[DoodahMan]

yep, we're old fogies now. at age 9 my best friend and i would ride our bikes about 5 miles to the beach. no cell phones. no arrests. no problems. we'd ride our gas-powered scooters to the gas station for slushies. we too played in the woods.

i don't understand what changed or why kids today can't do anything on their own. it does not seem good for their development, which in turn does not seem good for the future of our country.

[ranger_danger]

It could be that mass perception of crime levels is higher than it actually is (statistics say it has only gotten better over the years), possibly due to the number of negative media stories produced all day every day.

Keep in mind that the "majority of people" are not informed skeptics like you and me, they can barely use a computer and largely believe what biased mass media tells them to believe.

At least that's how I feel about it, you don't have to agree.

[t0bia_s]

I feel the same. Constatnt agenda of fear in news slowly changes our trust in society, even though statistically criminality lowering.

I was kid in 90’s which was quite crazy in our country. I went to school with mine parents just once - first day. I cannot imagine mine kids with same approach today.

[93po]

i'm in my mid 30s now, and I remember as soon as i was old enough to ride a bike well, i would ride it over a mile away from home all by myself, probably around age 7 or 8. i got lost one time and was really flustered, starting crying, knocked on a literal random door, and a very nice old lady let me use her phone to call my mom, who was slightly embarrassed, lol. this was in a large city in texas for context.

another random andecdote: my older brother, probably 11 or 12 at the time, got in a lot of trouble with my mom and they had a big fight. my mom just straight up kicked him out of the house with no shoes, and literally walked barefoot over several miles to his friend's house.

reflecting on that gives me a lot of introspection to the nature of the parenting i received.