A casual place for banter and anything that doesn't fit in anywhere else.
Have chat and a natter. Talk about anything and everything that's not political!
Keep it casual.
Here:
Elsewhere:
Declining childhood independence over the years (%):
Driven less by internet brainrot, and more by media "stranger danger" as well as loss of wild spaces near homes for kids to roam and explore unaccompanied by an adult
The whole article is worth a read
I suspect the world is a lot safer now than it was then, but everyone's scared of everyone else, so 🤷♂️
I think that's the crux of it: breakdown of societal trust
I wonder if those are related. Trusting people are easy to exploit, but that would imply that things like kidnapping children are crimes of opportunity, and that is a horrible thought.
I also question the use of "alone"... Like if 5 kids of age 12 walk to the store is that "alone"?
It's up to the adult answering the question. I would say that alone is alone.
I grew up in a small rural town in the 70s. Both my parents worked a six day week so after school and on Saturdays I was free. Me and friends would roam all over, farms, woods, beaches. Sometimes we’d hitchhike to other towns.
These days my kids are growing up in a city. I know there’s no comparison to the freedom I experienced versus what my kids do, but I also doubt I’d have been allowed as much freedom if I’d grown up in a city.