The ability to quickly and accurately perceive unexpected threatening or harmful situations is critical to our survival.
But our brains are incredibly complex and, sometimes, prone to errors. So Reddit user Smeghead9916 made a post on the platform, asking everyone, "What is something that people perceive as safe, but in actuality is pretty dangerous?"
The question immediately went viral and folks started sending in their answers. From giving birth to gossiping, we collected the most popular ones to help you readjust.
This post may include affiliate links.
Ladders. 7 times more likely to kill you than a gun. Which is why I keep 7 guns in the house in case some MANIAC tries to sneak a ladder in here!
well then i’ll just defend myself with the ladder i keep under my pillow
Childbirth. Still the number one k****r of young women globally.
We managed to get in touch with Smeghead9916 and they agreed to have a little chat with us. "The post was inspired by an opposite post I saw about safe things considered dangerous," the Redditor told Bored Panda about its origins.
"I didn't get the chance to read every response, but I noticed many people mentioning driving," they added.
Driving while tired. When we get exhausted, our minds stop working as efficiently as they should. Our reaction time slows down, we tend to daydream, we hyperfixate, we make poor judgement calls. That scene in Better Call Saul where Kim runs off the road is probably the most accurate depiction of driving while tired ever to be shown on TV. That scene is supposed to take place over the span of at least an hour; watch the background for clues. Note how the city just quickly vanishes. One second everything is fine, the next second you're in a ditch. Don't try to be a hero and "power through it". On a long drive, stop every two hours and walk around, even if it's just for a few minutes. Don't be afraid to stop longer. And try not to push yourself more than 6-8 hours a day.
Heavy drinking. A lot of people, including myself thought that it took a long long time for heavy drinking to catch up to you, like when you're in your '50s or older. And mostly for people whose drinking was clearly catastrophic. And even then that a lot of the damage can be reversed through quitting, in the same way quitting smoking can. I was shocked when people I was acquainted with, or friends of friends, started dying of alcoholism in their 30s-40s. All of these people were high functioning- had successful careers, family, friends. And it was liver failure that came on without much warning. I was kind of shocked- I assumed there were many decades of warnings before your system finally failed, and I thought that most people who drank themselves to the point of it killing them were people whose behavior was clearly out of control, not people who are pretty well functioning in every other way.
as a russian who was given a lot of Vodka and has witnessed family members really drunk off Vodka, and has had an uncle die from too much, i cannot stress this enough
And people are definitely onto something here. For example, one study found that about three-quarters of American drivers think their overall skills are better (57%) or much better (17%) than average.
At the same time, 58% say they had been in at least one prior vehicle crash as a driver.
"Most people think they are above-average drivers, and if drivers are a problem, it is other drivers, not themselves," the researchers noted. "This may explain, in part, the considerable public apathy about highway safety."
Following another vehicle too closely, especially in a group on the highway. Unbelievable to me that people will be 1-2 car lengths or less in a pack of cars going 60-70 mph+, especially with 18-wheelers in the mix.
Tanning. You're literally cooking your skin and increasing your risk of skin cancer.
We also asked the author of the now-viral post why they think we sometimes underestimate or overlook potential dangers in everyday activities or objects.
"That's either because of previously held beliefs that people don't realize have changed or stubbornly refuse to change (for example, how smoking was once considered safe, now we know better but people still smoke) or because statistics relating to accidents or illness are small compared to other things, so it simply isn't on most people's radar," the Redditor explained.
Not wearing a helmet while cycling or skateboarding or roller skating. I have called an ambulance for a teenager who hit his head on a curb doing a skateboard trick and had such a terrible head injury that he slipped into a coma at the hospital and died. It haunts me.
Humans are resilient and can survive crazy things but it can also take as little as an unfortunate fall to kill you.
Indeed, beliefs are our brain's way of making sense of and navigating the world. They are mental representations of what we expect from things in our environment and how they should be related to each other. Beliefs are templates for efficient learning and are often essential for survival.
As a prediction machine, our brains must take shortcuts for pattern recognition as it processes the vast amounts of information received from the environment. Beliefs allow it to quickly categorize and evaluate that information and to jump to conclusions.
But in doing so, our brains have a preference for familiar conclusions over unfamiliar ones. Thus, they are prone to error, sometimes seeing patterns where there are none, like assuming something to be safe when in actuality it can be quite dangerous.
Energy drink. I did a presentation on caffeine in school and was shocked to discover that small children can overdose on only a few cans of energy drink... particularly scary when my 10 year old sister (at the time) drunk so much of the stuff.
