Society has changed a fair amount over the course of the last three decades, especially when it comes to being a kid. But does today’s generation of kids have less freedom than their parents used to? Do parents today have less trust in their children? This article contains interviews of two different generations of people so we can really understand just how different they are.

Emily Carlson, a junior at Woodbridge High School and my sister, explained that she thinks she has less freedom than our parents,, “Absolutely, one-hundred precent. Just hearing stories of things my parents did as kids, I laugh because I know that they would never let me do that. Although I think I have more freedom than many of my other friends.”

Carlson also said, “I enjoy reading, but I usually go on my phone and go on social media. I wouldn’t count that as fun as much as time filling,” when she was asked what she liked to do for fun.

She also stated, “I wouldn’t say there is less trust, I would just say that there are more sources available for parents to keep an eye on their kids,” when asked if she thought that parents have less trust in their kids because of available technology. Carlson is referring to the myriad of child monitoring apps like, Find My Iphone, Life 360, Spoten, Find My Friends, and so on.

Richard Carlson, my dad and parent of three daughters, ages nine, twelve and sixteen, said, “Yes. I don’t think that our parents worried about things that we worry about now. Even though we know we have more communication. It feels like it was safer then,” when asked if kids today have less freedom than they used to.

In today’s world, there are more dangerous than there used to be. For example, there are more cars than there used to be. Social media platforms didn’t exist so kids weren’t putting themselves in danger with that. There can be so many new threats that the internet and social media has brought into the world.

Mr. Carlson also said, “Play sports all day. Play games that we made up. We played kick the can, we played manhunt. We made up tons of games. We didn’t have the stuff you have now. We used our imaginations, and we came up with some of the best games,” when asked what he liked to do for fun when he was younger. Mr. Carlson was referring to all of the technology and social media my generation has been basically raised on. Which brings up the question, Does my generation rely too much on social media platforms? If so, can this be dangerous or beneficial to society down the road?

Mr. Carlson also said that he used to play outside in all types of weather and wished his children spent more time outside.

He also stated, “Yes, because nowadays we track you where you are going. We worry more. But do we have less trust? Yes and no. We definitely track you more and call you,” when he was questioned if he thought parents trust their kids less due to all of the available technology.

My sister Emily and I are four years apart. She was born in the early 2000’s and I was born in the later part of the 2000’s. While there are not many major differences between the freedoms we have personally, overall, kids who are in middle school currently seem to have more freedom than they did when Emily was in middle school.  This could possibly be because of the fact that parents are able to keep a closer eye on their kids, and even from four years ago, that type of technology has improved. 

My sister Avery, who is three years younger than me, may have a completely different experience than Emily, and maybe different from mine. But, we do not know if technology will have a positive or negative effect on trust between parents and their children or on the specific freedoms in general.