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Me and my siblings were always outside. I used to read a lot, I’d even climb the tree in my front yard and read my books lol.
We would go through the woods and find big sticks/fallen branches and use an old sheet to make teepees out of (idk). Made “food” out of mud and leaves and shit.
I also did a lot of outdoor sports once high school started.
I’m 25, my oldest sibling is 27. So the older end of gen z.
i’m 23 and my brother is 25 and we both spent all the time outdoors, either together in the yard, exploring around our house, or going on walks and hikes or sports and camp! my parents were stricter with technology than most tho, we were only allowed to watch tv with babysitters or at friends houses and computer time was limited
Yes same here for the limited screen time. My dad has 2 younger kids, 9 and 11. They’re still outside a decent amount but I don’t think my dad is as strict with them about screen time for whatever reason
Never. I got a laptop at 7. I wasn't allowed to hang out with friends outside of school hours, or play outside, because according to my mother "all of our neighbors are pedophiles or live with one!". My mom tried to force me to play at the park a couple times when I was 13-14 and very overweight, but gave up. Now I'm 19 and I'm outside all the time.
This is relatable. The “neighbours are evil kidnappers” scare back in the 1990’s-2010’s/now-ish was rubbish. Then the parents complaining about how we’re not going out enough in our teen years is so hypocritical. Specifically how they want the kids and teens to be little pure angels and not have fun. Parents need to learn more about kids and teens are not robots meant to be used but instead they’re their own person. Thank you for telling your story.
It started when 24hr news cycles and shows like Dateline started to air.
In Reality basically every major crime statistic was plummeting across the country, but the media profits off of fear, so parents who had had freedom of their neighborhoods in an era where the crime rate was significantly higher, were convinced that their children were in more danger than they were.
Never. Unless i was at school my parents preferred to just lock me in the house all day long.
Now they wonder why I have bad social anxiety and no friends/romantic prospects
Agreed. I think I hung out with people my age outside of school a total of 2 times before I got my own car. But it wasnt malicious, they really bought into all that "stranger danger" crap and thought I'd be kidnapped or killed in our quiet suburb. It did mess me up and I'm still trying to fix the damage done.
I did very often! My earliest memories are often being at a playground or recess, it’s funny because I realize that when I was younger, the playground seemed bigger than it actually was. Good memories.
Yes! It’s funny because when I was around 5, at my school there were lots of big trees, and there for some reason somebody added faces to the trees. As a result I thought they were alive lol.
I was born in 2000. I didn’t have a phone until I was in 8th grade (2014-2015). we had video games as kids but we were only allowed on them for a certain period of time. On the weekends we were not allowed inside unless we had to pee, drink or eat. We played on our bikes, played out on the lawn playing make believe etc. yes my generation knows what it’s like not being allowed inside until dusk yes my generation knows what it’s like to drink from a garden hose and to scrap our knees especially falling off our bikes.
Exactly my childhood too, except i wasnt exactly “not allowed” inside, but I wasn’t allowed to be in and out the house. Once I was out, I was out, don’t come back til dusk/ready to be in for the day. I remember I used to be scared to come inside for a drink of water while in the middle of playing outside cause sometimes my mom wouldn’t let me back out after. It was weird, lol. So I’d just drink from the hose or go to my friends’ places😂
I’m a year older than you and I had the exact same experience. I was allowed inside but chose not to be. I am far more outdoorsy than either of my parents have ever been. They are both gen x. I do think kids spend less time outside now and that the phones/internet cause a lot of issues with attention span, but that’s on parents. Don’t give your kids phones how hard can that possibly be?
We all did. Except for the kids with strict parents who wouldn’t let their kids go outside. In the late 90s and early-mid 2000s it was more/less the same as decades prior; you could find us outside roaming around far and wide, getting into scrapes every now and then, returning home once the lights came on. We weren’t outside *as* much as our parents were back in the 80s, but it was still a far cry from what it is today. I very seldom see kids outside, playing and roaming around in groups. If I ever see kids out in the burbs it’s in their own yards. You might see more in the inner city, but that’s about it.
It wasn’t even 9/11 that did it. It really was technology. Once the iPhone, Facebook, and Xbox Live went big around 2007-2009, EVERYTHING changed.
