Kids these days can't even play outside by themselves, let alone explore alone or be unsupervised miles from home with no adults like we could when I was a kid in the 90s and 2000s. What else can they do other than use social media? The creeping infantilization of the youth has robbed them of any chance for socializing or fun that exists outside of a screen.
I'd say it's more likely thanks to more cars and better news coverage, now you hear about every kid being attacked/abused, while in past this was not so widely available knowledge playing into parents fear
I agree with better news coverage (I'd argue it's more news coverage, in which social media plays a huge role), but I'm not sure I understand your point about more cars?
Helicopter parents and keeping kids "safe" by isolating them started before social media and smartphones. Back then, heavy metal, rap music, video games, Dungeons and Dragons were all ruining kids lives and driving them crazy, not social media.
Doesn’t sound right. I play D&D with my kids and play heavy metal which they hate. I’m scared of trafficking and abductions. That’s what social media trained me on putting it in my face all the time. The TV news did similar. Fear sells and we’ve created a fearful society for profit.
