A related problem is other parents. Even if you want to let your kid be free, you can't, because nosey neighbors will report you to the police.

It happened to us. We let our kids stay in the car, during COVID, while we quickly shopped.

After we got home, the cops showed up and told us someone reported us for neglecting our kids. My wife just kept asking "did we do anything illegal?" and finally they admitted that no, we didn't. They just said

"it just doesn't look good, with all the crime out there".

I said "what crime?". Then they had to admit that crime is way down over the last 30 years, and is especially low in our area.

They eventually left, but it has a chilling effect on letting our kids be kids for fear that it will happen again.

You didn't mention the most important variable of the story -- how old the kids are. But I'm guessing over 8, since it wasn't a crine.

That's a rather US-centric view. Teenagers aren't prisoners in some suburban hellscape in all parts of the world.

No but rural isolation is common in almost all countries apart from maybe the extremely tiny ones.

Yes, and that's a problem, but only a fairly small fraction of kids live in rural areas in urbanized countries. Not that we shouldn't care about their well-being, but it's not a general explanation for mental health issues among teens.

They're not prisoners to suburban hellscapes in all parts of the US, either.

That is so difficult to imagine. When I was a teen I was almost never home. I was out at the movies, in a forest, out exploring somewhere, with friends, etc.

I'm curious largely if many teens these days just don't want to go out or like you mentioned, aren't able to. Maybe it's a combo of both.

Just tough for me to imagine being a teen and not wanting to be as far as possible from parents.

The negative-attention seeking assholes (often teens) used to only get "attention" from people in the vicinity. Now they can be anywhere, and get a reaction from everyone.

Honestly this issue isn't inherent to just teens. I want to do be able to do these sorts of activities as an adult even, but there's nowhere that you're allowed to just be or do anything.

The negative effects of social media on teenagers have been researched and are well documented. I have 2 teenagers and honestly don't even need that, I see it with my own eyes.