The other ingredients besides caffeine are rough on your liver and kidneys, too. Guy I went to school with had a heart attack and didn't make it. A family member of my husband also had a heart attack but survived. Both were drinking 6-8 giant redbulls a day. My coworker drinks 4-6 monster coffee a shift and keeps saying her doctor TOLD her to because her "blood pressure was low" yeah sorry, no.
Yeah a while back Dave Grohl thought he was having a heart attack. Nope, it was his overconsumption of energy drinks. He was drinking an insane amount of them every day, and had no idea that they had side effects.
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there are 13 year olds at my school who drink 1-2 cans of celsius (300mg) every single day… it makes me sad because they really don’t understand how bad it is for you
I know a kid who once drank 4 C4s and a monster energy drink all in one day. I don’t know how he didn’t get sick
Honestly I am iffy on this one. Most energy drinks (250ml can) have about the caffeine of a cup of coffee. A very young kid has no business drinking either, but I've been drinking coffee since I was like... 11ish? And haven't suffered any ill effects from it.
A cup of coffee is (on average) 95 mg but is usually anywhere from 70-140 mg. That being said, 250 mg won't harm you if you are healthy and don't do it too much.
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I used to drink Surge like water back in the 90s when I was a teen. My poor pancreas.
How much caffeine do you guys have in your energy drinks? Beeing able to overdose sounds crazy
I never had any energy drinks and I don't plan to ever try it. I know my mum will get weird heart beats from it and that's just an extra reason for me to not try it. For me it's like smoking: I am just not interested in it so I don't try it. And now that I have 3 kids.... I will do my very best to have my kids feel the same about both things. That no matter how much their friends use/consume of it they will not see a reason to try it themselves. If you need something sweet, have some juice. If you need caffeine, have some tea or a cup of coffee. Also, protein powder? Nah, have an egg and/or some tuna. This also goes for ppl that work out in a gym, actually. (Source for the latter: my bf when he was a gym rat. And my mum 20-somthing years ago when she was a gym rat.).
I thought giving Jolt Cola to a 10-year-old was stupid, but this......
Putting your feet on the dash of your car while traveling.
Blocking fire escapes.
Used to see this all the time, "Oh I was just putting it there for now", "there's another door right there!", "people can just walk around/over it", "how am I supposed to do my job with all these mad rules.?!"
In an emergency, most people turn into idiots.
Give them the scenario of an obstical course, or die:
Some people just die.
We had to evacuate my office building of 1000+ people because of a bomb threat (was not an exercise). The evacuation doors at one spot were not opened and we remained stuck at the gate with no possibilities to go outside or move backwards. I can tell you within seconds people started panicking and pushing us to the gates while we couldn't go away, and the room started filling. No one was injured but we a realised that had it been a fire a real stampede would have started.
Stairs. Stumbling and falling down is one of the most common fatal accidents at home.
as someone who fell down a really steep set of stairs about an hour ago, i can confirm
Any mechanism involving a cable or rope can redirect drastic amounts of force, and gain or lose tension unpredictably.
Never take a wrap on a line that you aren't certain the potential load on if you like your fingers. Could be a tow rope on a car. A ratchet strap securing a heavy load that shifts.
And stay clear of any line under tension. You got a high speed machete if it snaps.
Also rope burn is no joke, don’t hold onto a rope or tie that has the capacity to move very quickly
Living. Everyone who have tried end up dead at some point.
Being comfortable working around machinery.
I have heard too many horror stories of people getting too comfortable and acting in ways they shouldn’t around moving equipment and machines and horribly maiming themselves or dying.
Now you shouldn’t be terrified but you should always be afraid enough to always remain cautious
i’ve read too many stories of lost arms to be comfortable around machines 💀
Not knowing what medications you take.
Can’t tell you how many times someone gets brought in to the ER without a thought in their mind about what they take for meds. “Oh my spouse/kids/etc take care of that for me.” What meds you are given in the ER/hospital can be dependent on what you are already on.
It is your health, you should have some knowledge about it.
Gossip. I've seen too many lives ruined by it.
How sad so many lives broken because some ordinary douchebags (who don't even see what's wrong with their behavior) can't keep their mouth shut.
Eating raw flour. Everyone's worried about the eggs but flour's up there with raw chicken.
Surgery in general. I feel like people look at a lot of surgeries as something foolproof, because doctors need to have a lot of practice and skills to be able to perform what they do, but with high skill requirement jobs comes high consequences for failure, and it sometimes seems like people don't give surgery enough respect, as it is literally opening up your body in a controlled environment, something that can usually end up being fatal when not done by experts. Like yeah, the surgeons are well trained and this is their job, but at the same time i'm still holding my breath when a professional daredevil does something risky, and to not have any level of respect for the risks associated with surgery is in my opinion very naive.
