11 Now-Everyday Things That Caused Moral Panic
For as long as civilization has advanced, people have been wary of advancements.
![11 Now-Everyday Things That Caused Moral Panic](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/5/7/831257_320x180.jpg)
For as long as civilization has advanced, people have been wary of advancements. Of course, many advancements are worthy of criticism, but many waves of moral panic are just unfounded.
As Douglas Adams wrote, “Anything that is in the world when you're born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works. Anything that's invented between when you're fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things.”
Trains
![TRAINS 1136 Americans critics worried that women's bodies weren't made to go that fast, with the speed causing uteruses to fly out of their bodies. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/5/1/831251.jpg)
Source: Wall Street Journal
Forks
![FORKS Due to their resemblance to the Devil's pitchforks, forks were initially associated with sinister behavior. An author famously insulted Henry III by saying his court never touch meat with their hands but with forks. Maybe for this reason Louis XIV didn't allow his children to use forks. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/4/8/831248.jpg)
Reading Alone
![READING ALONE During the 18th century, people were distressed over solitary reading, worrying it would cause a private fantasy life, especially among women. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/0/5/831205.jpg)
Source: The Atlantic
![EMAIL Email - - - - In 2005, CNN ran an article with the headline E-mails 'hurt IQ more than pot.' CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/0/4/831204.jpg)
Source: CNN
Light Bulbs
![LIGHT BULBS Edison's light bulb was met with cynicism. A British parliamentary committee said it was good enough for our transatlantic friends... but unworthy of the attention of practical or scientific men. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/0/3/831203.jpg)
Source: Googles Arts & Culture
Chess
![CHESS In 1859, an article from The Scientific American warned that chess robs the mind of of valuable time that might be devoted to nobler achievements, noting that none of the true greats bothered themselves with the useless game. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/9/9/831199.jpg)
Source: Scientific American
Comic Books
![COMIC BOOKS Psychologist Fredic Werthem dedicated his whole 1954 best-selling book Seduction of the Innocent to the evils of comic books, which led to the end of horror comics and the creation of the Comics Code. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/9/8/831198.jpg)
Ladies on Bikes
![WOMEN CYCLISTS In 1911, doctors warned that the vibration a bicycle causes between women's legs would cause an insatiable sex drives and lead to lesbianism. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/9/5/831195.jpg)
Crosswords
![CROSSWORDS 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 3 33 34 35 37 38 40 41 43 44 45 46 47 48 4 Newspapers and magazines in the 1920s warned of a crossword craze that was a virulent plague and a national menace. Divorces were even blamed on husbands' crossword puzzleitis. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/9/4/831194.jpg)
Source: The New Yorker
Schools
![SCHOOLS An article in a medical journal warned that schools would exhaust the children's brains and nervous systems with complex and multiple studies and ruin their bodies by protracted imprisonment. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/9/7/831197.jpg)
Source: Slate
The Written Word
![WRITING Socrates was wary of the written word, claiming it would create forgetfulness in the learners' souls, because they will not use their memories.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/1/9/6/831196.jpg)
Source: Gutenberg