As a Gen-Z (one year short of millenial), I can confirm this.

My mom: Everyone nowadays kids have no freedom, it's so unfair. Also my mom: You can't go to the park with your teenage friends, even though it is less than 5 minutes away. It just isn't safe.

You know, as a corollary to the article about Japan a few days ago, I'd like to submit that seeing kids outside on their own here in Japan in EXTREMELY normal. You see kids, under ten, on their own on the trains, on the buses, and even on the streets until relatively late at night (after 9PM). You see them in big groups out and about, and, despite the prevalence of video games, playing outside is much more common in Japan amongst kids than it is in the US, Europe, and Latin America. I'm amazed at their athleticism, and their devotion to sports. You know, this is the big thing that's great about Japan, that the author of that article never even touched upon. But, I guess those weeaboos are much too obsessed with their panty vending machines.

So in our state kids left unattended are considered neglected until they are 11 years old - sometimes this is used against families if a child plays outside alone (alone = no adult in attendance). It means this is an unholy dependence where a 7 year old can't play without an adult and the adult has to spend all their time outside with the kid. Doesn't matter if the adult is nearby or there are regular check ins. So, children playing outside is actively discouraged as, I presume, an unintended consequence of the legislation.

In some places, parents have had the police and social services on them for allowing a kid to walk to scool unaccompanied, even when the school was on the next block and visible from the home. That's (socialisto-style) government over reach, and has made many people wary of allowing kids the freedoms they used to have.

I lived in the middle of NOWHERE for the majority of my childhood. There was one girl (who lived two houses down) that I was able to hang out with for a few years, but we were forbidden from leaving my backyard by my mom. I wasn’t even allowed to be alone in the front yard (much less go near the country road near our house) for fear of something bad happening. There was nowhere to go, no one to play with, and people are always posting things about how "back in their day" kids didn’t sit around inside all day. Yeah, gets annoying to hear after a while when you know there were no alternatives.

When my kids went to the mall they had to have an adult chaperone at all times until they were 18. That was the malls rule. The skating rink also until they were 16. No one goes to skating rink past 14 plus kids weren't allowed to sit unless they were eating they had to be skating nonstop. We live in a state park so no neighborhood kids. I've never said no to my kids having friends over so my house became the go to place to be for sleepovers and get togethers my kids are 18 and 20 and they still have people over all the time. There really isn't much for them to do wo spending a lot of money a weekend down the shore is 100s of dollars

I blame the corporate media for making parents overprotective. It's only gotten worse with the internet and social media, since no one bothers to fact check anymore, and too many people will believe anything that comes from a seemingly 'official' source.

As a single mom in San Francisco, was nervous at first letting my daughter walk home, with friends, then bus around, then train, BART, now planes. Yet she has turned into a strong young, independent women. And, martial arts helps, and street smarts.

The basics of sitting in a public place. In your teens, get told "you can't, it could be dangerous" or "You're just going to ruin the space" Early 20's get told "leave, people like you are always ruining spaces like this" Late 20's get told "Why are you here, are you mentally unwell? You might be a pedo so I'm calling the police to move you"

I grew up in NYC. In the third grade I was talking the bus alone to school and so were almost all my classmates. We played outside unsupervised until the sun went down. There was no such thing as play dates; we were in and out of each other’s houses (and whoever’s house we happened to be in, that mom’s word was law). We climbed to the top of the monkey bars without some anxious parent hovering below. We ran home crying to mom with scraped knees and elbows, banged shins, etc., and mom would bandage us up and send us back out to play. Scraped knees, sprains, bloody noses, etc. were a normal part of rough play. Nowadays if a child skins a knee, his mother wants to sue the playground. We are raising a generation of wimps.

Living in Finland I am glad to see that kids can still play outside here. But previously I had some neighbours who didn't let their kids play outside. Instead they send the boys to play in the stairwell of an apartement building while other neighbours kids were outside. I think it was bigger risk that they would fall down the stairs than go out and play with the other kids on the yard but the family came from a different culture and I understand that they couldn't believe how safe this country is.