For an example of what i mean, there's a noticeably large number of mothers who hold the bad opinion that if you had a c-section, you're not a mother because "You took the easy way out", which always angers me so much because of a variety of reasons, one of them being that having to need surgery for any reason is not the easy way, and it shows their lack of respect for what surgeons do.
Even just going into hospital. My mother caught three different hospital acquired diseases in a single visit. My daughter went into hospital for a minor operation on her tear duct, came out with pneumonia and died a fortnight later.
Home fireworks displays. Every time I’ve been involved in one it’s very nearly gone horrid in a very bad way due to something falling over or not launching or the fuse being way shorter than expected/advertised (usually not to do with me!).
As someone living in a place with a STRONG penchant for gunpowder, this. Every year people lose fingers or get severely burnt but they keep firing them and initiating small children on it as some dumbass rite of passage.
Hiking. If it‘s a big area without proper trail marking people tend to overestimate themselves and get lost easily. Without a cell phone with connection and enough water it can get tough really soon. Cold nights outside, nothing to eat/drink, dense forests that prevent being spotted by helicopters or wide unvegetated areas where the sun burns down on the hikers and dehydrates them even more
Don't forget bad weather. In thunderstorms, the right course of action when you can't get indoors can save your life.
Alcohol. You're literally drinking poison
Aww damn. I’m sipping on a champagne right now. Very nice tasting poison though!
Sitting, at home or during long work hours, sedentarism is already bad but sitting turbochargers all bad effects it has on your health, they are not kidding when they say its as bad as smoking, higher risks for heart disease, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol you name it.
I have had a deskjob most of my adult life and hobbies centered around a computer but I still jog everyday and try to move as much as possible during iddle hours at work, my coworkers have even asked me why I walk around so much.
Motorcycles: I've known more than one guy who wanted to be a biker and gets himself a Harley and then finds out how hard they are to drive and get killed.
Also guys even though they have been riding all their lives dont realize they are getting older and dont have the same sense of balance or riding skills. And they get killed.
The second paragraph is exactly what ended my dad’s life a year ago. Too old to maintain his balance taking a bend in the road, and too stubborn to wear a good helmet.
Vape
Just found out my step-niece was caught vaping with her friends in the toilets of the youth club where I work. She's 10. Unfortunately my stepsister (who I have next to no contact with) can't deal with being a decent adult, let alone being a decent parent, so there will be no real immediate consequences.
Eating rice that hasn’t been refrigerated/reheated properly. If you store rice at the wrong temperature, it can allow the bacteria Bacillus cereus to grow in the rice. People who have gotten sick from the rice have had severe vomiting, sometimes as little as 20 minutes after eating the rice. I only learned about this after hearing about a restaurant where about two dozen people got sick from eating contaminated rice, and the restaurant ended up shutting down because of it.
I know that smell. Old rice smell is what I call it. If I smell it in a chinese restaurant I'm not eating the food there.
Being overweight
No. Being morbidly obese or obese is bad. Being slightly overweight is not bad for you. Studies in Japan have started to show that the sightly overweight live longer than skinny people. This is why labels and BMI are stupid. https://www.google.com/amp/s/medicalxpress.com/news/2009-06-japanese-overweight-people-longest.amp
Night shifts. It’s so damaging to the human brain to go against our natural sleep-wake cycle aligned with the day-night cycle, yet we don’t have the appropriate countermeasures to help shift workers stay healthy and safe.
Modern day coke.."but I KNOW the guy he'd never sell me bad stuff" said a lot of people who aren't with us anymore.
Sugar.
Look at how much sugar is in that grande caramel frappuccino or soda you're drinking. Now go into your kitchen and pour out that much sugar on a scale. Would you down that much sugar in one setting?
People thinking they need to put their hands on every animal they see
Hot weather. In the UK because we normally associate this country with being very cold, windy and rainy, the dangers of extreme heat is often overlooked. It's quite easy to die from heatstroke in 30 celcius weather, if you stay in the sun too long!
6 years ago I ☠️ of a heat stroke. My body temperature was 106.5. It took 17 bags of ice to bring my temperature down. I’m very lucky to be alive today.
Showering.
Everything in your bathroom is made out of material that can kill you. A slip and fall out of a shower/tub onto the hard porcelain of the toilet (or tub edge), or the corner of the bathroom counter? The tile floors? Immediate brain bleed.
