Recently, u/Thrwwyforrandostuff asked the good people of Ask Reddit "what’s actually pretty safe but everyone treats it like it’s way more dangerous than it is?" Here are some of the best answers...
1. "Going trick or treating."
"Yeah, I realized a couple of days ago that the only time I hear about poisoned Halloween candy is when a bunch of YouTube videos debunking it pop up."
"Plus, no one is sneaking edibles to kids. That shit is expensive."
2. "Radiation. People will panic about Wi-Fi, microwaves, etc., and then will go out in the sun without sunscreen."
"Oh man, this one is classic. People wanting to get tan, but won't microwave their food."
3. "MSG. It's full of flavour."
"'Makes Shit Good'"
"Anthony Bourdain would sneak it into soups during culinary school and get praised by his teachers."
– u/bmmana
4. "Travelling by plane. Obviously not everyone thinks so, but trust me when I say there are so many individuals that don’t want to fly! It’s shocking."
"I think it's the lack of control people feel. Like, if a plane is going down, there is literally nothing they can do to save themselves. They think they have more options in a car, bus, or train."
5. "Swimming after eating."
"I never understood this one. I think you are more likely to get a muscle cramp if you exercise right after eating, but you aren't going to go 'ow, a cramp! Well, I guess this is how I die.'"
6. "Hammerhead sharks. They were blamed for a lot of shark attacks, but the reality is they are not built for chomping people."
"They are aggressively territorial though, and that can freak people out. Sharks in general are not that dangerous. If they ate people intentionally the ocean would be very dangerous."
"Sharks just want to know WTF we are half the time! They do that with their mouth, and it's also hard for them to spit stuff out thanks to the angle of their teeth."
– u/Disig
7. "Spiders. They're more afraid of us than we are of them."
"I once read that we’re hard-wired to be afraid of spiders because it’s almost impossible to predict their movements at any moment due to the fact that they have eight legs placed somewhat symmetrically around their bodies.
When we see one standing still, it could literally go any direction (and even jump in some cases)."
8. "Chicago. It is genuinely one of the safest cities I have lived in thus far. It’s also one of the greenest and cleanest!"
"Unfortunately, it never ceases to amaze me how the media always portrays it as some harrowing death trap."
– u/emax7
9. "Nuclear power."
"I had a college course that discussed different forms of energy, and I’ll never forget how the professor said: 'With nuclear, there’s an incredibly small chance of a big problem occurring. With coal, there is a certainty of a slow and steady problem happening every day. Logically, the former is preferable, but people are generally more comfortable with the latter for some reason.'"
10. "Handling raw chicken."
"Don’t get me wrong, proper food prep is important for health and safety, but just being in the vicinity of raw chicken isn’t going to instantly kill you! Some people act like if the chicken touches anything you have to fumigate your house and wash your hands for 20 minutes."
"I refuse to cook any on-the-bone chicken for my mother-in-law because it's never fully cooked in her mind until it's like leather."
11. "GMO foods. I can't stand all products in the stores yelling at me that they're non-GMO. I'd prefer they use GMO and be cheaper thanks to that."
"I was looking for this one! GMOs are actually improving the world, but pseudoscience peddlers are ruining such a great scientific advancement."
12. "Rock climbing. Climbing ropes are really strong, you need to physically cut the rope for it to break."
– u/pplazzz
"I think the most common reasons for death in rock climbing are human error, extreme weather, and extreme exhaustion."
13. "Vaccines. Conspiracy theories people spread or read to not use a vaccine of any kind is mind blowing."
"Those same people who 'don't want some chemical' in their body will inhale a vape and chew cigarettes without noticing the irony."
14. "Kids playing outside, or riding their bikes, or in general not being hovered over by their parents."
"Some parents think it’s so dangerous outside so they stick them in front of a screen, online, where all the predators are actually hanging out."
"If it really was that dangerous most people people older than 20 should've been dead many years ago."
15. "Australia."
"With a few exceptions, unless you’re traipsing through the bush barefoot, you’re not likely to run into anything wanting to bite you. Most city folk don’t even see snakes or spiders particularly often."
"I’ve been living in remote Australia for the last nine months, and I am enormously disappointed that I haven’t seen a single snake, spider, or drop bear."
16. "Rollercoasters."
"Even the most aggressive thrill rides are designed to deliver those forces safely. They’re typically inspected every day before the park opens, and are built with multiple safety systems and computer monitoring. The reason amusement park accidents make the news is because they happen so infrequently."
17. "Using your phone while filling your car with fuel."
"It used to be dangerous (at least, a little bit), back in the early days of car phones, because you had to leave the car switched on to use the phone.
Modern phones are not going to cause an explosion. Just don't get distracted while filling up."
H/T to u/Thrwwyforrandostuff and Ask Reddit for having this discussion!
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity. Additional thumbnail credits: Fox / Getty Images