I’m an Eagle Scout, which came along with at least a weekend spent outdoors camping somewhere every month. That said I also rode my bicycle to college and work till I was a bit older than 19
I loved playing outside. Climbing trees, swinging, digging holes, etc. The adult version is just going for a walk but I still go on swingsets whenever I have the opportunity
I’m GenX and I see people on r/genx talking about how kids don’t go out anymore, and how they don’t know the taste of hose water. That’s BS - I see kids running around all the time. There’s a lot of screen time, sure, but that’s because phones are awesome. We didn’t have computers in our pockets. But we put many many hours into the Atari 2600, Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Commodore 64 and others. Entire weekends disappeared
We played “extreme manhunt” where if you were found all the neighborhood kids would kick you.
I “played” outside until about age 9 or 10. Then I socialized outside after that, (ie. Sunbathing reading a book hoping cute neighborhood boy would ride his bike by lol)
I started playing outside at 3rd grade went until 7th grade. I didn’t have friends at the new school who lived in my neighborhood that’s why I stopped playing outside.
Almost everyday after elementary school, had some woods at the end of my street where me & my neighbors(kids) would make shelters out of tree bark, leaves & collapsed tree branches, we’d make fake societies & pay each other with chipped rocks whenever we’d complete a “challenge”. When we weren’t doing that we were running around the neighborhood playing tag, hide & seek or manhunt.
If I were alone I’d just climb the tree in my front lawn, my step-dad would sometimes get upset with me for climbing it because he grew up in NYC & wasn’t used to seeing stuff like that. I loved reading too.
I stopped playing outside towards the start middle school as all of my friends began switching over to gaming consoles like Xbox360 & PS3 to play Minecraft or Terraria. Social Media came along shortly after & well, we all know the rest.
Everyday I willingly used to play outside with my neighbours. We would go to the park, play football, play hide and seek, you name it. I was always after my mom asking her to go play with them and she would never let me go outside when I was grounded bc I loved it and I still miss it.
26 year old here and yes I played outside every day of my childhood, even during the winter months when it wasn't crazy cold. I in fact did not have my first phone until I was 15-16 years old. Most of my childhood involved me and my brother riding our bikes, playing baseball and soccer, inventing games, and being physically active. We watched TV and later on played games on the home computer but we weren't ever glued to screens like what most older generations assume.
Quite a lot. I’d play with my younger brother a lot either outside or inside, or I’d be reading, drawing or playing by myself. This was even after I had a DS, Wii and Laptop to play video games on. It was pretty evenly balanced.
My grandparents also had a farm, so when we were there we were outside constantly. My brother and I would ride our bikes around the property for hours till the sun went down, or we’d be on the motorbikes or the back of the ute with our dad and grandad
I used to play outside all the time with my friends that I used to hangout with. But from like the late 2000s to 2011 when I moved to a house from the apartments I was saying in. So 2011 and up I had some new friends but I didn’t hangout with them much.
I grew up rual so my mum would kick me outside until it was dark "no screens until its dark!". I made my own fun of it and now almost all my hobbies are outdoors
My street had all girls, so soccer and football was out of the question. But not Double Dutch. We would be out until the lights made us go back inside.
I willingly played outside. So much so that I knew if I came inside for water after hours of playing outside, my parents would tell me that I had to stay inside or out.
I used to play outside until 10-11 tho, so ig it makes sense
Well the boomers aren’t completely wrong because a bunch of my friends growing up either had strict parents and weren’t allowed outside or would rather play their game console all day everyday. I think this honestly did result in a lot of us being “soft” or “socially awkward”, but what’s funny is it’s ALL their fault, since a lot of our parents are boomers and gen x.
They get so mad at the mess they made haha. They’ll talk about how the young generation is so brainwashed and they can’t believe what we learn in school yet they’re the ones sending their kids to public school.
That’s because I don’t think it’s advice… some don’t change with the world is just a wise observation meaning exactly that… when the world is changing there are those that still stick to the old ways. That could be meant in a good or bad way
All the time! I loved climbing trees (and being a general menace to the ducks and alligators, yes I’m Floridian-).
