I think part of it is also that many parents in our cohort were already raised as indoor and car-shuttled kids themselves. Some of us were still roaming around

I think part of it is also that many parents in our cohort were already raised as indoor and car-shuttled kids themselves. Some of us were still roaming around the bush in the '90's but it was already fewer of us than it was 10 and 20 and 30 years before then. What should we expect of those folk as they become parents themselves? They have no nostalgia to lean on, and if they developed self-confidence and contentment as adults, then they're probably more inclined to refine the way were raised rather than challenge it. So while media dramatization and fear culture surely played a role in the cycle too, and perhaps the initiating role, generational re-emphasis are probably what let it feel so pervasive and permanent.