I was standing at the cash point today and was watching the man in front hiding his number etc....When did life become so terrible that we have to lock doors, set alarms, Hide pins, Have personal alarms, Put locks on bikes etc....

Creeping precedence of crime I'm afraid.

More open communications, harder news stories, government statistics, 24 hour TV, the internet. All in their own way have contributed to a massive fear factor that is based on a small amount of fact.

But, as this is an opinion site, here's mine as to the increase in fearfullness.

Women's lib.

Ever since the stay-at-home mother has been regarded as the bottom of the pile (by some commentators...certainly NOT me) it has been de rigeur for women to go to work.

This has contributed to higher house prices and this means that to even own a house now you have no choice but to have 2 wage earners.

This has led to latch-key kids. A widening gap between the have's and have-nots and single motherhood just to get a council house.

These, unsupervised kids have therefore made a massive contribution to everyday social crimes and quality of life crimes. Hence your question.

well it all got a lot worse when the court of human rights got involved with our society telling schools that the couldnt be as strict as they were for example canining wasnt allowed ect so children was taught any disaplin and they just get more pathetic as time goes on and now we have to deal with political correctness now aswell thats just as bad it gets so silly you cant play concers now without safty goggles and saftey hat and gloves where will it end !!

I don't think life is any worse than it was 30 years ago I think we more populated and more paranoid now-a-days.

It annoys that people think that we are in a more violent world today than we were 30 years ago.

1976 saw a massive drought in the UK as we suffered a massive heat wave (back then we had to go pump our own water), the economy was crumbling which brought on strikes and inflation, tax was at 35% (today it 17%) the UK even had to grovel to international bankers to bail it out to the tune of billions of pounds. As a whole the country was poorer, few people owned houses, hell only half of us had phone. Now we 2 or 3 each.

But what about the youth, surly the schools were still beating them into shape right? Wrong the country was terrorised by youth with a safety pin through his nose. The Punk was a threat to our very morals.

As far a natural disasters go, an earthquake in China killed hundreds of thousands (take that Katrina)

We were only a few years out of a pointless costly American war. and the Falklands War was a few years ahead. Not to mention the IRA.

Things always look better over time, we were much younger. It was before the weight of the world came crashing down upon us.

1. 1. BBC NEWS | Magazine | Was 1976 all it's cracked up to be? copy

I can't agree with Redomellette I'm afraid. I was a child of the seventies and lived through the punk era, we had corporal punishment in school, and it never did me any harm. And yes, we pushed boundaries when we were teenagers, haven't teenagers always done so? But the difference was you knew where those boundaries lay, and if you didn't, you jolly well found out quick enough. Today there are no boundaries. Push and keep on pushing. Societies hands are tied, parents hands are tied and teachers... enough said.

If you have a problem with your child, what do you do? Blame it on 'E' numbers, video games, or any other thing you can think of. Seek help and god help you if you go to Social Services, the spotlight falls on you! The Social Worker isn't interested in you, they are there to look after the child's rights because YOU DON'T HAVE ANY! And there lies the problem, when a teenage delinquent has more rights than an adult society just tripped itself over and landed smack on its head! And someone was asking why so many people are leaving the UK?

In addition to all of the above, there is also the material reality. You'll have to look hard to find a teen who doesn't wear brand-name clothing, shoes, or doesn't have a cell phone, computer, MP3 player, palm. When they get older, they'll want a sports car, a 54-inch TV, and so on. The list goes on. It's a consuming world, so people need money. If they steal a motor bike (sorry Tara), it will finance their luxurious taste.

Fifty years ago people are happy with a radio at home, a TV was a luxury. People read books and chat with the neighbours in their spare time. Today a lot of people don't even know their neighbours.

This, I am sorry to say, is evolution of urban life. Where does it lead to? Nobody knows.

Certain areas have always been that way, maybe it's a question of when you grow up you recognise these things more, cause when you are younger, let's face it the last thing you worry about is stuff like that