Comment on Only 25 per cent of children walk to school alone compared to 86 per cent in 1971. What went wrong?
ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 2 days ago
Stupid fucking parents is what happened. For some reason the generation that was allowed to roam free decided to not let their own kids do it and then it got even worse the Gen after that one.
yakko@feddit.uk 2 days ago
How does “stupid parents” track when meta-analyses have shown that the Flynn effect is still being observed? Each generation has continued to be (very slightly) smarter (though IQ is inherently a flawed concept and I’m still not convinced)? I was allowed to roam free for most of my childhood, it’s true. But looking at my situation, you would not have said I was well-minded. I was raised by a distracted self-employed single artist living on the largesse of substantial child support, and I was basically feral.
Gen X tend to think of themselves as the disaffected latchkey generation, but that was my upbringing too. Walked myself to school and back, sure - but also lied about having done my homework, and spent 97% of my time doing whatever I liked without supervision or even saying where I’d be. Got into scrapes, talked to strangers, managed my own affairs. Called home when I needed something or (rarely) felt like it. The fact that I’m here now is a story about (emotional) survival, not (physical) thriving.
Others also mention cars. Cars are substantially more dangerous to children than they were thirty or fifty years ago (poorer sight-lines, increased driver height and car size all playing a part), and drivers are vastly more distracted because of phones. That’s an extremely valid concern for a parent, even if your kid doesn’t have issues with attention and self-control that put them at risk. I’ve taken pains to raise a kid who sees cars as a threat to monitor and cross roads safely, and still the second I stop hammering away at those points he’ll cross the street while staring at the ground and looking in neither direction. It’s maddening, this ADHD shit. And that’s more prevalent than ever as well!
Point being, every aging cohort tends to think everything’s Worse Now, everyone younger than them is Stupid and Doing It Wrong, and Things Were Better, and I Survived So It Must Be Safe! Never trust those instincts, they are always wrong until proven true.
ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 2 days ago
You sound like a helicopter parent and your data is old. The Flynn effect has now shown to have leveled off or even reversed. Not that being intelligent somehow means you’d be a good parent or spouse. Just look at Einstein and Tesla. They didn’t do relationships well.
yakko@feddit.uk 2 days ago
Look, you’re the one who said the problem is “stupid fucking parents”. And if the Flynn effect has reversed (not a settled finding last I checked), that means the current generation of parents are the smartest ones we’re going to get, so which is it?