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Where Do the Children Play?
(unpublishablepapers.substack.com)
Declining childhood independence over the years (%):
Driven less by internet brainrot, and more by media "stranger danger" as well as loss of wild spaces near homes for kids to roam and explore unaccompanied by an adult
The whole article is worth a read
I grew up in a small rural town in the 70s. Both my parents worked a six day week so after school and on Saturdays I was free. Me and friends would roam all over, farms, woods, beaches. Sometimes we’d hitchhike to other towns.
These days my kids are growing up in a city. I know there’s no comparison to the freedom I experienced versus what my kids do, but I also doubt I’d have been allowed as much freedom if I’d grown up in a city.