Humans are a hilarious bunch. We’ll happily snap a selfie teetering off a cliff, but hand us a yogurt that’s a day past its “best by” date and suddenly it’s a threat. Our sense of danger is just extra these days.
Think about it: microwaves are still accused of “zapping DNA”, and plenty of folks swear cracking your knuckles is a one-way ticket to arthritis. But many of these so-called threats are more bark than bite.
So, why do we treat the harmless like horror? Well, one Redditor wondered the same thing and asked, “What’s actually safe, but people still think it’s really dangerous?”
More info: Reddit
#1
Eating food that’s a bit past the sell by date.
imacmadman22 replied:
Exactly. You can safely eat most expired foods with just a few exceptions. In particular anything that is dry, like beans, rice, cereals, baking mixes, etc. Leftovers are usually good if refrigerated shortly after cooking for about three to four days, after that, toss it.
The only things I will not trust are things that have been previously frozen, shellfish, fish, meat and dairy products. Those items can have serious consequences if you eat them when they are spoiled.
I smell everything because I use it and if it doesn’t smell right, it’s gone. I was a chef for thirty five years, it’s not that hard for anyone to sort out what is good and bad when it comes to food.
Smell your food when it’s good, so you have a point of reference if you think something is bad.
Image source: FrodoCraggins, freepik
#2
Flying on airplanes.
srekar-trebor replied:
If you traveled by car to the airport and made it, you already survived the most dangerous part of your trip.
Image source: Coralvioletik, Pixabay
#3
Cracking your knuckles. No, it doesn’t damage the joint, it compresses an air pocket through a tight space created by the movement of your bones.
Image source: Nexxus3000, roger vaughan
#4
MSG.
Emu1981 replied:
The only “dangerous” thing about MSG is that it contains sodium so if you are on a sodium controlled diet then you need to take MSG into account in the same way that you would table salt.
Image source: juannkulas, freepik
#5
Trick or treating. You hear about it every year the d***s and razor blades being “hidden” in candy. Seldomly has this occurred.
Image source: Lush-Liliac, Yaroslav Shuraev
#6
Leaving butter on the counter, unrefrigerated.
Image source: Plastic_Swordfish_57, Jess Bailey Designs
#7
Vaccines.
BlackDante replied:
Idk man my friend’s cousin’s wife’s coworker got the covid vaccine and the next morning he woke up dead
Image source: Black-Zero, Ron Lach
#8
Talking to homeless people. Yeah, they might be looking for money, but typically they aren’t seeking to harm anyone. They’re just hungry, cold, and isolated. Give them the human decency of eye contact and acknowledgment, even if you don’t want to give them anything.
Image source: Thin_Ad1198, Jimmy Chan
#9
Microwaves relax, it’s heating your pizza, not your DNA lol.
Image source: Riley_RedX, Lucas Fernd
#10
Nuclear power – the safest energy source humanity has ever known.
Image source: CaptainPoset, Lukáš Lehotský
#11
Sleeping in a closed room with no open windows while running an electric fan.
Many (most ?) Koreans think doing the above results in death.
My mom just about died when she found out I’d been doing this for years. Guess what, mom? I’m still alive! 😂.
Image source: Defiant_Membership_9, Galvão Menacho
#12
For most people, (i.e. those without celiac), Gluten.
EvilSnack replied:
There was a comic in The New Yorker which showed to people sitting at a cafe table. One of them says, “I went gluten-free two weeks ago and already I’m fifteen percent more annoying.”
Image source: Supergraham339, Skyler Ewing
#13
Letting kids play outside.
InanimateSensation replied:
I find it funny that the same people that romanticize about their childhoods being free from technology, going outside until the streetlights come on, not a care in the world, etc. are now the same parents that are worried to let their kid leave the house or make them keep a phone with a tracker. And no, the world is not “more dangerous now”. There have always been crazy people.
They miss their “freedom” but force all these restrictions on their own kids.
Image source: WarrenR86, RDNE Stock project
#14
Swimming after eating. You won’t get cramps. Ask around. Nobody has. Ever.
Image source: Toothy_Grin72, Katya Wolf
#15
Spiders. Like unless you bother them, you’re probably good. They just wanna eat the annoying bugs and chill.
You dont look like food to them.
Image source: mizirian, Pixabay
#16
Sharks
Edit: Orcas are harmless to humans too! They even like humans (when not held prisoners).
Image source: Excellent-Stage-6837, Jeremiah Del Mar
#17
There has never, ever, been a recorded instance of someone using a mobile phone at a petrol pump and there being an explosion.
Image source: UKTonyK, RDNE Stock project
#18
Drag queens reading books to children
#19
Chicago.
TheRealXlokk replied:
I moved to Chicago six years ago. I’ve only been [ended] twice in that entire time.
Seriously, though, the worst crime I’ve seen here are the idiots on the road flagrantly disregarding traffic laws.
The only crime that has directly impacted me was when some Tik-Tockers were smashing eggs in an aisle at Target that I wanted to go down. Not wanting raw egg on my shoes, I skipped buying whatever it was that day.
