Choking deaths on food in the US

As self-storage facilities have multiplied across America, choking deaths on food have risen, a correlation of 0.990 that connects the nation's inability to let go of its possessions to its inability to chew its food properly. The storage unit fills, the airway obstructs, and the chart draws a line between two forms of American excess with the quiet judgment of a coefficient that has seen too much. Both problems involve having more than you can handle.

Self-storage facilities grew from about 44,000 to over 60,000 between 2005 and 2021, driven by the American accumulation of stuff, downsizing baby boomers, and the storage industry's aggressive expansion into every suburban corridor. Choking deaths rose with the aging population. Both metrics are smooth upward curves driven by different aspects of the same aging demographic: boomers accumulate possessions that need storing and age into the demographic most at risk for choking. The shared variable is, once again, the aging baby boomer generation.

Seventeen years of self-storage and choking deaths is a correlation that accidentally captures the baby boomer life cycle: accumulate more than you can keep, store it, and age into vulnerability. The unit is rented, the food is eaten, and both activities carry risks that increase with time. The storage industry thrives on what we cannot release. The choking statistics measure something similar. Both are full.