Will our kids ever go outside again?

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Will there be a time in the future when today's and tomorrow's kids go outside again instead of spending as much time on technology. Or do I have to continue living in Generation Y hell for the rest of my life?

I don't think we should slow down advancements, but is it too late now to consider and alleviate these effects?

I let my son go outside, even alone, but he has to stay in the backyard. Too many parents today are so worried about predators and pedophiles so they keep them inside now. I even rarely see kids play away from their house. I miss those days when they did and I always smile when I see it today which is so rare.

In my hometown, it isn't unusual to see kids as young as first or second grade who are permitted to run around.

During the 4th of July celebration four years ago, my nephew's daughter came to my office by herself from the park to watch cartoons. She was maybe 5 years old at the time. Her mother came by about two hours later to see if she was here.

When my sister came up for a couple of weeks four or five years ago, she brought her oldest grandson who was about 12. The grandson wasn't permitted to leave his yard without an adult present.

My sister and I were sitting in the office talking and her grandson said that he wanted to go to Dairy Queen to get an ice cream cone (or whatever that is they serve). My sister said to go ahead. He didn't think he heard her correctly and asked again. She told him to go ahead -- it's just down the street about three blocks.

So he went. When he came back he was ecstatic and had to tell everyone about his getting to go to Dairy Queen by himself to get an ice cream cone.

Then he wanted to go to the park and my sister merely said to go on. This time he didn't have to ask twice -- he went.

With all the freedom he had here that he doesn't have at home, he thought this was the best town in the world and could hardly wait to come back again.

As a 15 year old, I actually spent a lot of time outside, even in London where I come from, due to my phenomenal interest in herpetology and science/nature in general. As I got older, I became more and more bullied so crawled away to fantasy worlds of video games and the internet. Although I learnt many great skills such as web programming and databases etc. using computers, I am now appreciating going outside and experimenting a lot more. I am learning so much by asking questions and studying physics from books. I was inspired by Feynman and it reminded me of what I used to be like (very odd but people thought I was very smart and I was actually happy) so I started it again. Now, I try to avoid computers other than for programming or necessary research because they stop you learning to solve problems and work things out. I am now much happier and am learning a lot more, which is what I love.