Image source: Eric_Lund, Chait Goli
#20
Raw eggs are mostly fine for you. It’s not impossible, but you’re highly unlikely to get salmonella from eating them.
The reason you shouldn’t eat raw cookie dough is the raw flour (which is actually dangerous), not the raw eggs.
Image source: Character-Lack-9653, Tanaphong Toochinda
#21
GMO foods.
britsol99 replied:
For Me, it isn’t the GMO food itself, it’s what they’ve been modified for. The majority of GMO crops are plants modified to be resistant against [pesticides] (glyphosate, dicamba). This means farmers can spray [pesticides] over their entire field, the weeds die, the crops don’t. So the crops then are tainted with the [pesticide] residue.
It’s the glyphosate that is dangerous, not the GMO crop itself.
Image source: SirFelsenAxt, Daniel Dan
#22
Traveling. Don’t be a moron and wear expensive watches etc and mostly you’ll be fine. In fact most countries are way safer than people believe them to be.
Image source: oldguy16, Catarina Sousa
#23
“Chem Trails”.
BadTouchUncle replied:
Yeah but they make the frogs gay. That’s not nothing.
Image source: ASlap_, Dylan Hunter
#24
Paper wasps. They’re incredibly docile. Every year they build a nest above my back door. Even if there’s dozens of them swarming around, they won’t bother you if you don’t bother them.
They’re fascinating creatures to observe. You can actually feed them by hand by dipping your finger in syrup, honey or anything sugary. They’ll lick it right off. Five years of co-existing with them, and I have yet to get stung. Plus having their nest over the door deters burglars.
Image source: onefellswoop70, Tony Wu
#25
Airport scanners.
I was once at Dulles Airport and the lady in front of me demanded that she not get the full body scan. She also refused to be patted down. TSA explained it had to be one or the other. Then the lady went into a rant about how she doesn’t want that radiation.
Her: Those cause cancer!
TSA: Lady, they are just radio waves…”
Her: I know what they are! I’m a physician!
I tried to look her up so I could make sure I never have her as my physician but I didn’t have any luck.
Image source: CaptainAwesome06, CHUTTERSNAP
#26
It’s perfectly safe to have some salt in your diet, especially if you are a healthy normal person. There is a strange problem for many decades where people completely cut out salt from their diet and think they need to drink a gallon of water per day, which often leads to some dilution of normal blood salt levels. Only when you have poor quality high sodium diets, hypertension, old age, or heart failure do we start restricting salt intake.
Image source: DontWreckYosef, monicore
#27
New York City.
alwoking replied:
Yeah. I lived in NYC about 1/2 my life, and only had two issues. Once a guy tried to mug me, but I was drunk and told him to F*** off, and he did. The other time I was knocked down by a group of teens, and I thought I was being mugged, but it turned out I matched the description of someone who had just robbed one’s sister. They were very apologetic when they figured out their mistake.
Image source: xpacean, Fernando Gonzalez
#28
Eating the “do not eat silica” packets you find inside packages
other than a choking hazard, they’re pretty much chemically inert.
Image source: Mcboomsauce, Fyrebeard
#29
Australia.
flameylamey replied:
Yep. For the longest time I just assumed the whole “everything is trying to [end] you” thing was a meme and everyone understood it was just a joke, but I’ve since learned that some people genuinely believe it and that it’s actually deterred some people from wanting to visit.
Chances are people will never even come close to seeing any of the “dangerous” things they imagine they would, especially if they’re visiting Sydney or Melbourne or any of the typical tourist destinations.
Hell, I spent a large portion of my childhood exploring the local bushland around where I grew up in the far northern suburbs of Sydney, where we were basically surrounded by bushland. We’d frequently stray off the track and go climbing up around cliffs, while building forts out of sticks, running through some pretty thick vegetation etc.
I’ve never even seen a wild snake – and if any of the kids in the neighbourhood saw one, it would be a story they’d be talking about for weeks. My biggest fear/phobia as an Aussie kid was the possibility of getting bitten by leeches, haha.
Image source: JustChillFFS, Caleb
#30
Extremely sharp knives.
SlobMyKnob1 replied:
In fact, extremely sharp knives are way safer than dull knives
Image source: imnotjessepinkman, Toby Hall
#31
5g babyyyy.
thisismycleanuser replied:
All cellular signals in general are safe when you are 10’+ away from the antenna. They are putting out non-ionizing radiation that causes heating and that’s it. Kinda like a lightbulb, depending on the wattage, closer you are to the source the more likely you are to get burnt. Cellular towers and small cells are low wattage therefore safe up until very close to the antenna.
Image source: ASlap_, Jaycee300s
#32
Skydiving. The equipment has been pretty much the same for a good 20ish years and is as safe as can possibly be made. Total equipment failures are super rare and even then mostly due to negligence or in maybe 1 or 2 cases sabotage. The buck stops with you as your own “pilot” essentially. You are supposed to check your gear a minimum of three times according to the handbook. Altitude awareness is key and if you follow all the safety protocols it is quite literally impossible for you to get injured. Going to the right type of place if your doing a tandem jump is also super important but again if a safety minded culture exists in the place your all good.
Image source: OOCH3NHCH3, Russ Jani
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