@Owl @jjetty
>They really are just getting too much screentime
well what else are kids these days supposed to do? society has dismantled, paywalled, and gatekept nearly everything else, and literally everything else during the chinese cringe aids.
a 13 year old can barely walk to the park or a friend's house without some karen calling the cops over OMG UNSUPERVISED CHILD. want to get some fresh air and go for a nice hike in the state park? that's great, i hope you bought your park entry permit online.
public places either don't exist, are ruined by infinity scholars and joggers, or patrolled by infinity piggu and private security to turn away unaccompanied minors and anyone just hanging out rather than paying money to consoom product and then leaving. malls are dead and gone, the new shopping center is 3 exits down the interstate, and most teens don't even bother getting a driver's license cause they know damn well they can't afford a car or infinity dollars a month in insurance. the parents are broke too and can't help.
inflation is out of control and there's fewer and fewer ways for kids to make money. good luck mowing lawns, raking leaves, or shoveling snow, that's all the job of the illegals hired by landscaping contractors. deliver the newspaper to the one 97 year old man who still reads it? fat chance. set up a lemonade stand? don't worry the health inspector will be along shortly with a gaggle of pigs to shut them down and write tickets for not having a food distribution permit or a business loicense.
an endless horde of lawyers and bureaucrats have closed just about everything else off to kids and teens, anywhere they might want to go to do stuff has a policy of no unaccompanied minors because liability.

it's bad times to be a teen or a kid.