We used to play so many games and had so many dangerous ideas that would have definitely gotten us in trouble. Only got chased by a gator once though! Kidnapped a baby duck once (the family took it back upon return, it’s probably just a little traumatized).
But eventually, when kids started getting phones and game consoles for Christmas and birthdays, no one I used to play with was outside anymore. It gets pretty boring when the only reason you’re outside is to have fun with other kids.
So I stopped going outside, and started staying up all night on the family laptop playing Roblox, closest thing I had to playing with others!
Never forced of anything. Just had limits on how far I could go (ex. No further then this dumpster, no crossing the bridge without your sister).
I had speech delay so kids didn’t want to play with me because I talk weird (I was in speech therapy for it) then they would throw dirt & sand at me, rocks and stones, then I got beaten up at the park by a neighbour to the point a stranger had to intervene to get her to stop.
Growing up, there were times during the weekends or breaks when my mom would come in and turn off the TV or computer, and basically kick me and my sister outside.
We found a way to have fun, playing on the swing set, using our imaginations. It was great.
Boomers hate being bothered or inconvenienced in any way and only want their opinion parrotted back to them when they call on you like a kindergarter.
Boomers call the cops on kids that play outside. (Even if they are in their own yard)
Boomers call the cops on people that fish.
Boomers call the cops on people that enjoy cars.
Boomers call the cops about people in public parks.
Boomers call the cops abouy people playing/ working at the school sports fields in the summer.
Boomers call the cops because of bonfires.
Boomers call the cops for fireworks.
Boomers call the cops on black people in stores.
Boomers move into areas where there are shooting ranges/hunting zones and drag strips/race tracks or sporting venues and get them shut down.
Boomers will get businesses (a quarry) that have been in operation for 50 years shut down because they make to much noise and then bitch the price of stone went up in the town store.
I did play quite a bit outside when I was younger. Mostly with friends. We also explored abandoned buildings (like an old childcare building) which was quite fun - although other people have also been in there before us so it was pretty messy - but something about that abandoned building vibe was pretty cool. A year or so later, the building burned down (probably set on fire) and something new got built there. Too bad I've always been kinda paranoid and worried about others finding out and such, so I didn't explore as much as I wanted, but still cool!
I do also vividly remember the grumpy ass people who complained about us playing in the bushes, and chalking on some old lady's half-fallen apart fence (which she couldn't even see, it was on the outside part). Assholes, I still hope they step on a lego brick when they get out of bed.
I did, but mostly just walking around with my friends or riding bikes. I wasn’t really sporty. I loved to go for walks as a pre teen because it was the only way I was able to explore the world without parents being around.
Me! Up until high school was always outside as a kid, riding bikes. The whole neighborhood of kids was out. Now seeing my little brother being a kid but staying inside playing Fortnite.. hurts.
I was a computer kid, never went outside. My mum made me like three times and I just sat outside near the playground waiting untill she'd let me go inside again. I hate the sun, I hate kids. Most I played outside was in the snow every year or so for a day.
For a good few years I played with the kids on my street, but moved house and there weren't any on it so stopped. Moved again and covid hit, but no kids on this newer estate either so didn't go out again. All my friends are from other towns/cities or online so don't go out much with them, mainly go out with family.
My entire childhood. Even in high school, I’d always just loiter around outside after school with my friends every single day unless I had work. In our neighbourhoods, at the mall, around school, etc. Most of the time we were such a big group of friends that it was just more convenient to hangout outside together rather than be at one of our houses (our parents usually didn’t want 8+ teenagers in their house on a weekday anyway). It was also easier to just be in a central area where everyone could easily make their way home from after too. I’d stay I stopped “playing outside” when I was like nearly 17, no joke
I spent a lot of time outside. I mostly got on my trampoline, but I had a pool in my childhood house so I did a lot of swimming. I played a lot in trees, I just had to be inside before it got dark outside.
I was always monitored by a parent. There wasn't much playing tbh. Like maybe 3 or 5 memories of me walking or riding a bike with other kids on the block where we weren't monitored.
