OPINION: Josh Packard Ph.D.
I see a lot of concerning trends as a social science researcher. But this chart might be the most alarming one yet, especially when you consider the empirical reality of public safety.
According to recent data from the Institute for Family Studies, 74% of 16-year-olds are not allowed to leave their neighborhood without an adult accompanying them. Nearly three-quarters of young people who are only two years away from legal adulthood require parental supervision just to navigate their own towns.
Here is the great irony. We are restricting their movement more than ever, yet the physical world is statistically safer than when most of their parents were growing up. Data from Pew Research shows that the violent crime rate in the United States fell by nearly half between 1993 and 2022. The world outside our front doors is empirically safer, but our parenting culture treats it like a profound threat.
We talk constantly about the anxiety crisis and the loss of trust among young people. It is hard not to see a direct connection here. When we restrict physical independence to this extreme degree, we also restrict opportunities for organic relationship building and resilience.
Young people need spaces to practice encountering the world on their own terms. If they cannot even walk to a local park or a coffee shop without a chaperone, we are fundamentally altering how they build trust with their broader communities. They are missing out on the everyday interactions that foster a sense of belonging and agency.
How do we expect a generation to develop confident leadership and relational trust in a world they are barely allowed to explore?
About the Author: Josh Packard is a sociologist with over 20 years of experiencing helping organizations understand emerging generations. I build amazing teams and develop and execute ambitious plans while generating revenue and staying on mission.
