Do you realize how hostile the outside is to non-adults? Like genuinely I've seen people call the cops because there was a kid riding a bike unsuprivized in a suburban neighborhood. Malls are dying and there's nothing to replace them as a meeting spot.

This isn't even getting into the seeming requirement to spend what feels like 100$ to see a movie now or any of the other stereotypical hang outs. Or how many people have parents that simply do not have time to drive them places.

I'm genuinely interested in your response because I genuinely think the world has become actively hostile to kids being kids.

What about onlinebanks? Also a hard no?

Have you had any sucess with explaining the concept of clickbaiting and the whole predatory environment of the internet? I've tried, so many times, in different ways, with different examples and analogies. It just doesn't really stick, they are simply too inexperienced to fully understand the consequences and will fall prey to it the next day or two.

You still have local second-run theaters where those still exist, plus parks and playgrounds where those haven't been ruined yet, and depending on where you live, there may even be various art/craft places to hang out at, splatter-painting places included in that, and some of the nicer parts of the country even have interactive museums that are kid-friendly (as in actually interactive, like the patrons can actually interact and play with the exhibits there).

Aside from those, yeah, there isn't much for kids to do. sarcasm, but also not really if you're in a *really* low-income part of the country where there really *isn't* anything to do, think of places like Appalachia for a good example of that extreme

I still fall for it from time to time. I used to show them the headlines that caught me; they showed me the ones that caught them.

I think showing them how to use PiHole or some other content filtering would be useful. Empower them to shape their own world.

First bit: Why do we as a country (speaking from the U.S.) allow police to assualt the citizenry? Why aren't we all in our town halls demanding the removal of any cops who handcuff kids, tackle people who don't speak English, or fire guns at anyone who isn't at that moment attacking someone? The police should be under our control by our consent. We elect their bosses if not the sheriffs themselves. Why aren't we showing up in numbers in person to demand better?

Second bit: I know there are still some communities where kids can ride their bikes without fear because the parents still know everyone on the block. They might not like all the neighbors, but they know them and aren't calling the cops on them. The bad part of that is a distrust of outsiders and unwillingness to accept anything different. Humans fall into us/them thinking too easily. As far as I have heard/read/seen, the best way to mitigate that is first-hand exposure to the 'other' because people tend to be better than whatever sterotype someone worries about. Reminiscing here: I remember visiting my grandparents and having them walk me into various houses on the block to chat with neighbors. It never occurred to me as a bored child that this was socially incorporating me into an insular community that might have been sucpsious of a strange kid biking around the same streets over and over if they didn't know I belonged there.

That said, I don't understand how the kids like me who grew up running wild wherever we wanted became parents who didn't allow any roaming, and who's kids then became adults that will call the cops before asking the neighbors. Maybe we move too often. Maybe we fear litigation. Mostly, I suspect, we work too many hours for not enough money such that adults don't have the energy to form old-style communities where people banded together (both for good and bad), and instead everyone only bitches online just as I am doing right now.

So all you have to do is for everyone to move to a better neighbourhood, problem solved.

Sarcasm aside, in my neighbourhood there where some attempts to get together. Then people started complaining about eachother. Now at most a neighbour may wave back when i wave at them.

That's screwed, and most of the places I mentioned, are generally in cities/towns that are pretty well off, as I mentioned in that 'sarcasm, but not really' disclaimer, places like Appalachia are truly screwed in that regard, and also your situation.

Yet people would call me an insecure creepy troll if I said I have dozens of different nicknames on the same general spaces.

You're still ignoring the core problem in that children can't do any of those things by themselves anymore and all of them cost some amount of money with the exception of playgrounds and parks. Growing up the closest one to me was about a 30 minute drive so I would never be able to get myself there.

"Johnny goes into the locker before bed, Phone."

I feel like you don't understand the meaning of the word "ever."

I know kids who's parents kept them away from computers growing up, where as I was allowed to play with computers and broke several by the age of 10.

Now I'm good with computers and have made a good career out of it, those kids who weren't allowed around computers aren't very computer literate, their parents definitely did them a big disservice.

Teach your kids a healthy ballance with new technology, but don't withhold it especially when their peers are all using it.

My kid is 3 but this has been a big issue on my mind lately. I’ve read The Anxious Generation, The Screentime Solution, and The Art of Screentime over the past 9 months (with some other tech-adjacent books). My husband has also recently had a turn-around on tech for kids. I think our big thing is no personal devices for the little one for a long time. Family computer in a common area. Family cellphone that can be used when she’s not with us. Family tv in the living room. Family iPad that is used for specific tasks.

You'll need to use a smartphone for most jobs nowadays, even just random dude in a supermarket.

Why will a kid need to open an online bank account?

I think this is where my family is landing.

I used to sneak beers as a teen. Your kids will be sneaking Internet.

What would compel you to announce the multitude of screen names you've used over the years? Never practice necromancy. A dead name stays dead; it is never to be referred to by the living.

I dunno, maybe because some of them are still used in other places, or for other purposes =\

It's unfortunately not quite dead - the Internet is scraped and not anonymous, but pseudonymous, and a bearer of a pseudonym can usually be discovered. If someone really wants it, of course.

But that's a good thought, maybe it's time for a few new names.