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I don’t really understand how this is a new thing. The claim is that children today are being “left behind by suburbia” as if that wasn’t true of older generati

by tempsy 3y ago

I don’t really understand how this is a new thing. The claim is that children today are being “left behind by suburbia” as if that wasn’t true of older generations of children and we as a society once all lived in an urban utopia and now it somehow isn’t the case.

ben-schaaf 3y ago
Car-dependent suburbia was fundamentally impossible 100 years ago because most people didn't have a car. Kids could socialise with their friends outside because everything had to be accessible via waking, cycling or public transit. It was also socially and legally acceptable to have young kids out on their own. When I grew up in suburbia my friends from school were a half hour drive away. When we met up we usually went outside and socialised. But that always meant organising with parents to drive us around. Looking back I think "left behind" isn't quite strong enough.
- anon291 3y ago
  Exactly this. I live in the now-inner-city (a residential area mile or so from downtown office buildings and a few blocks away from small office buildings). Back in the day our walkable neighborhood was built, it was considered the outer suburbs. It's still extremely dense. Way denser than the 60s/70s suburb I grew up in, and way denser than anything today. Density isn't just about how close the houses are but how close the nearest cafe and store is too.
- shiroiuma 3y ago
  >It was also socially and legally acceptable to have young kids out on their own. Here in Japan, it's still socially and legally acceptable for young kids to be on their own outside. I see it all the time. Kids under the age of 10 regularly take subways by themselves, ride on bikes outside, etc.
  - Gigachad 3y ago
    The US seems extremely devoid of individual freedoms compared to most other countries.
    - shiroiuma 3y ago
      It wasn't always like that: it was pretty normal back in the 80s for kids to run around by themselves. However, at some point, the whole society became paranoid, perhaps because of 9/11, perhaps before, I'm not sure. However, you're right in other ways. For instance, walking around with an open can of beer, or drinking a beer in the park, can get you arrested in the US. In Japan, it's perfectly legal, and people do it all the time (drinking beer with a picnic in the park; they don't walk and drink though, but there's no law against it). There's many other ways that individual freedoms are infringed in the US and aren't here, like how you can use your property. If you want to open a small cafe in your house, for instance, you can do it here.
      - novok 3y ago
        It started with news television causing cognitive distortions about the rate of kidnap and murder of children, which plays into parental instincts real bad. It was essentially the first mass media engagement bait, like we talk about with social media today. Then you get stranger danger and the entire cycle starts.
        Micoloth 3y ago
        Genuine question (I'm not American): How much do you think this was intended? On one hand, I really don't want this to sound like a conspiracy theory. On the other hand, it is well know that in the Us, the Media is tightly controlled by private interests, with a clear agenda, on both sides. Nothing controversial about this. So I don't think many wide trends like this just "happen" without the people at the top noticing... Furthermore, there are obvious, very strong incentives for the people with power to tighten the control of the population as much as they can, for all sorts of vested interests as well as because that's literally what it means to "govern". This has been true as long as mass media as existed, and way before that throughout history. So my honest question is. How likely is it that the distortion about "kidnap and murder of children" danger (which for an outsider, is an objective absurdity), was a planned and deliberate campaign?
ssnistfajen 3y ago
Suburbia + office-only downtowns are largely a post-WWII North American phenomenon. It's very much a recent trend in terms of history.
- bluGill 3y ago
  Streetcar suburbs came before that. The lot sizes were just as big too. Though the streetcar meant less cars.
paradox460 3y ago
It's written by a highschool student, so it's subject to the usual teenage "everything I'm experiencing for the first time is universally new," coupled with basically just being a regurgitation of the anti-suburban angst spewed by various YouTube channels and subreddits
- PM_me_your_math 3y ago
  The article is a joke, and so is the author. Everyone says we should listen to the youth because they are young. Meanwhile, the young are inexperienced, irrational, and mercurial with a very limited perspective helmed by an under-developed brain and an even less developed sense of self and purpose. Teenagers eat tide pods and routinely kill themselves or their friends (or others) driving drunk. The question is, why do we need advice from high school students? Easy. We don't.
hasbot 3y ago
I've been househunting in various locales, and judging from when the neighborhood homes were built, it appears to have started in the early 50's. No public spaces and often no sidewalks.

