Why do we fear the unknown when we know it's probably safe?

Question

My original question was going to be, "Why do we fear change?" Yahoo directed me to the same quesiton asked by someone else, and the general consensus is that it's because we fear the unknown.

Okay, so let's make a scenario. There's a new type of email released, but you've been using, say, hotmail for the past three years. You've heard fantastic reviews about this new email, and you know it'll be better than hotmail if you take the time to learn how to use it. Yet, hotmail is reliable, safe. You understand it, nothing new or complex about it, so you don't embrace the change and stand by inferiority.

Why?

Answer 1

Evolutionary value - change is _potentially_ damaging. Better safe than sorry principle at work here - what if you had spent all that time learning to use the new system and you find that it's not for you?

Most people are wary of new things. And it's not about standing by inferiority as it is being wary of something that you have no way of knowing whether is superior or not. Most people would be reassured by others telling them about the new system, especially friends and family, but we have a tendency to discount those reviews that are not so close to us.

Answer 2

I think that having a newer email would have an impact due to the recipient's unfamiliar of sender's new email.
Also notifying all your contacts sometimes you'll lose the connection with friends, colleagues, and clients. Plus updating all the forwarding email address and other accounts is just too much work. I keep a few email addresses, one for personal and two for business that I do check daily and I do embrace the change.

Answer 3

change is hard. change is loss. staying stagnant means stability and is also safe, and there is no risk. with taking risks there is a chance of failure. reminds me of this quote by rilke about staying with the unknown/staying with the questions. we live in a society that wants anwers and instant gratification , we want an answer NOW (or yesterday.) i think maybe part of this has to do with our high tech fast paced society. look at the computer screen, there are flashing, buzzing pop up ads every minute. we are impatient beings. try to sit/stay with the question of whether or not to change, without looking for the instant gratification of a quick answer:

"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. The point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will find them gradually, without noticing it, and live along some distant day into the answers."

Answer 4

Uh huh... it sucks doesn't it?
But that's fear for you. Hey it happens to the best of us. And it's not just the fear... it's the fear of failing, maybe?
Sometimes it's the odds that work against us that puts a stop to what we want to accomplish which further leads to your question.
Some people are comfortable with the way things are, it's safe, secure.
Some are just not born risk takers.
Laziness is a factor as well.
We prefer stuff to just pass by us without having to work for it which of course life as we know does not work that way.

Answer 5

it all depends on your perspective, ie: take that game "deal or no deal for example. u have the bank offer for say $145,000 and u have a few cases left, and in one of them there could be $500K. well, u can go to the end and find out what will happen or u can go for the sure thing...$145Kso like i said, it depends on your perspective (are u a gambler or not?)

Answer 6

If something remains unknown, than there is no way to be positive that it is safe. People fear what they don't know.

Answer 7

You answered it. It's safe, works good and the new one may not really be that good. Kind of like relationships.

Answer 8

We fear what we do not understand... maybe because it's just too risky.