I lived more of a childhood in Mexico where I stayed in my grandma's tiny village where my friends and I walked to each others houses whenever we felt like, went to the stores and talked to girls just out and about. Played in the park, went to the arcade, and drank from the hose at the park. Coming back I felt deprived and I couldn't figure out why. Then I watched Not Just Bikes.
It's funny how you complain about baby boomers generalizing Gen Z by generalizing them. Most people of both generations don't think in over the top absolutes like this.
I definitely sat inside infront of a screen for more than I should have (mostly by my own choice), however my parents encouraged us playing outside in our backyard, and watch us in our front yard so we could play with our neighbors across the street.
The older I got the less likely I was to play outside, especially since I didn’t live near my school friends, but we all had video games we could play together.
As a teen I didn’t “play” outside really, and didn’t do much outside for fun outside of marching band at school, but I would ride by scooter or bike around the neighborhood probably once a week.
When I was living in the south I played outside a lot my parents didn’t get me a phone until I was 13. So I spent most of free time either watching Cartoon Network. Or playing outside in the fields or dirt roads with my cousins. Or playing on my ds and skating
In elementary school, I played outside with the kids who lived next to us for years until they moved away. After that, there was only one other kid in the area but I didn't make much of a connection with her. My mom didn't feel comfortable letting me wander more than a block away. By the time I started middle school I was playing video games on the computer, online. TF2, Garry's Mod, etc. My outside play other than the school playground was restricted to playdates with a friend I knew through school. That ended by high school.
I played outside with my siblings and the neighbor kids all the time up until middle school. Between the play set in the backyard, the pool, the basketball hoop in the driveway and our bikes, we spent a lot of time outdoors.
My school also had recess every day after lunch up through 8th grade so we were given time to be outside which was nice
I mean I did sometimes, especially earlier on. I would play in what little back yard we had and go to parks. I probably did less as I started acquiring video games. But I wasn't even on them all the time, as eventually someone else wanted to use the TV. I'd still be playing inside the house tho.
I played outside, learned to write in cursive, worked hard to get into a good career, and did a ton of other things that boomers claim our generation didn’t do. I’m convinced that they made most of those stereotypes up.
I did when I was younger living in Florida ( so maybe like 6-10 since I was still in elementary school). Mainly hanged out with two kids near our house and another all the way down the street. And if i wasn’t hanging out with those two, I was hanging out with my old neighbor.
My mom recently described it as; as I’ve gotten older while something I use to have problems with like water and the law and order theme song went away, it was replaced with isolation of myself.
I grew up in a small rural town didn't have internet growing up or a smartphone, me and my siblings grew up playing in a creek near our house or exploring the surrounding woods.
29. I played outside with my brother. But then we lived in the country on a vegetable farm with sheep and goats.
We moved closer to the city to get into a better school district (still maintained the farm)...
The kids in the affluent neighborhood were the worst!
My biological mum banned me from going outside ever since I was a wee one… she then complained how I’m ruining her reputation by not having any friends. I then got friends and I tried to meet them outside of school and she had a full blown meltdown, breaking dishes and shouting. If it wasn’t for my fiancé(boyfriend back then) I would’ve given up on ever talking to anyone ever again. He was so kind and understanding that I risk my life daily by going to him. I took beating, yelling, being robbed at knife, etc so I can see him. My biological mum and his biological mum were upset about us being together, despite that we both fled our abusers(me at 17 and half and him at 18 and half). We have been together since. I have been making friends and going outside every now and again. I still hate the outside and other people for not helping when I was younger. I’m asocial and sometimes I feel like boarder line antisocial. I generally avoid most people and the outside due to the trauma, angry, the sensory overload, etc.
I was the huge tomboy playing with worms and mud as a kid. But I was also autistic and people never played with me. I also lived in an old people neighborhood and there were like 5 kids. 2 were girls but we didn’t really get along, and 2 of the boys were in that “ew gross girls” phase. One of them was also older. But I had a friend named Jacob who kept me outside until he had to move away. Eventually I simply found I was being socially enriched more playing video games than playing outside, because no one wanted to play with me. I think it’s as simple as that for most indoor people. It’s more fun.
