[user104658]

Originally Posted by bots

back when i was a kid, nobody worried about it not being safe, there just weren't the threats to safety that there are now. That's progress i guess

Can't say I know 100% for the US but I do know that for the UK this is actually purely perception; kids are not any less safe now than they have been at any time in history (actually slightly more safe, due to things like mobile phones and CCTV). We do HEAR more scary stories though, thanks to quick news and social media. It's basically an illusion but understandable that parents get worried.

We had another parent (online, of course) dishing out some very heavy judgement on a parenting forum for mentioning that our then-9-year-old was allowed to go to the park with her friends (literally less than 100m from our house). This persons 12 year old, she informed us, had never been further than their back garden alone.

But yes lack of freedom and responsibility has a quite catastrophic effect on adolescent psychology, unfortunately. It's a basic building block of normal development.