Hostels are actually really safe. They are staffed 24 hours and most have security cameras installed.

A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen.
Private rooms may also be available, but the property must offer dormitories to be considered a hostel.

• A hostel is a place where usually students live and which is supervised by an administration and living in those hostels is called the hostel life.
• Hostels are aimed at providing budget-oriented, sociable accommodation for students.

Hostel life teaches you a lot of other things like teamwork, helping your roommates, a sense of unity and adjustment etc.
In a hostel, a student tends to acquire many good qualities from roommates and other hostelers and at the same time they are also vulnerable to the bad influence of the others.