Survivor bias... they incorrectly believe that because they lived that there was no actual danger. Truly, the selfish and self-absorbed generation. :(

"how did we survive?"

Ask anyone not wearing a helmet that got hit by a car or smacked their head on the concrete after going over their handlebars. Oh, right, you can't.

This type of person cannot fathom that their singular experience is not representative of everyone else's experience. Conservatism in a nutshell.

Survivor bias.

That was Gen X. And we have the scars and broken bones and dead friends to prove that it was dangerous. that’s why kids nowadays wear kneepads and helmets.

You’re welcome

TikTok and AI are bad for your brain.

Of course you survived! The ones that died from traumatic brain damage aren’t around to make stupid comments

They survived with head trauma and voted for trump.

When I was 7 years old in 1982 I fell off my bike and got a concussion. I was unconscious for a whole day. Not every child survived injuries sustained during those decades. I'm lucky I did.

Many didn't.

I always bet the old people alive posting this crap also never did it. I think about all the stuff my friends and used to do racing bikes or whatever we could fine that rolled in the alley in our neighborhood and never once think it makes me a better person than kids today. Was driving home late the other night and saw kids in the abandoned pool having a band play, skateboarding and even spinning fire and wish I was doing that then commuting home. The kids are alright.

It's the lead. They inhaled too much leaded gasoline fumes and lived during the golden era when a job at the hardware store was enough to afford a 2,500sq/ft house and 4 kids.

My ma (Boomer) likes to talk about how her and her siblings used to chew on road tar like gum and than she laughs about it, har har. Whenever I mention something I'm being cautious about with my kids.

She also had lung and breast cancer, could be unrelated but maybe it didn't help.

I'd like to add that neither of my parents believed that second hand smoke was "real" either. So I got blasted with carcinogens from birth until I moved out at 17. I'll be lucky if I don't get cancer.

And let's be honest, fewer of us survived than nowadays.

Yeah, not everyone got rocketed out the front window from lying up on the rear deck of our parents' oldsmobile. Not all of us had life altering injuries from jumping bikes off shitty ramps with no protection. Not every one of us ended up in a pedo neighbors basement, But some of us did. Our parents' apathy to parenting and our own poor judgment skills weren't lessons to make us better or badges of honor. We survived despite of all that rather than because of it.

I knew a kid in high school who was hit by a car while riding his bike in the days before kids wore helmets.

He was fucked up. He survived, but it was "learning how to walk and talk again" survival.

I also had a teacher in college who wasn't wearing a helmet when he flipped his bike and landed on his head. He was alright as long as you think regular, crippling migraines are alright.

Or they call CPS or slowly crush the kid under their F150 extended cab.

Also I knew a skateboarder who got severe brain trauma, so idk wear a fucking helmet because your head didn't evolve to fall on concrete at 20 mph.

The worst part of WWIII will be the second wave boomers, who will trigger WWIV when they age out of relevancy.

I survived because mom made me take judo at like a rather early age, I think I was like around six or seven. But practicing falling down safely. Ukemi.

Ukemi (受け身) refers to the art of safe falling and breakfalls in Japanese martial arts, such as judo and aikido, literally translating to "receiving body". It is a critical skill for absorbing the impact of throws or takedowns, protecting the head and body, and ensuring training safety.

Like I didn't even know I had that skill, but since these electric scooters and bikes and whatnot have come super popular and I've owned a few myself, I've been in way more falls and crashes than I was as a kid. Even somewhat serious ones.

But I never hit my head, and just found myself on the ground slightly winded.

In one I apparently made it sone 3m into the air, I remember seeing a car drive in front of me and then ground-sky-ground-sky-ground-sky. Luckily the dude wanted to call the cops (as he was blaming me for his wannabe tuned bmw got a bit smashed). Cops came and noted how it wasn't my fault. The other dude had to pay a few hundred euros to me for ribs and whatnot.

Anyway how I've survived, literally, is intuitively shielding my head and falling the right way. Without even knowing it. I just realised after like a half a dozen crashes that it can't be luck.

I should really start wearing a helmet.

They also love fondly remembering their friend Little Stevie who tragically died aged 12 in 1957 in a helmet-less bicycle accident.

Guarantee if you took a picture of that same street today there'd be a lot more than two cars. That probably a played a big role.

Is it ironic that all the survivors also happen to be the ones who don't understand survivorship bias?

Just a helmet is fine and still 99.99% as fun

Fun fact: Shortly after this photo was taken, the girl was attacked and devoured by the Bat Boy-faced puma following her.

How many of us STILL have scars from falling off our bikes last century? I bet some of us even still have road gravel in our bodies.

I mean…have you seen the size of cars then and now? Or the number of cars then vs now?