The big issue is you can't let your kids go outside, unsupervised, and go make friends with other kids in the neighborhood until about 12, which by that point t

The big issue is you can't let your kids go outside, unsupervised, and go make friends with other kids in the neighborhood until about 12, which by that point they're basically teens and in a completely different stage of life. Before the 80s, you were able to do that. If you do, there is a chance that you get stressful CPS visits, criminal charges or your child taken away from you. And because nobody else is doing it, if you decide to be a rebel the kid will have nobody to play with anyway. Kids used to be way less of a time investment. There were more around, and they very easily latched on to playing with other neighborhood kids all day which acted like free daycare. You could send them out and tell them to be back before dark, feed them food, have family dinners, fix their boo boos and not much else. Now in today's limited age, kids can only play with their literal line of sight neighbors unsupervised and are mostly stuck inside, dependent on a parent to become a playmate because they eventually get bored of the video games. Or they get obsessed to an unhealthy degree. The independence you talk about is another kind, but still a dependent kind on the parents. I think a cell phone coordinated childhood with the permissiveness of the 70s is the ideal + all the info of the internet, but it's not something you can do in english countries. There is also a curse-of-knowledge aspect to today's age. The average teen does not seem to deal well with instagram and cell phones, especially girls. It's unique. I think society will eventually create an immune system to universal cellphones and social media, much like we did with TV, but until then we are dealing with it downside more than we should.