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My parents and most of my friends' parents limited our screen time when we were kids in the 90s. I wouldn't say we grew up with "free tech" in the sense that you seem to believe we did.

It might just be that as they get older and wiser and look around at their friends, that they start seeing negative consequences of activities done earlier in life and want to protect those they love. Definitely the case with me.

.. because they've experienced the downsides to themselves in retrospect, and can see the downsides from the outside?

(The zeroth phase in the cycle is prudish uninformed opposition that is comically wrong about what the downsides are and why)