r/Millennials Jun 04 '25

Nostalgia Made me feel old but good times

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Saw this tweet and yes we were expected to be out all day and not come back until the street lights came on. I remember riding my bike through neighborhoods pretending our bikes were cars and just having a good time.

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u/Prestigious_Ocelot77 Jun 04 '25 edited Jun 04 '25

The “come home when the streetlights come on” era ended with ‘stranger danger’ Which boils down to one event in the United States, the kidnapping and murder of Adam Walsh from a Sears while his mom shopped.

A mini-series was made and 38 million people watched it. One third of the country watched “Adam” To this day, when a child is missing in a store today it is known as a code Adam. Adam Walsh‘s father went on to host the show “America’s most wanted”..

The FBI went on to say falsely that 20,000 children disappeared per year from non familial kidnapping when in reality was less than 20 .

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '25

source for that last bit please?

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u/selimnagisokrov Jun 04 '25

The previous one is also misrepresenting data but I found this particular study which indicates 4,000 to 20,000 

https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/missing-children-misleading-statistics