"Is the world more dangerous for kids than it was 30 years ago?"

[FSogol]

From a letter to Cecil Adams' "The Straight Dope" Column

Dear Cecil:

I am the parent of two young children. I was recently reminiscing with fellow parents about our youth and the freedom we enjoyed to play around the neighborhood without parental supervision. We all agreed we wouldn't allow our children to do the same given today's more dangerous world. That made me wonder: Is today's world really more dangerous for kids than it was 30 years ago? Have incidents of abduction and other assaults on children increased, or has the information age's constant news barrage given us the impression that predators lurk around every corner?


Cecil: No, today’s world isn't more dangerous. You grew up during the most crime-ridden period in modern American history. By objective measures the country is far safer now. But you and countless other parents think the reverse is true. What accounts for this delusion?

Too long to post, but an excellent analysis here:

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/3231/is-the-world-more-dangerous-for-kids-than-it-was-30-years-ago

[JaneyVee]

1. Yup, we're actually living through the most peaceful time in global history.

[Peacetrain]

2. 24/7 media is the reason

I truly believe that.. I asked my Mom how did they keep their sanity during WW2 with all the people off fighting and shortages etc etc.. and she told me, that they listened to the radio news once a day.. and did not have it blasting 24 hours so that they (those at home) could actually get a mental break from the horror..

[DawgHouse]

3. I remember when photos of missing children were first put on milk cartons.

Etan Patz's face is forever etched in my memory. Shortly after that, little Adam Walsh was the big news story. I was a young mother in the early 80's and these stories haunted me.

One of the reasons I am no longer on FB is because of the "times were better when WE were kids" memes. So annoying!

[KittyWampus]

4. what i see different for kids: fewer parents willing/able to be at home,

electronic distractions, mass proliferation of advertising aimed directly at children, crappy food, less exercise, a crumbling underfunded public education system.

[KittyWampus]

5. I'd be curious to see if black kids are safer now then 30 years ago… from police violence

as well as gang violence etc.