One example of people overestimating risks that I think is particularly troubling is child safety. Exaggerated fears of risks to children has led to drastic changes in parenting habits and in the experience of childhood itself. This is one area where I definitely hold the media responsible.
Some of those changes are for the good, I'm sure, and nobody wants to put children in danger. But modern children are safer from accident or disease than at any time in human history, yet parents are probably more paranoid than ever.
Yeah I agree with you. Child safety is something some people are going overboard with, and the press is partly to blame. All those stories about child abduction, for example, is scaring off some parents and as a result some children can't even go to the park.
I'm not sure if this is relevant but your comment reminded me of a cousin whose daughter suffers from alopecia. The girl is 7 years old and is completely bald. To make matters worse, she's on a steroid based medicine treatment, and as a result she has gained weight considerably. My cousin told me that her mother (my aunt), was pressuring her into quiting her job so she would stay home to educate the girl instead of sending her to a regular public school. My aunt feared she was going to be subjected to bullying, was going to suffer and be emotionally scarred for the rest of her life.
But my cousin refused because she thought her daughter needed to learn how to defend herself. She didn't think hiding out in home was the answer. So, she told her daughter to stand up in front of her class and give a presentation to her classmates explaining what was wrong with her so the other kids wouldn't be afraid around her for her funny looks. She did it and it worked. The girl does get bullied sometimes, but she knows how to defend herself, and has a lot of friends who support her. And I think that is a positive way to teach a child, because life is hard and they need to learn how to face it IMO.