I think you’re on to something. In the 70s and early 80s kids still ran around our neighborhood playing outside until late on summer nights. I think that really started to change with the coming of cable TV and video games. It doesn’t help that the woods and fields we used for play decades ago are now endless rows of homes either.
I grew up in a very rural area. Tons of orange groves and undeveloped land. Every tract of that land is residential now. Coupled with the Internet and cable TV, there’s really little need for kids to go outside, and the parents can remain watchful sentinels.
I saw first hand this weekend how our generation was affected. While I was outside covered to my elbows with grease, soaked in sweat, my brother, three years my junior, was all too quick to dismiss himself inside when the clouds broke. Couldn’t stand the heat.
Heck, my parents kicked me out of the house during the day on the weekends, and basically told us to come back for lunch and dinner, and they didn’t want to see us until then.
And besides, who wanted to stick around the house and get stuck doing chores, anyway?