Walking down stairs comes in a close second, especially if you have pets or small children.
Walking in a field of cows
i thought i read a statistic somewhere that cows were more likely to kill you than sharks
Doing “stunts”or “pranks” involving fire. I’m not saying people think fire is 100% safe, but the level to which they underestimate it is astounding.
"Hold me beer" or "watch this" are two of the most foreboding phrases in the English language. I'm sure every language has something similar.
Daylight savings time - driving afterward when the light hits your eyes
And the heart attacks that ensue from this ridiculous time change every year
Not to mention the fact that tiny panthers do not understand Spring forward, Fall back and try to shred us out of bed for breakfast at a quarter to sunrise.
Trampolines
my aunt broke her collarbone on a trampoline when she was about ten, my mother has never let me go near one as a result! 18 years on planet earth and never set foot on a trampoline
This crazy neck cracking trend. A little research and you will see a crazy amount of people that went in to a chiropractor for this and ended up paralyzed or dead, do your research before having any spinal adjustments done
Household cleaning products.
Trusting people you've never met.
Breaking down on the interstate. You’re stationary on the shoulder of the road while trucks weighing 80k pounds zoom past you a couple feet away.
Holy guacamole yes. My boyfriend and I got a flat on I-65 in Southern KY. We made it over to the right shoulder to change it. I could not believe the number of cars and SEMI TRUCKS that not only didn't get over but didn't even slow down! And it was a driver's side blowout.
Cats. They're always plotting your demise and how quickly they can turn your carcass into a casserole. Trust not the fuzzy ones...
*wuffles tiny pet ninja*
I know three ways in which cats kill people. A friend has recently got out of hospital after surgery for a broken femur. She was tripped by her cat and landed hard on concrete. At the cattery, one cat there had tripped its owner down a full three flights of stairs, this cat is always underfoot and always deliberately tripping people. Second, cats have less saliva than dogs and people and consequently a lot of mouth bacteria. Cats have so much mouth bacteria that they have been classed as venomous animals. A friend of my wife lost the use of her hand from sepsis following a cat bite. This friend was a pianist. The third way that cats kill people I experienced myself. I was stuck in bed with the flu, feeling sleepy, and at the right psychological moment my cat shook itself all over my face. Unknown to me it had been covering itself in pollen outside. Instant anaphylaxis. My airways shut down and I couldn't breathe. If I hadn't rushed out of bed to the bathroom I would have died.
Water.
if you see a riptide warning sign, PLEASE TAKE IT SERIOUSLY. love, someone who was trained as a lifeguard
Swimming pools. Kids can drown in them very easily.
Pool covers too! Very easy to wrapped in. Not so easy to get out of.
Cooking without paying attention to proper kitchen hygiene
Dogs. Wildly energetic and lacks a sense of boundaries. Without proper training, they can easily get loose and hurt people and animals, on accident or not.
Was listening to an amputee who had lost his arm from a dog attack, well trained guard dogs hadn't been told that he was a friend. Nextdoor neighbours dog attacked my grandmother, putting her in hospital.
Hippos
when i went to zoos as a kid they scared me, now i go to zoos as an adult and they STILL scare me. the jaws 💀
Walking next to forklifts at Costco
Having natural gas supplied to the home. People really seem to dismiss how easily a leak (and apparently it’s always leaking enough to possibly cause health problems) in a line or old appliance can fill your house with a deadly/explosive amount in short order. Even an external supply line rupturing can f**k up your house. At the very least you need redundant gas detectors, decent air filtration, and not slacking on replacing the water heater
There's a fair amount of unnatural gas in my home, particularly after onions.
Living out in the country because “it’s safer” and then commuting 30-60 miles on the highway.
Where I live it actually is safer to live in the country and then just use the highway
“If it’s so dangerous why are they allowed to sell it?” consumer products in the U.S are not as regulated as you think. They are more regulated than, say, China, but this bit of “common sense” won’t protect you from suspicious food additives, lead on cable cords, or whatever mystery substances exist on wherever. The FDA probably doesn’t even know what the f**k is in gets added to white glue besides PVA (the preservatives, extenders,etc). They regulate food, drugs, and medical devices, then who regulates that glue?
Heck the FDA allows barely tested medical devices to pass clearance only for people get permanently damaged or die from them.
The US government has been very proactive in protecting us from Kinder Eggs.
Folding chairs. You can lose your fingers.
Cycling, I think a lot of people don’t realize the risks.
