Today, I was out in the back garden doing a bit of DIY (so not totally O.T. !) and at the house across the other side of the field, was some children playing in the garden. One in particular - it sounded like a youngish girl - screamed almost continuously. And I'm talking like blood-curdling screams here ... I get the same thing when a particular set of people visit my neighbours. They also have a young girl that screams in a similar way. On the TV, I see much older girls doing the same thing on their pissy-headed Friday and Saturday night outings. Presumably, these are the kids from a few years ago who were doing it, now grown up. I also hear them in the village here late at night.
So, what has happened to the last couple of generations of parents, that they have let this become the norm? Do they not understand that screaming is a sign of extreme distress, meaning "I need help ! Fast ! Anyone ! Thirty years ago, if I heard a child screaming in the way that they do now, I would have gone running to see what was wrong. Fallen in water ? Broken their leg ? Being abducted ? Likewise, with older girls late at night. Being robbed ? Being attacked ? Boyfriend being beaten up by a gang ?
Now, it wouldn't occur to me that the screamer was in distress (except perhaps right in the back of my mind as I come from a generation where it did mean something bad) and my normal reaction would be to ignore it. So, if a child or older person is really in distress these days, what do they do now ? I rather suspect that they still scream, as it's a hard-wired response, but the bad thing is now going to happen, as no one is probably going to take any notice, and come running ... :-\
Arfa