by tempsy 3y ago

ben-schaaf 3y ago

Car-dependent suburbia was fundamentally impossible 100 years ago because most people didn't have a car. Kids could socialise with their friends outside because everything had to be accessible via waking, cycling or public transit. It was also socially and legally acceptable to have young kids out on their own. When I grew up in suburbia my friends from school were a half hour drive away. When we met up we usually went outside and socialised. But that always meant organising with parents to drive us around. Looking back I think "left behind" isn't quite strong enough.

anon291 3y ago
Exactly this. I live in the now-inner-city (a residential area mile or so from downtown office buildings and a few blocks away from small office buildings). Back in the day our walkable neighborhood was built, it was considered the outer suburbs. It's still extremely dense. Way denser than the 60s/70s suburb I grew up in, and way denser than anything today. Density isn't just about how close the houses are but how close the nearest cafe and store is too.
shiroiuma 3y ago
>It was also socially and legally acceptable to have young kids out on their own. Here in Japan, it's still socially and legally acceptable for young kids to be on their own outside. I see it all the time. Kids under the age of 10 regularly take subways by themselves, ride on bikes outside, etc.
- Gigachad 3y ago
  The US seems extremely devoid of individual freedoms compared to most other countries.
  - shiroiuma 3y ago
    It wasn't always like that: it was pretty normal back in the 80s for kids to run around by themselves. However, at some point, the whole society became paranoid, perhaps because of 9/11, perhaps before, I'm not sure. However, you're right in other ways. For instance, walking around with an open can of beer, or drinking a beer in the park, can get you arrested in the US. In Japan, it's perfectly legal, and people do it all the time (drinking beer with a picnic in the park; they don't walk and drink though, but there's no law against it). There's many other ways that individual freedoms are infringed in the US and aren't here, like how you can use your property. If you want to open a small cafe in your house, for instance, you can do it here.
    - novok 3y ago
      It started with news television causing cognitive distortions about the rate of kidnap and murder of children, which plays into parental instincts real bad. It was essentially the first mass media engagement bait, like we talk about with social media today. Then you get stranger danger and the entire cycle starts.
      - Micoloth 3y ago
        Genuine question (I'm not American): How much do you think this was intended? On one hand, I really don't want this to sound like a conspiracy theory. On the other hand, it is well know that in the Us, the Media is tightly controlled by private interests, with a clear agenda, on both sides. Nothing controversial about this. So I don't think many wide trends like this just "happen" without the people at the top noticing... Furthermore, there are obvious, very strong incentives for the people with power to tighten the control of the population as much as they can, for all sorts of vested interests as well as because that's literally what it means to "govern". This has been true as long as mass media as existed, and way before that throughout history. So my honest question is. How likely is it that the distortion about "kidnap and murder of children" danger (which for an outsider, is an objective absurdity), was a planned and deliberate campaign?

ssnistfajen 3y ago

Suburbia + office-only downtowns are largely a post-WWII North American phenomenon. It's very much a recent trend in terms of history.

bluGill 3y ago
Streetcar suburbs came before that. The lot sizes were just as big too. Though the streetcar meant less cars.

paradox460 3y ago

It's written by a highschool student, so it's subject to the usual teenage "everything I'm experiencing for the first time is universally new," coupled with basically just being a regurgitation of the anti-suburban angst spewed by various YouTube channels and subreddits

PM_me_your_math 3y ago
The article is a joke, and so is the author. Everyone says we should listen to the youth because they are young. Meanwhile, the young are inexperienced, irrational, and mercurial with a very limited perspective helmed by an under-developed brain and an even less developed sense of self and purpose. Teenagers eat tide pods and routinely kill themselves or their friends (or others) driving drunk. The question is, why do we need advice from high school students? Easy. We don't.

hasbot 3y ago

I've been househunting in various locales, and judging from when the neighborhood homes were built, it appears to have started in the early 50's. No public spaces and often no sidewalks.