Cycling is very safe (unless you’re racing down an alpine pass), cars are dangerous. Drivers don’t look, don’t care, or worse get actively angry to see a bike in front. I’ve had some really dangerous overtakes when I’ve been cycling. In a city there’s little point in overtaking as I’m generally only slightly slower than cars, and often much faster.
Eye drops
> Over-the-counter eyedrops and decongestant sprays are frequently used to treat upper respiratory congestion and irritated, red eyes. When consumed by mouth, they may result in serious toxicity and even death.
Drinking anything that's not for drinking isn't really a good idea.
Skiing and snowboarding and rollerskating!
Acetaminophen/Tylenol. I'd really appreciate it if we made a drug that is better at treating headaches and fevers than ibuprofen (ibuprofen being better for muscle pain than headaches or fever, even if it helps a little) and is also easier to dose than acetaminophen. 1 is too little, 2 may be too little or just enough, 3 may be just enough or too much, and 4 may kill you. I have to either have a very *very* bad headache that impedes with my ability to function rather than just being painful or a super bad fever (over 101° F) before I even touch acetaminophen.
What a bunch of nonsense. Paracetamol (the actual international name, stop already with the us names and brands) is one of the drugs with the best ratio efficiency/safety. As long as you respect a very simple max daily dose (4 grams for an average adult) it’s completely safe for 99.9..% of the population. You’re an epic dumbass if you’re unable to follow the simplest dosage indications (basically a 1g pill every 6 hours) to get the effect while not taking any risk.
Raw milk
raw milk is now one of my least favorite combinations of words
Boomers love to order their coffee ‘extra hot’ even though studies have shown it increases your chances of oesophageal cancer
Some people drop their food and do the 5 sec rule. That's pretty dangerous actually
That is pretty dangerous depending on your general hygiene and your health status. If I am immune compromised, eating off a sticky dirty floor isn't a god idea. But you are unlikely to get ill if you are healthy with a working immune system. And the amount of seconds doesn't make a difference. There is no armada of bacteria waiting five seconds before they start to conquer said item.
Paracetamol or acetaminophen.
It’s available to buy over the counter but it’s deadly as f**k and it is a horrible death. Only use as directed on the packaging or by a trusted health care professional. Do not exceed the recommended dose.
If you are feeling helpless reach out. There are many anonymous support services. Talk to somebody.
Following recommended usage with any medicine is a good way to stay safe to start with. Same with following medicine prescriptions.
Using weeds, especially for those people who have schizo background in their family.
HOW did GUNS not make this list once? Just Having a gun in the house increases the chances of self unaliving by 1000%. I'm pulling those numbers out my a*s but the point is roughly 25,000 people commit suicide by gun every year. That one's real. If you track gun ownership vs. gun deaths, the result is LINIER. More guns = more dead people because guns are made to kill people. Alright I think I'm done now, sorry for the rant.
“ ‘Guns don’t kill people . People kill people’ That’s very true, but if you’re holding a gun in your hand, it helps” Comedian Eddie Izzard. Making a point about gun ownership in the US.
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Caffeine is also a good candidate. Everyone consumes it every once in a while, some of us several times per day, but it's not good for your health and actually makes sleeping issues continuously worse. If you have sleep issues and drink coffee to wake up faster, congratulations, you've not done yourself a favor but just made sure that you'll be tired again tomorrow again for all eternity. Caffeine takes more than one day to vanish from your blood, and it deteriorates your sleep
Ah yes, worry worry worry and dont do ANYTHING because it's all DANGEROUS. See how fun life becomes for you.
HOW did GUNS not make this list once? Just Having a gun in the house increases the chances of self unaliving by 1000%. I'm pulling those numbers out my a*s but the point is roughly 25,000 people commit suicide by gun every year. That one's real. If you track gun ownership vs. gun deaths, the result is LINIER. More guns = more dead people because guns are made to kill people. Alright I think I'm done now, sorry for the rant.
“ ‘Guns don’t kill people . People kill people’ That’s very true, but if you’re holding a gun in your hand, it helps” Comedian Eddie Izzard. Making a point about gun ownership in the US.
Load More Replies... Caffeine is also a good candidate. Everyone consumes it every once in a while, some of us several times per day, but it's not good for your health and actually makes sleeping issues continuously worse. If you have sleep issues and drink coffee to wake up faster, congratulations, you've not done yourself a favor but just made sure that you'll be tired again tomorrow again for all eternity. Caffeine takes more than one day to vanish from your blood, and it deteriorates your sleep
Ah yes, worry worry worry and dont do ANYTHING because it's all DANGEROUS. See how fun life becomes for you.
