ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Security theater

Security theater is like when you play pretend to keep someone safe, but it doesn't actually make them safer. It's like when you put on a superhero cape and pretend to fight bad guys, but you're not actually making the world a better place.

In real life, security theater is when people pretend to keep us safe by doing things that don't really work. For example, some airports have screeners who look at every passenger's shoes to make sure they don't have anything hidden inside. But this doesn't actually make us any safer because there are other ways to hide dangerous things. It just makes us feel like someone is watching out for us.

Another example of security theater is when people put up signs that say "Protected by Guard Dog" or have security cameras that aren't actually hooked up to anything. These things might make us feel safer, but they don't really do anything to protect us.

The problem with security theater is that it can give us a false sense of security. We might think that we're safe because someone is watching us or because we have a guard dog, when in reality, we're still at risk. It's important to remember that real security measures are based on research and evidence, not just on what makes us feel good.