What kids told us about how to get them off their phones
theatlantic.com
What kids told us about how to get them off their phones
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Re: What kids told us about how to get them off their phones
#2Re: What kids told us about how to get them off their phones
#3> Since the 1980s, parents have grown more and more afraid that unsupervised time will expose their kids to physical or emotional harm. In another recent Harris Poll, we asked parents what they thought would happen if two 10-year-olds played in a local park without adults around. Sixty percent thought the children would likely get injured. Half thought they would likely get abducted.
> These intuitions don’t even begin to resemble reality. According to Warwick Cairns, the author of How to Live Dangerously, kidnapping in the United States is so rare that a child would have to be outside unsupervised for, on average, 750,000 years before being snatched by a stranger.
I wonder how we ended up in a situation where people think Stranger Danger is this bad. Is it just from TV and the internet inflating the danger to drive views/clicks?
In many areas crime has been trending down but people seem to think things are more dangerous than ever, in general. It baffles me.
Re: What kids told us about how to get them off their phones
#4> Fewer than half of the 8- and 9-year-olds have gone down a grocery-store aisle alone;
Really? Is this just an American thing?
Re: What kids told us about how to get them off their phones
#5> Since the 1980s, parents have grown more and more afraid that unsupervised time will expose their kids to physical or emotional harm. In another recent Harris Poll, we asked parents what they thought would happen if two 10-year-olds played in a local park without adults around. Sixty percent thought the children would likely get injured. Half thought they would likely get abducted. > These intuitions don’t even beg…
I don't get it either, especially because I don't know any parents who act like this. All the kids in my neighborhood just roam around, including mine.
I wonder if this is another coastal/inland, liberal/conservative rift where the conservatives are for some reason afraid of everything.
Re: What kids told us about how to get them off their phones
#6> Since the 1980s, parents have grown more and more afraid that unsupervised time will expose their kids to physical or emotional harm. In another recent Harris Poll, we asked parents what they thought would happen if two 10-year-olds played in a local park without adults around. Sixty percent thought the children would likely get injured. Half thought they would likely get abducted. > These intuitions don’t even beg…
> In many areas crime has been trending down but people seem to think things are more dangerous than ever, in general.
I’m not saying you’re wrong, or that I disagree that Stranger Danger is overblown.
But is it possible that part of the reason crime is down is because of Stranger Danger?
I’m not suggesting it is, just that I can’t say with certainty that it isn’t.
Re: What kids told us about how to get them off their phones
#7> That’s why we’re so glad that groups around the country are experimenting with ways to rebuild American childhood ...
There's nothing specifically 'American' about this.
Re: What kids told us about how to get them off their phones
#8> Since the 1980s, parents have grown more and more afraid that unsupervised time will expose their kids to physical or emotional harm. In another recent Harris Poll, we asked parents what they thought would happen if two 10-year-olds played in a local park without adults around. Sixty percent thought the children would likely get injured. Half thought they would likely get abducted. > These intuitions don’t even beg…
I'm a child of the 80s and was a pretty independent kid from an early age growing up in NYC. I spent a lot of time in the city's libraries, arcades, etc. I went to and from school (and generally started navigating Manhattan) on my own starting in first grade.
From the time I was 6 until I turned about 14, pedophiles were all over me like flies on shit. They would follow me home from the library. They would come up behind me at Playland Arcade (in Times Square) and grope me or masturbate. I would just freeze and let this happen -- I had to be taught by someone to physically fight them off.
I think we both overestimate and underestimate the risk. Not intending to victim blame, but predators of a certain type tend to all find the same people to victimize. If you're the type of person that gets targeted, then this is a serious problem to worry about.
Re: What kids told us about how to get them off their phones
#9The whole stranger danger thing in my view as an adult feels like a downward spiral. It's not like this in many countries.
In the UK it's kind of like - kids don't wander about alone because they might run into baddies, and now adults are afraid to interact with kids because they might be seen as a baddy, and this kind of loops around until no-one is interacting.
Basically, it's like any adult man is seen as a potential child predator, when in reality it's some tiny tiny fraction and in an ideal world we would be able to assume that they get sectioned / locked up quickly so we don't have to worry about it.
Meanwhile I can travel around many parts of Asia, for example, and parents and children alike have no issue interacting with strangers.
Re: What kids told us about how to get them off their phones
#10> Since the 1980s, parents have grown more and more afraid that unsupervised time will expose their kids to physical or emotional harm. In another recent Harris Poll, we asked parents what they thought would happen if two 10-year-olds played in a local park without adults around. Sixty percent thought the children would likely get injured. Half thought they would likely get abducted. > These intuitions don’t even beg…
> In many areas crime has been trending down but people seem to think things are more dangerous than ever, in general. I’m not saying you’re wrong, or that I disagree that Stranger Danger is overblown. But is it possible that part of the reason crime is down is because of Stranger Danger? I’m not suggesting it is, just that I can’t say with certainty that it isn’t.
> But is it possible that part of the reason crime is down is because of Stranger Danger?
Yes. This is a really soft question. Sure, part of the reason that crime is down could possibly be due to stranger danger.
On the flip side, over-parenting has negative consequences on kids who have no freedom. I believe the same poll had said that most kids had never walked down a grocery store aisle by themselves and weren't allowed to play outside in front of their house w/o a parent.