I was a freerange when I was a kid. from about the age of 6 I was left in the garden/scrubland out the back, to be feral with about 4-12 other kids that lived on houses that backed onto the same scrubland.

My wife is and was horrified by this. She was shuttled to other kids houses, and never allowed to go off on their own until deep into her teens.

Objectively kids are much much safer now, however they are not allowed freedom outside. Most of this is because of safety (where are they, are they being abused, have they been run over, are they in a gang, etc etc)

So _you_ as a parent need to entertain them

Giving your kid "the internet" shuts them up, and means you can do other things. However that comes with a bunch of risks that most parents aren't aware of.

I don't have kids yet but I would certainly want them to be free-range. I guess now we have tech like Find My, it should give parents more peace of mind?

> We can bring that back. I agree with all of your points. I am not 100% sure how to do this (if anyone has guidance I would appreciate the insight). My personal anecdote is that my 8yo goes to school with other children who's parents have a low understanding of the impact social media is having on them and their children. I was shocked when my daughter came home and told me that her best friend had an iPhone and a Tiktok account. I spoke with her friend's Mom about it and she said that it's fine because she follows her and sees everything that she's doing on it. I respectfully disagreed but this is very real. I expect that over the next couple of years the majority of her friend's socializing will move into messaging apps. I am terrified.