Were kids safer in the past ?
Discussion
Saw this pop up on a Manchester history group, which seems to be very little about history and mainly about "Werent the olden times wonderful and its all s
t now""Did you go off to play as a child, your parents never knew where you were and you didn't go home until you got hungry?"
Lots of yes's and Yep.
"Great fun. I get that the streets are not as safe, but I think kids these days are wrapped up in too much cotton wool"
Are kids less safe nowadays ? Seem to have heard about a lot of child abuse scandals, the moor murders and various other heinous crimes from the past. They go on about doing dangerous stuff and how they survived, but not all did, a mate of mine managed to kill himself pissing about on the railway in the early eighties. Thing is, none of the dead ones tend to post about their experiences.
Is it just stuff wasn't beamed into everyone's home and devices in real time, you got a newspaper and would you hear about a child going missing in Dorset if you lived in Manchester ?
I think traffic is more of a risk to kids than paedos, that is definitely worse, but kids did get killed by cars, was probably worse as they werent expecting them thinking about it, road deaths were way worse in the 40's 50s and 60s than now
I think more kids stab each other but that seems to be certain areas rather than endemic.
A lot of folk seem to think kids never actually play out, is that the case ? Mine always did through the late nineties and into the 2000s and 2010s
Growing up in the 00's, I spent most of my time playing out whenever I could and pretty much everyone I knew did the same, I was only inside on the PS2 when it was freezing or raining. There's a good number of young kids on my street and I rarely ever see them out playing whereas we were always out on the street playing. Other than stuff like online grooming, I doubt there's any difference in safety really.
The biggest risk to kids comes from the people supposed to be looking after them:
Parents and relatives - by far the biggest offenders
Carers
Teachers
Youth leaders
Sports coaches
Medics
Random
boogypeople/apedo/serial killers are way down the list.
I very much doubt that's changed since we started forming big societal groups.
The biggest offenders like to focus on other groups for obvious reasons.
Parents and relatives - by far the biggest offenders
Carers
Teachers
Youth leaders
Sports coaches
Medics
Random
boogypeople/apedo/serial killers are way down the list.
I very much doubt that's changed since we started forming big societal groups.
The biggest offenders like to focus on other groups for obvious reasons.
I think the big bogeyman of the media is the main, but not only, change. As above, we get bombarded weekly (daily?) by yet another scare story.
That and traffic, as above. Yes cars are allegedly safer now, but drivers have a fair few more distractions and the cars nearly drive themselves, so I'd wager the average driver's attention levels are WAY down vs e.g. 1981. I'd be more concerned by my easily-distracted kid getting hit by an easily-distracted driver than I would by him getting abducted by some random stranger.
Oh, few more things:-
- weather patterns have changed - UK (well, England certainly) is now warmer and wetter than e.g. 30/40 years ago - remember when the summer holidays used to be mainly sunny...now look at average August weather!
And winters were usually snowy across the country, not just in the hilly areas.
- and there's a lot more to do inside now...I grew up in the 80s and the early computers/consoles were slow and limited, while TV was 3 then 4 channels and a VCR was a valuable posession controlled by your Dad. Now there's 5000 channels, many with an on-demand service. There's social media, there's tablets, phones, consoles, laptops, PCs, there's the whole internet clamouring for your attention...and here's another silly cat video. Why go outside on a grey, windy, alleged summer's day to play football with your mates on a bit of waste ground because the big park down the road got developed into luxury flats*, when you can stay inside and whip them on Call of Duty live?!?
- social media in particular - it's got very good at that addictive reinforcement thing. Adults are helpless with it, how do you think kids are?!?
- and finally parents. My parents left me to my own devices a lot of the time...left me to play on my own or with my friends. Nowadays (and I'm guilty of this on occasion) it seems de-rigeur to do everything as a family**. This upcoming generation are going to be a lot less independent than the prior 1, let alone 2.
* Happened to the large bit of grassland I played on as a kid shortly after I left for Uni. OK, not flats, but houses. And the cherry orchard we went scrumping and messing around in behind our housing estate got bought by the school, 50% converted into playing fields, and 50% converted for houses even before that.
** I lost a good friend to just that - he had a family early and all of a sudden I hardly saw him, he was making excuses...and it carried on right past the early years. Still allegedly friends...just been genuinely years since we had a beer or went to any sort of daytime event...don't even think he realises what he's done...he's a Dad, that's all that matters now.
That and traffic, as above. Yes cars are allegedly safer now, but drivers have a fair few more distractions and the cars nearly drive themselves, so I'd wager the average driver's attention levels are WAY down vs e.g. 1981. I'd be more concerned by my easily-distracted kid getting hit by an easily-distracted driver than I would by him getting abducted by some random stranger.
