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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 d

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.

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.