity to children this is a ridiculous experience.

kkielhofner 4y ago

The media and social media hysteria is very real and highly elevated. My friends with kids will frequently say “Well things aren’t like they were back in our day”. “Our day” being the 80s and 90s. Yes, things aren’t like they were back in our day - crime has been on a steady downward trend (absent a tiny rise relative to prior years in 2020). By all available data regarding violent crime this is one of the safest periods to have ever lived in human history. When I talk to my mom about her youth (into her 20s) in the 1950s - 1970s (and into my childhood) there were at least a few known active serial killers roaming the country (Ted Bundy, Green River, John Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, etc, etc) at any given time. Anonymous drifters would roll into small towns and randomly kill entire families (In Cold Blood). People were disappearing left and right. Muggings and random violence in cities like New York was completely out of control (compared to today’s standards). Sexual assault especially was on a completely different level. In my lifetime alone from 1993 to 2019 violent crime has fallen 49% [0]. The chances of me or anyone in my family being victims of violent crime today is HALF what it was “back in our day when things were different”. Yes, things are very different. Better. Safer. Turn off 24hr news, get off social media, and go outside and enjoy it. [0] - https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/11/20/facts-about-crime-in-the-u-s/ https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/11/20/facts-about...

StanislavPetrov 4y ago
Not only is crime lower, but there were no cell phones back then! Today a child is only a phone call or text away at any time, and it is trivial for a parent to track their child in real time. As a child in the 80s I would regularly come home from school, fling my book bag in the house, get on my bike, and ride off with the other kids, not to return until nightfall. My parents had no idea what I was doing or where I was going. The level of fear and paranoia now is insane.

youniverse 4y ago

Recently a friend of mine was walking in a public park in LA while there was a children's event happening on the field. He was making phone calls and watching the kids have fun and play for a few minutes. He got confronted by a hysterical mob of parents, demanding to see his phone if he was taking pictures of the kids! He shows them that he has no pictures, they still are vivid calling him a threat and call the cops on him. One couple was incredibly heated and both threatening him directly. I believe he said the mom said something like "if there weren't so many ring cameras around I would bash your face in right now". Police said something to him about "the times we live in..." and being careful lol! Wildest thing to me is that his appearance is of a young clean cut college student. I would maybe understand if he seemed a bit older but still with no proof nor proximity to children this is a ridiculous experience.