We often fail to appreciate the importance of safety until a negative event, or "it," directly impacts us or someone we know.
We walk, we drive, we move — assuming we’ll reach home safely. Most of the time, we do.
So we forget. We scroll past the news. We downplay the near-misses. We say, “It won’t happen to me.”
Until it does.
Until it’s your phone that goes unanswered.
Until your friend texts “I think someone’s following me.”
Until it’s your sister who’s afraid to walk alone at night.
Until it happens to you.
Safety shouldn’t begin with fear. It should begin with preparedness, awareness, and action. With the right tools. With smarter technology.
Key reasons why we take safety for granted:
1. The Psychology of Complacency and Habituation
We often underestimate safety because of how our minds are wired. Hedonic adaptation makes routine safety measures feel less significant over time — like seatbelts or fire drills becoming mindless habits. Selective attention pushes constant safety cues into the background, making us overlook warnings simply because they’re always there. And optimism bias convinces us that danger happens to others, not us. Together, these biases make us complacent—until reality proves otherwise.
2. The Influence of Social and Cultural Factors
Our perception of safety is often distorted by behavior and culture. The “crying wolf” syndrome makes us ignore real warnings after repeated false alarms, dulling our response when it truly matters. Practical drift occurs when efficiency outweighs caution, and shortcuts become the norm—especially when there are no immediate consequences. Add to that the influence of social norms, where unsafe behavior becomes acceptable simply because "everyone else is doing it," and safety quickly shifts from a priority to an afterthought.
3. The Power of Personal Experience
Ultimately, the most significant shift in a person's perspective on safety often comes from a direct, personal experience. It's when a family member is in a car accident, a colleague is injured on the job, or a friend's house is burglarized that the theoretical risk becomes a tangible reality. This is the moment "it happens to you," and the perceived low probability of an event becomes a certainty. This shock can shatter the optimism bias and force a reevaluation of personal habits and beliefs about safety.
This concept serves as a powerful reminder that safety isn't a passive state—it's an active practice. The constant effort to maintain safety and awareness is what prevents the incidents we so often take for granted.
Why Don’t We Leverage Tech for Safety?
We use tech to order food, track our steps, unlock our homes, and even switch off lights with a voice command. But when it comes to our own safety, we still rely on hope, instincts, and phone calls that may never be answered.
Why?
In essence, while the logical case for using technology for safety is strong, human behavior and economic realities often create a chasm between a solution's potential and its actual adoption.
Here are the key reasons why we don't always leverage technology for safety:
1. Resistance to Change
"We've Always Done It This Way": This is a powerful cultural force, especially in industries with a long history of traditional methods, like construction or manufacturing. An experienced workforce may see new technology as a disruptive, unnecessary change to their established workflows. They may also be skeptical of its real-world effectiveness.
Fear of Job Loss: Workers may fear that automation and new technology will make their skills obsolete or eliminate their jobs altogether. This is a significant concern that can lead to active resistance and a reluctance to engage with new systems.
Privacy and Surveillance Concerns: Many safety technologies rely on data collection, whether through cameras, sensors, or wearable devices. This raises valid concerns about privacy, surveillance, and who has access to and control over personal data. If employees or citizens don't trust how this data is being used, they will be hesitant to adopt the technology.
2. Loss of Control and Autonomy:
Many safety technologies, particularly those with a degree of automation or surveillance, can make people feel like they are losing control. Whether it's a car's lane-assist feature or a workplace sensor, this feeling can trigger resistance. There's a fundamental human desire to be the master of our own destiny, and technology that seems to take that away can be seen as a threat, not a safeguard.
3. Economic and Organizational Barriers: The Business Case for Safety
High Initial Cost: Many advanced safety technologies, from smart home security systems to industrial-grade robotics, come with a significant upfront investment. Small businesses or individuals on tight budgets may not be able to afford the initial cost, even if the long-term benefits are clear.
Lack of Perceived ROI: For businesses, the return on investment for safety technology can be hard to quantify. While a reduced accident rate is a clear benefit, it doesn't always translate into a direct, measurable profit increase. This makes it a lower priority than investments in production or sales.
Implementation and Integration Challenges: New technology doesn't exist in a vacuum. It often needs to be integrated with existing systems, which can be complex, costly, and require extensive training. If a solution is not user-friendly or compatible with current infrastructure, it may be abandoned or used incorrectly.
Lack of Leadership and Training: Successful technology adoption requires buy-in from the top down. If company leadership doesn't champion a new safety system, or if proper training isn't provided, it is unlikely to be used effectively.
Technology exists. We just don’t use it enough.
- Real-time location tracking
- Wearable SOS buttons
- QR-enabled alerts
- Geo-fencing for kids and elders
- Dashcams for every ride
- AI-driven threat detection
All of this is available. Affordable. Accessible. But underused.
Conclusion
Let’s stop taking safety for granted. Safety doesn’t start when something bad happens. It starts when you decide to use the tools already at your fingertips. Let’s not wait for a crisis to value safety. Let’s make tech a part of it. Let’s start making it a guarantee. Because for some, the second chance never comes, for others, a simple solution could have made all the difference.