If you are sharing facts like "Wisconsin falls are more deadly than Alabama falls", then you need to address the more obvious hypotheses that are conjured in the readers head.
I found no mention of "ice" or "slippery", and instead the article blazed forward with its preferred explanation without providing evidence to dismiss the more obvious hypotheses.
Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?
31–40 of 97 posts
Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?
#32[deleted]
Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?
#33maybe because we now walk around with phones in our hands looking at screens. So when falling, we’re less prepared?
Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?
#34I would assume it is because of the extra distractions now. Everything becoming "smarter" and more addictive. How many were looking at their phones, hurrying back to catch the increasingly manipulative "news", or frustrated because their voice assistant didn't understand them? Since 2000 all of these things, and the amount of tech per household in general, have gone up quite a bit. I'm surprised it wasn't listed as a…
> I would assume it is because of the extra distractions now
... leading to loss of awareness of surroundings and smooth movement disruptions.
I very much agree with you that this most certainly is a factor in addition to the others listed in the article.
Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?
#35I guess the hypothesis makes sense. They say it's probably Drugs, Alcohol, Obesity and Fourth, some of the increase may be due to changes in reporting. As people have become more aware of the danger of falls, falls that used to not be recorded as a cause of death may increasingly be reported as a cause.
I'd add overwhelmingly increasing stupidity by enforced safety, preventing people from learning from their (small) mistakes, leading to big ones. Just recently I was talking to a friend about how everything agile is being exterminated in favor of safety, e.g. police chasing two lonely cars slowly drifting on a frozen public mountain road during the night with no other cars/people in sight due to "endangering public". How else should people learn how to handle critical situations than being exposed to them in a low-risk controlled manner?
Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?
#36I would assume it is because of the extra distractions now. Everything becoming "smarter" and more addictive. How many were looking at their phones, hurrying back to catch the increasingly manipulative "news", or frustrated because their voice assistant didn't understand them? Since 2000 all of these things, and the amount of tech per household in general, have gone up quite a bit. I'm surprised it wasn't listed as a…
This is my first guess too. There's some stat that says more people die from falling while they try to frame a selfie compared to dying because of shark attacks... (Ok death by shark is actually quite rare)
The death rates increased 200% for 85+ year olds but deceased for people under 35.
Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?
#37If you are sharing facts like "Wisconsin falls are more deadly than Alabama falls", then you need to address the more obvious hypotheses that are conjured in the readers head. I found no mention of "ice" or "slippery", and instead the article blazed forward with its preferred explanation without providing evidence to dismiss the more obvious hypotheses.
Presumably because the Wisconsin-vs-Alabama differences have not significantly changed in the last few decades? Wisconsin has been a lot snowier than Alabama for a long time.
Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?
#38If you are sharing facts like "Wisconsin falls are more deadly than Alabama falls", then you need to address the more obvious hypotheses that are conjured in the readers head. I found no mention of "ice" or "slippery", and instead the article blazed forward with its preferred explanation without providing evidence to dismiss the more obvious hypotheses.
>Another state-level predictor of accidental fall death rates is wintry weather: eight of the 10 states with the highest age-adjusted rates are notably snowy.
>Wisconsin, Maine, Vermont, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Dakota. The two states in the top 10 that are not notably snowy are Oklahoma and Oregon.
Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?
#39This might be evidence that the gravitational constant G is changing (increasing) over time! Could this be the explanation for dark matter and dark energy?
Occam's razor says it's less likely that the gravitational constant is increasing and more likely that the ability to withstand the pull of gravity decreases with age.
Article says age-adjusted fall rates are up substantially, so it's not just older population.
Re: Why have death rates from accidental falls tripled?
#40If you are sharing facts like "Wisconsin falls are more deadly than Alabama falls", then you need to address the more obvious hypotheses that are conjured in the readers head. I found no mention of "ice" or "slippery", and instead the article blazed forward with its preferred explanation without providing evidence to dismiss the more obvious hypotheses.
>Another state-level predictor of accidental fall death rates is wintry weather: eight of the 10 states with the highest age-adjusted rates are notably snowy. >Wisconsin, Maine, Vermont, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Dakota. The two states in the top 10 that are not notably snowy are Oklahoma and Oregon.
I have slipped on black ice in Portland OR.