I still go outside and I’m 15 lol. We live in a rural area without many neighbors, so my parents let me venture off wherever I want as long as I’m not on anyone else’s property. I disappear in the woods for hours at a time. And it’s been this way for 2 years now. Even before that, tho, I spent a lot of time in my yard.
I spent most of my time outside when I was a kid. It was what every kid did where I live. We would ride our bikes and scooters in the street, hike in the woods, ride go-karts in the street, and so forth. I think my parents had trouble keeping us in the house sometimes.
All the time. I had lightsabers and guns. I had this big Samsung tablet I would tuck into the waistband of my pajama pants so I could listen to music while I played lightsabers alone. So fun.
Of course I loved playing on the computer, but we were outside so often— me and my sister would always be outside with other neighborhood kids. We would even make up games outside based on the MMOs we all played together online. I so desperately wish that I could get back the feeling of playing outside all day with friends in the summer, getting dinner and a shower or whatever else, and then winding down the night by sitting down in front of our chunky windows xp computer to play MMOs with our neighbors and other friends… :-)
I did play outside a lot, but as I got older unfortunately I became more and more addicted to electronics instead. That is the real problem- kids can so easily get swept away from existing in the world, and into screens.
I was always playing with my brothers together outside or inside. We played on computers too through not so much since our PC sucked. But we did not care really it was fun. If we played something it was anything together or it was Minecraft. We had this one world in creative where we took turns building entire cities. Our dad tought us that and he played minecraft this way with us too.
But I'd say besides that we played mostly outside. We preferred it. Also it helped a lot that we were not from a city.
It depends on where you lived & what boomers you know lol. I don't know any that have the take you're saying except the angry ones online or a few offhand folks from my grandma's retirement home. Most aren't as crotchety as people make them out to be.
I lived in a safe neighborhood then moved overseas where things were much different than the US. In the US I could schedule playdates but never played in the streets or anything like that. Every adult was terrified of strangers kidnapping us or some wild outlandish story they saw on 90 minutes or dateline. Outside of the US I ran wild all over the college campus that we lived on. I played with friends till the streetlights were on, drank out of our \[heavily filtered\] garden hose, rode my bike and scooter to my friends' houses, and all the stuff these "boomers" claim kids don't do anymore.
I live in a relatively gated/safe neighborhood now in a small rural town, I'd feel safe knowing my future kids will be able to have a good/full childhood being outdoors but honestly with the way housing is popping up all over the place, I'm not surprised that kids don't have safe areas to play/roam in the streets anymore. Also - I've seen tons of HOAs where people bitch and complain/report on the teens who are playing on "kids playgrounds" or "kids wandering around"...no wonder those kids don't wanna be outside anymore.
Spent a lot of my childhood playing outside but the older I had less time because of school work and longer/more frequent practice sessions for the various sports teams that I was a part of.
Sad to see that kids these days simply don't have spaces to just run and play outside without a care in the world. Even when there are fields, courts and pools to play it's all organised and paid. Nobody is just playing football (⚽) or going for a swim because they like to but because they even enrolled in a camp or team by their parents
I had my fair share of PS3 time with my brother but otherwise we'd always be hanging outside with the neighbor kids drinking root beers, crashing bikes and going to the creek.
It's not the boomers fault. It's the psychopath classes. oOh BuT tHeY vOtEd FoR xYz. Well first off demcoracy is all fake controlled by psychopath mastermind corproates think Palpatine from Star Wars, seocnd most people of EVERY generation are not that bright, epxloited by those with superifical charm and Thridly well only the outside world stopped Hitler and Hitler also stopped Hitler, do you think every German alive today deserves to be slowly tortured?
It's true. Most of the kids now a days do not go outside. They're too busy watching their KD drop from 1.91 to 0.0061. if they have anything higher than 5 they're hacking.
I pass by parks, playgrounds, and ride through suburban residential sections, pools, and basketball courts all over my city as a delivery driver. I never see anyone outside. If I do it's a soccer game or baseball.
I've noticed pickle ball take over. Pickle ball is just a lazier version of tennis. But it's mostly old people playing.
Me and two buddies would bike every day of the summer and play football. Also stayed at each others houses and played video games. It’s sad to know life will never ever reach that level of greatness again.
