This is a legitimate and damaging cultural shift for all involved parties and it needs to be addressed.
not letting children have age-appropriate amounts of privacy and autonomy stunts development and damages mental health in measurable and consequential ways. it also creates a child-rearing culture where parents are not expected or equipped or supported to prepare children for autonomy of any kind, which is a major contributor to problems young people AND their parents are currently facing and how hard their lives have become. there are ways for children to have both adequate freedom and adequate safety and if i had a ten year old with a GPS locator and always-on listening device strapped to him 24/7 i would throw him out the front door with his bicycle, a battery pack and a machete every morning starting the first day of summer vacation. and then i would be arrested, but everyone at family court would get sick of my bullshit immediately
people underestimate the amount of community oversight children had Back In the Day, too
my mother went to a middle school (mid-1960s) that required a train trip from her town. after school, she'd get off the train and go to the soda fountain near the station for a snack, then walk home
she always thought she did this alone, no supervision. it wasn't until adulthood that she learned the truth: the owner of the soda fountain knew her mother, and would call after she left to say that she was on her way home. Grandma trusted that other adults would look out for her child, while returning the favor if their children were ever in her orbit
it wasn't a constant hovering, but adults were keeping an eye on her in ways she didn't see. she got to experience that autonomy while still being watched over to an extent
