Back in the Day

Lately, I've been reminiscing about my childhood and how much unsupervised freedom I had outside the house. I would argue that most people my age would agree that "back in our early years," we were allowed to roam the neighborhood and streets without our parents neurotically breathing down our necks. Generations before us had even more independence and leniency from their caregivers. 

With statistics like this at our disposal, how can we NOT worry?

After quite a bit of musing, I realized that we will never live in a world like that again. When I (eventually) become a parent, I know that I would be extremely apprehensive to let my kid frolic around without supervision, and the thought of this depresses me. 

According to the Gallup Poll, Americans perceive increased crime compared to previous years, even though crime statistics have proven an overall decrease in crime rates in the last decades (not a substantial decrease, but enough to merit a mention). So why, with crime on the decline, are parents becoming more and more overprotective of their children?

I've got a theory.

When our parents and their parents before them were kids, accessibility to news and media was limited. They didn't have smart phones with the internet at their fingertips or cable television with multiple news outlets reporting national headlines 24/7. People hitchhiked with strangers without a second thought; nowadays, you wouldn't think twice about getting in a car with a random person - they could kidnap you, drug you, abuse you or even KILL you! Ah! 

Our connection to media has made us painfully aware of all the horrors of the world and monsters that roam the streets just looking for unsuspecting victims. These horrors and monsters have always been here, but in the last few decades they have made headlines and convinced us that it's not safe out there. Boo.

The news and media have made us more paranoid, and perhaps rightfully so, but are Americans overly suspicious? Has the media taken away our chances of ever allowing our children to walk the streets alone without fear of some god-awful thing happening to them?