Oh, few more things:-
- weather patterns have changed - UK (well, England certainly) is now warmer and wetter than e.g. 30/40 years ago - remember when the summer holidays used to be mainly sunny...now look at average August weather!
And winters were usually snowy across the country, not just in the hilly areas.- and there's a lot more to do inside now...I grew up in the 80s and the early computers/consoles were slow and limited, while TV was 3 then 4 channels and a VCR was a valuable posession controlled by your Dad. Now there's 5000 channels, many with an on-demand service. There's social media, there's tablets, phones, consoles, laptops, PCs, there's the whole internet clamouring for your attention...and here's another silly cat video. Why go outside on a grey, windy, alleged summer's day to play football with your mates on a bit of waste ground because the big park down the road got developed into luxury flats*, when you can stay inside and whip them on Call of Duty live?!?
- social media in particular - it's got very good at that addictive reinforcement thing. Adults are helpless with it, how do you think kids are?!?
- and finally parents. My parents left me to my own devices a lot of the time...left me to play on my own or with my friends. Nowadays (and I'm guilty of this on occasion) it seems de-rigeur to do everything as a family**. This upcoming generation are going to be a lot less independent than the prior 1, let alone 2.
* Happened to the large bit of grassland I played on as a kid shortly after I left for Uni. OK, not flats, but houses. And the cherry orchard we went scrumping and messing around in behind our housing estate got bought by the school, 50% converted into playing fields, and 50% converted for houses even before that.
** I lost a good friend to just that - he had a family early and all of a sudden I hardly saw him, he was making excuses...and it carried on right past the early years. Still allegedly friends...just been genuinely years since we had a beer or went to any sort of daytime event...don't even think he realises what he's done...he's a Dad, that's all that matters now.
It’s a lot safer for children these days but as a society we’ve become overly risk averse. And unfortunately the media have become far too powerful and so stories about the dangers posed to children have become more prevalent. Sadly, stories about happy, safe children don’t sell newspapers or get people clicking on the internet. Trash papers like the Daily Mail love whipping into a frenzy those who like to indulge in occupational outrage.
We never had a media blitz that we have today in the 70s
Consequently it seemed a safer world.
The neighbourhood knew if a strange uncle pervy lived locally, and you kept away from him
There were definitely fewer stabbing. I don’t remember ever hearing of one at our school.
And there were far fewer single parent families.
The magnifying glass is focussed so much on society nowadays, and displayed everywhere.
Consequently it seemed a safer world.
The neighbourhood knew if a strange uncle pervy lived locally, and you kept away from him
There were definitely fewer stabbing. I don’t remember ever hearing of one at our school.
And there were far fewer single parent families.
The magnifying glass is focussed so much on society nowadays, and displayed everywhere.
A relative of mine posted this,
"if there's any pedophiles around in them days the local men sorted them out not the police. More paedophiles around nowadays because of the internet."
Yes, because the internet created all the paedos, slight lack of critical thinking, the internet enabled them to easily share images but I really dont think someone buys a PC in 1996 and decide to change from fancying adult women to kids.
It really does throw some light on how people have a misty eyed view of the past and no bad ever happened.
Am sure all those partaking in unspeakable acts with minors made a big deal about telling everyone and didnt try to cover it up at all. My brother and his mate had a bloke expose himself at them, his dad and my dad did go to give him a slap, cant remember if they managed but not exactly the best idea as no awareness for the authorities, bad enough now but back then, move a few miles away and carry on as normal.
"if there's any pedophiles around in them days the local men sorted them out not the police. More paedophiles around nowadays because of the internet."
Yes, because the internet created all the paedos, slight lack of critical thinking, the internet enabled them to easily share images but I really dont think someone buys a PC in 1996 and decide to change from fancying adult women to kids.
It really does throw some light on how people have a misty eyed view of the past and no bad ever happened.
Am sure all those partaking in unspeakable acts with minors made a big deal about telling everyone and didnt try to cover it up at all. My brother and his mate had a bloke expose himself at them, his dad and my dad did go to give him a slap, cant remember if they managed but not exactly the best idea as no awareness for the authorities, bad enough now but back then, move a few miles away and carry on as normal.
Kawasicki said:
IroningMan said:
Traffic, IMO.
Roads are safer now.I started driving when this was being clamped down on heavily (thankfully) but listening to alot of 'the old guard' - telling stories of crashing whilst drunk and sleeping it off, or better still - being stopped by the police and just being advised to drive straight home, or being given a lift if they were found to be very very drunk behind the wheel.
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