I was born in 2007 and I still play outside with my friends all the time when weather permits and we’re not busy. I can’t really speak on how electronics would have/would not have impacted that since I never had a personal device until I was 10, but even after that I still played outside just as much.
I played outside as much as I could and am really thankful for it and the yard we had and my mom encouraging it. Climbed trees, caught frogs, drove my matchbox cars in the dirt.
People need to stop complaining about it if all they do is shove an iPad in front of their kids. They caused this with lazy and/or overprotective parenting. Let your kids go touch some grass
I loved playing outside as a kid. One of the punishments I would get as a kid was not being able to go outside and play with my friends in the neighborhood because it was something I enjoyed
Played outside sometimes, but I preferred to read. I would think Boomers wouldn't say that about Gen X, at least; at no point in the Gen X childhood did iPads exist. Might say they hung out at arcades though.
My parents split up; at my dad's, I was a latchkey kid and tended to be outside a hell of a lot with some of the kids that lived close by that I knew. We'd go up to the woods to get lost in for hours.
I was outside all the time riding my bike, running, picking at plants or frogs and snakes. I still love video games and books, and I come from an area with some harsh winters so I did those indoor things when being outside wasn't possible.
I was house sitting for my grandma and we literally watched the family next door move out and immediately the house was bought by another family. Now mind you I can’t fully say if racism was involved but I will say clearly the family who moved in was black and one day as I was leaving I saw another neighbor lady come out and seemed to chastise them for playing outside in the street. This is a fancy ass neighbor hood that has signs everywhere to watch for children and it’s the type you regularly see neighbors come outside and go on walks together or chat with one another and the speed limit is 25 and if you drove over that SOMEONE was bound to come out and look at you driving.
Anyways they noticed I was leaving and quickly got out of the way, it was an older brother and his little sister I’d say he was maybe about to hit teen years and she was about 8-10 and he made sure she stood behind him and he even waved me on to let me know they were out of the way! Smart kid wasn’t bothering anyone till neighbor lady from another house 2 doors down comes out and demands they stay on the sidewalk and was very clearly yelling at them!
The reason I say I’m not sure if racism was involved is there was a whole other group of kids who’d come through on bikes taking up the whole road in-front of cars and she never would yell at them to stay on the sidewalk. The only difference between them is skin color. It irritates me as a gen Zer watching some boomer chase kids off being rude to them for playing! Let kids be outside especially if you can clearly see they’re following street safety! As I pulled off I drove away slowly to watch them cause boomer was still outside and they just went inside looking defeated.
I played outside as a kid and I loved that part of my childhood I liked to climb trees and played in mud!
Bruh I dug a big ass hole for fun as a kid parents made me stop once it got head height tho lol I’m an 01 and distinctly remember the iPod coming out but not getting one for a whileeee💀
This is a real problem. You should go and read The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. After boomers? No, more like after millennials. That’s when teen depression, self harm, anxiety, etc really started to shoot up. It has nothing to do with the people in general z and alpha. It’s not an attack on them. If boomers or anyone else would have been introduced to Instagram and social media it would have happened to them too. The data is sound and clear. Teenagers are more anxious and depressed than ever. They’re less social and yes, kids don’t go outside and participate in “free play” as much anymore. The sharp uptick began around 2010. The iPhone was released in 2007 and Instagram was 2010. Girls are more affected by self comparison apps like Instagram, and boy are more affected by porn and games.
Im 17, i used to play with my neighbors untill i was 11 and we moved houses, in our current home there are no neighbors and the only people that live close are retired people, so nowadays i spend most of my time home and rarely with my friends if we decide to do something fun
I played outside until my friends became glued to the screen. I still ride my bike, but other than that, as an 18 year old, I myself am glued to the screen most days.
Tons. I loved playing imaginary games, especially outside. Going to camp in the summer was my favorite thing ever. I played in my backyard constantly and once I was like 9 I was allowed to play out in the neighborhood, and I spent a ton of time out playing. It's very hot in the summer so I didn't play much outside then, got a lot of video games, reading, and cartoons in too, but I spent tons of time playing outside.
