There is a common consensus today that kids do not spend enough time playing unsupervised with their friends and spent way too much time on technological devices. This may be the case or it may be hyperbole. But one thing that people always neglect to mention when they talk about the anxious surveillance of children and adolescents is that for a certain subset of youth there is still absolutely no surveillance or monitoring of any kind- poor children.
I don’t agree that this is a good example of luxury beliefs. In poor families, parents may be required to work all hours and the kids may be “latchkey kids“ who spend many hours of the day by themselves or with peers. For poorer single parent families, that situation may be quite common. So I suspect in those families, giving kids independence is less a conscious choice than a method of coping with poverty.
Really interesting. I enjoyed reading that. Thank you.
Great example of expanding on Rob’s framework. Is this a one off piece or are looking into doing more research?
I don’t agree that this is a good example of luxury beliefs. In poor families, parents may be required to work all hours and the kids may be “latchkey kids“ who spend many hours of the day by themselves or with peers. For poorer single parent families, that situation may be quite common. So I suspect in those families, giving kids independence is less a conscious choice than a method of coping with poverty.