5 ms·

That is literally survivorship bias

by bbcbasic 10y ago

mikeyouse 10y ago
I can't be the only one that remembers frequent broken arms and concussions from playground equipment in the 80s/90s?
- khedoros1 10y ago
  Frequent? No. Occasional? Yes. And fingers pinched in swing chains, someone biting through their tongue, sand in eyes, skin ripped from palms, and other minor incidents.
  - rustynails 10y ago
    There's an excellent line from the original Finding Nemo movie. Marlin said he didn't want anything to happen to Nemo. Dory replies that if nothing ever happened to him, nothing would ever happen to him. What a great line! Back several decades ago, most equipment where I lived was wooden logs or steel bars, up to about 12ft high. I once cut through my tongue when jumping from one piece to another. Today, the equipment can still be that height or more. It tends to be made of plastic and metal instead of wood and metal. I recently saw a child fall from four ft and smash his face on the way down. If people stopped and thought, there is almost as much chance of danger today as there was decades ago. However, legislation now mandates safety which has all but stopped the occasional death trap. The reality is that things do happen. You can't stop all accidents without wrapping kids in cotton wool. Some minor things can still end up causing critical damage. My son fell a few feet and ended up in hospital while at school. My kids' school play equipment is marginally safer (at best) than the equipment I played with as a kid. Both still use bark on the ground. Both have wood and steel chains. Accidents will still happen. What does make me laugh is that someone will occasionally build a politically correct park. What happens? Nobody goes there! It's boring! As a parent, I took a calculated risk. I wanted my kids to have fun. I accepted they may fall and hurt themselves. What I find interesting about the article is that it suffers from a common view of history. Sticks were almost universally banned at school decades ago. Walking up sides was always a no-no. I don't remember ever seeing a bitumen ground for play equipment and I went to 4 primary schools and lived in 6 different suburbs! Why these are mentioned as new undermines the credibility of the entire article. I see a trend to think everything used to be bad and now it's good. Having said that, I'm glad that conservative parents haven't managed to ruin public parks. For comparison of equipment from about 50 years ago, see here. You'll see almost universally safe equipment and bark. Very similar to many of today's parks. https://www.google.com.au/search?q=play+equipment+park+1970 https://www.google.com.au/search?q=play+equipment+park+1970

That is literally survivorship bias

mikeyouse 10y ago

I can't be the only one that remembers frequent broken arms and concussions from playground equipment in the 80s/90s?

khedoros1 10y ago
Frequent? No. Occasional? Yes. And fingers pinched in swing chains, someone biting through their tongue, sand in eyes, skin ripped from palms, and other minor incidents.
- rustynails 10y ago
  There's an excellent line from the original Finding Nemo movie. Marlin said he didn't want anything to happen to Nemo. Dory replies that if nothing ever happened to him, nothing would ever happen to him. What a great line! Back several decades ago, most equipment where I lived was wooden logs or steel bars, up to about 12ft high. I once cut through my tongue when jumping from one piece to another. Today, the equipment can still be that height or more. It tends to be made of plastic and metal instead of wood and metal. I recently saw a child fall from four ft and smash his face on the way down. If people stopped and thought, there is almost as much chance of danger today as there was decades ago. However, legislation now mandates safety which has all but stopped the occasional death trap. The reality is that things do happen. You can't stop all accidents without wrapping kids in cotton wool. Some minor things can still end up causing critical damage. My son fell a few feet and ended up in hospital while at school. My kids' school play equipment is marginally safer (at best) than the equipment I played with as a kid. Both still use bark on the ground. Both have wood and steel chains. Accidents will still happen. What does make me laugh is that someone will occasionally build a politically correct park. What happens? Nobody goes there! It's boring! As a parent, I took a calculated risk. I wanted my kids to have fun. I accepted they may fall and hurt themselves. What I find interesting about the article is that it suffers from a common view of history. Sticks were almost universally banned at school decades ago. Walking up sides was always a no-no. I don't remember ever seeing a bitumen ground for play equipment and I went to 4 primary schools and lived in 6 different suburbs! Why these are mentioned as new undermines the credibility of the entire article. I see a trend to think everything used to be bad and now it's good. Having said that, I'm glad that conservative parents haven't managed to ruin public parks. For comparison of equipment from about 50 years ago, see here. You'll see almost universally safe equipment and bark. Very similar to many of today's parks. https://www.google.com.au/search?q=play+equipment+park+1970 https://www.google.com.au/search?q=play+equipment+park+1970