Well my parents were ahead of the trend.With my father expecting every waking minute be spent in farm labor, from the time I was big enough to carry a bucket of water , to “keep you out of trouble” and my mother constantly checking on what I was doing because I might get hurt,there is little doubt it hurt or delayed my personal,professional and social development.Both feared “bad” outside influences so much that neither allowance money nor going out to movies or school games ever happened.The irony is that they had both had more independence while teenagers but ABSOLUTELY refused to allow such in their children,and criticized other parents.
Parents don’t do themselves or their children any good by being control freaks.
My own observation was that the kids who had the most problems with everything from video games to junk food were those with the control freak parents. The problem is that the parents really didn’t teach their kids the importance of actually controlling and managing various aspects of their lives. They just taught them to avoid it altogether. Well in the real world, when you have to make choices, life away from your parents isn’t so protective.