I think this is a fair take. I also think it can be attributed to more than one factor though.

by cornellthompson 9 hours ago

I agree. Video games and television get most the blame though, but kids turn to them because they can't get what they need for development anywhere else. A lot of rapid human progress happened in a short period of time, and it's easy to point at what is obvious today instead of recognizing the gradual changes that happened before most of us were even born.

by Anonymous 9 hours ago

Let's add safety to the list: now kids can't play unsupervised in MANY places or someone will call Child Protective Services on the parents

by Anonymous 8 hours ago

Absolutely!

by cornellthompson 8 hours ago

I don't think it's wrong at all, but as you mention with shopping malls, there's a number of factors. That's always the one I immediately point to. There's not much for teens to do, and things that are available are much more expensive than they once were. Busy streets certainly don't make it easier, but again, it's a little more complex than saying "its not this, it's that!"

by cornellthompson 8 hours ago

They also don't have any money.

by trudiehyatt 7 hours ago

I think your take is fair. It's also not the simple or the whole picture, even what I'm about to add is just part of it. Social media has polarized the world to think it's unsafe to let your children out of sight. Even though the world has never been safer, it's just the perception the media creates that is ruining that. Everything is cause and effect.

by Anonymous 7 hours ago

Not sure what you're on about. The world has been car-centric for decades and we all used to play outside.

by Lowellreilly 7 hours ago

Thats bars bro thats why I dont wanna play outside fs

by Live_Couple5468 7 hours ago

I don't think you're wrong, but I think there's more factors at play here....though most more or less contribute the same way. In general, I feel like we traded freedom for safety when it comes to kids. Things like stranger danger, DARE, etc scared the hell out of our parents and things got increasingly more controlled and structured around safety.

by cartersawayn 7 hours ago

Uh, no... even through the 80s and into the 90s, kids spent a lot of time outdoors. Cars have nothing to do with this... this is because of video games and now social media. Also, we never played Red Rover out in the street or any other game like that... we played those games in someone's backyard or side yard. We rode bikes in the streets and we watched for traffic the whole time.

by vernser 7 hours ago

For my home it's not the worry of being hit by a car.. it's the worry that the person driving the car (who doesn't live in the area) now passes through and scoops my kids up and drives off. Do you know how many kids are "missing" in America? (I use quotes because missing in many of these cases means already passed and haven't had their body found yet 😢.)

by Anonymous 7 hours ago

Yeah the bigger problem is this mindset of yours that people will kidnap kids if they're allowed to go outside by themselves. The world isn't more dangerous you just think it is.

by Common_Permit 6 hours ago

Most "missing" and kidnapped children are the result of domestic or custody disputes. So, maybe it's logical to be more scared of what dangers are IN the home rather than outside of them.

by axel15 6 hours ago

I think parents scare that they'll either have their kid snatched or will be charged for neglect if they let their kid play outside has a lot to do with this. The advent of video gaming and social media are what now fills the time because parents are conditioned to teach their children to be afraid of the outside world rather than apply risk assessment and logical thinking should certain situations present themselves.

by axel15 6 hours ago

Video camera was invented after the automobile so that would be some tough footage to acquire.

by alexzandergrime 6 hours ago

I played in the street when I was a kid in the 90s.

by Anonymous 6 hours ago

What about places that aren't car centric, whether it's in the US or not lmao. This is a weird hyperspecific to the US take that I still think is flat out wrong. I've lived in the same neighborhood (upper middle class, notorious for being safe due to military housing, very little traffic, lots of foot traffic) for 20 years, and kids coming out to play died once everyone had a smart phone. That's really what killed it, not just TV or video games. The tweens/teens that DO come out to play in the neighborhood just loiter together on their phones. I don't think it's a safety thing due to A) military housing B) actual marked neighborhood watch cars (there's alot of people here who volunteer), and c)my neighborhood is one of the few neighborhoods in my neck of the woods where oldschool door to door halloween is still popping, D) seeing kids from around the ages of 5-12 playing. Once they get their own smartphone though, the magic is lost. our neighborhood has third spaces, tons of parks, a big ass rec center, and has since I was a teenager. I do volunteer work with one of the afterschool programs, and everything I've gathered from speaking to teachers and people in the programs plus watching the kids... kids, especially early teenagers, are SIGNIFICANTLY more anti-social then generations prior, and I don't think car's really have an effect on that other then the knockdown effect of urbanization... but it doesn't necessarily apply to other countries that are even more densely urbanized then the US is.

by kaylie75 5 hours ago

Nope.

by Anonymous 5 hours ago

I know young people that have access to a whole outside world of activities with no cars for miles. They rather stay inside and play games. I know this is not the situation for many. But to have the opportunity and space to be outside and roam free and not take any advantage of that blows my mind.

by Anonymous 5 hours ago

Not cars specifically, but I do agree it's the perception of heightened danger that keeps kids inside.

by StreetPhase 4 hours ago

I think your point eludes to people doing things less outsidey as technological advancements continue, so you're not wrong. Solely attributing it to the increasing commercial market for automobiles may be slightly off, though. Correlation doesn't always equal causation.

by Anonymous 4 hours ago

i think its prominently the internet. Kids could only watch cartoons during daylight hours unless the cable package was upgraded. Ipad + on demand media for free and unlimited amounts of it from the time a baby can hold one is what they are being raised on.

by Then_Supermarket 4 hours ago

It's more because of phones and internet has made parents more scared that their kids will be abducted

by Anonymous 4 hours ago

If you live out in the burbs the kids are still playing in the streets. That's why we moved there. They build forts and ride bikes and play pickup games of soccer and football.

by Powerful-Pizza-6482 3 hours ago

I also blame the lack of sandlots. Every single empty lot in my town is fenced off and patrolled by security. It's not like we have an abundance of parks, sandlots used to be the way kids got to play between houses.

by Anonymous 3 hours ago

You're on to something

by Anonymous 3 hours ago

Cars have ruined society.

by Agitated_Fishing 3 hours ago