I have observed that some adults are highly suspicious or even hostile towards children and teens, and complain about them spending their lunch period at the coffee shop or doing other perfectly normal things in a perfectly normal way. It's definitely some adults that are the problem there.

I live in a very small town in Australia (population 1,700). Kids here are free to walk around, and do all the time. I was amazed moving here from the city that they all speak as they go past. There's very little trouble around town and they're safe doing what they want. If they ever felt threatened they could go into any of the houses and would be protected. There are some of the usual problems like drugs but the druggies don't bother anyone. If there is a crime in town everyone seems to know who did it. There's been 5 murders in the 180 odd years the town has been here. People all look out for each other and most of the kids know everyone's name. Just a shame everyone can't live like this.

Yes, as a child, we older adults had a great deal more freedom than young kids today seem to have. It is kind of a vicious circle. Since everyone was allowed out, there was safety in numbers and more to do. There were so many kids, even the nerdiest of us would eventually find compatible friends. With fewer kids around, and many fewer mothers at home, kids who go outside now may have no one to do anything with. But as a teen, in a rural area, we did not have many activities. We had only one movie theater, playing one movie. No community centers, no malls, no neighborhood pools, no sports for girls, not even a McDonalds!. We relied on the few "cool" parents with big houses who would let us all hang out there. We often just drove around looking for fields, abandoned barns and back roads to have ad hoc parties at. One thing we did have though, were dances, at the school or a church, and we ALWAYS had live bands. Born to be Wild; every band played it.

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I’m a Gen Z and if I’m being honest, all of this is 100% true. I can’t describe the amount of anxiety it brings me trying to just be a normal teenager and talk to friends or have relationships when my parents are so strict. And I become so touch starved from not being able to meet people in person (I’m a very touch based person) that I practically explode as soon as I’m able to be close to someone. This post reminded of just how heavy the forced disconnect can be and how much I long to see my friends in person more. I only see my friends and others my age at school and extra curriculars which makes it really hard to actually get to socialize as much as I’d like. Therefore I turn to my phone because I’m desperate for some kind of human interaction.

My mom: go outside. Also my mom: it's either the front porch, the back porch or bust.

Ooookay. Start at the root of the issue. 1979. A 6 year old walked by himself to the corner to go to summer camp (or school, I forget which) and was kidnapped and killed. It was a big deal. It took 30 years to come full circle with that. Video games, television and school work kept me (an old millennial) inside but I spent A LOT more time outside...backyard, neighborhood... all side roads. Now, that's just one tiny side to it. But not all of it is like what I went through. And as a teenager, I couldn't actually get to a mall (not much car access or any money).... and as a child I biked to the library every day that I could.....

You can't do that. I did it, but I got "lucky". - I hate this saying, I feel like all parents say it

They are addicted to each other in the technical sense. I don't agree with this completely because human interaction is less because of technology. Plus the covid virus as well. But regardless of the covid virus. We are all addicted to technology and social media. If we were addicted to each other it would mean actually being around or in the actual presents of other people. Which we are not as much as we used to be. I think it's bad really. Because technology has given us an excuse to avoid human interaction. I find myself ignoring phone calls and texting back. I actually find myself anxious at times to pick up the phone and talk. Technology has had a bad effect on us. Whether we care to admit it or not. Its intention might have been good. But there's a bad side no one wants to acknowledge. Which is sad really.

I feel like kids and teens are two different things. Its kids 12 and under that you don't see playing outside anymore. As a former teen lol, I don't recall seeing any teens playing outside.

Paraphrased: "because there aren't any public places that don't charge for it" Imagine that! You go to a place en-masse and proceed to trash it, sometimes quite literally, and expect to not be charged because the mess you made automatically cleans itself up and your experience should therefore be free of charge.

I think social media and console games have something to do with this. Kids meet their friends online to shoot each other and they know what is going on through whatever is the most popular social media site. Back in the 80's there were probably just as many pedos and other hazards- we just weren't aware of them.