While the most prevalent narrative in threads like this sounds something like, "back in my day, we weren't so scared!", there's a few assumptions being made. The primary one: people are overestimating the risks associated with autonomy we had "back in the day" as kids.

It's also just as possible that we are adopting a lower tolerance for that risk, or that the risk is better clarified than it once was.

When I was growing up, I was allowed to roam the neighborhood. I lived on a military base in my youngest years, but later I lived in a suburb of a small town.

Nothing seriously bad ever happened to me, but that's anecdotal.

I wonder what is more likely: my parents were more risk tolerant, risk ignorant, or the world has become more dangerous. Both are possible, but I think the former two are broadly more likely than the latter.