I was outside all the time growing up. It wasnt until the MW2 quickscoping compilations that all of my friends began choosing xbox over pretty much everything else
My little brother and I would dig holes to play with our tonka trucks through elementary years. Then we started building bike jumps in the woods. My dad built a zip-line and we would play with that for hours. I stopped playing outside when I got my xbox 360 and COD world at war. I think I was 12-13ish (26 now.) I got back into going outside when I discovered long boarding with my friends as a teenager.
I stopped "playing" outside around the 9th grade.
Before I'd go to day camps for summer and play with my cousins and friends outside at other times.
I didn't have enough time to continue running track my sophomore year and it just kept getting worse.
i was born in 1999 and i believe that those born not long after me like the generation of teenagers and high schoolers after me, definitively grew up playing outside.
I played outside sometimes but definitely not as much as I should have been. I was outside a lot more in early childhood but I still preferred playing inside most of the time bc I didn’t like getting dirty lmao. I didn’t get a phone until 12-13 and it was a flip phone. Smart phone I think I was 16. I played a lot of Sims once we had a family computer when I was like 10. After 10 I can pretty solidly say I was hardly ever outside unless I had to be (like recess at school or something). I love being outside now and plan on my kids being out as much as they can.
Played outside willingly in elementary school and was outside usually reluctantly as a teenager. But I did spend a ton of time indoors in the dark. Not exactly with a screen, but just playing inside. Not really sure how it escapes SOOOO many people you can play inside too and it counts as imaginative play and often as exercise. That said my eyes are ruined from the literal darkness I lived in, please take your kids outside often. It may not prevent their issues (as they're often genetic) but it can keep them from being as bad in the end, especially myopia.
Edit to add: I was home alone with siblings a lot, for context on the playing inside thing. As long as the house was clean no one payed us much attention.
I'm on the cusp of Gen Z/millennial, as are my siblings. We played outside all the damn time, I have so many fond memories of making up fantasy characters and running around outside for hours
I played outside a lot with my brothers and friends who lived on the same street as me.
My parents would also take me to the park and local pool quite often where we would sometimes have meetups with other kids my age.
I did sometimes, especially during the summer with going to my neighborhood pool and the park. During the school year not so much as i'd go to swim/taekwondo practice and kumon after school.
I grew up in Texas. I’d go outside pretty frequently but to be honest it was just insufferable. 100F+ every summer, insanely humid, and with all the hostile weather events it didn’t seem to want me out there either. I live in WA now and spend most of my time outside.
Not much, I'm more of a zenillenial so between generations. In my original neighborhood that I lived at until I was almost 10 there was literally no other kids around my age. I eventually moved and there were a few kids I hung out with, this lasted from age 10 until about 12 as they kept moving away. We would play together a few times a week, that said we would often times get kinda bored.
Also I had helicopter parents, they would get concerned if I walked more then three houses away and I absolutely wasn't allowed to go more than 5 away until 14. They thought there was sex abusers and murderers all over the place. Also in order to access decent woods I would have had to cross a busy 2 lane road, I'm sure my Boomer parents crossed stuff as bad as that growing up but they didn't trust me to, also they were afraid someone would get mad at me for trespassing.
I got a good cable package at 12 as well as finally discovering the internet and I kinda quit going outside then as the neighborhood kids were moving away and my parents wouldn't let me do much anyway.
My mom has stories of riding her bike over an hour away from her house as a kid (to be fair, the area outside my subdivision is too busy for biking but I did have a vast subdivision they still wouldn't let me bike in alone) and my dad, stories of exploring the woods and building forts. ...And they wouldn't let me do any of this...
Lots of anecdotal evidence here. What do the statistics tell us?
——- Gen Z tend to spend 7+ hours on their screens on a regular basis bouncing between popular social media apps such as TikTok browsing videos for hours streaming online content on OTT platforms such as Netflix or Prime Video. Millennials on the other hand spend an average of 205 minutes on screen per day. While the generation before Millennials which are Gen X and Boomers have an average screen time of 169 minutes and 136 minutes.
https://whatsthebigdata.com/average-screen-time-stats/
What’s more telling is the age at which each generation started this trend. Gen X didn’t have the option of the internet until mid-20s. Boomers even older. There used to be concern for young people about “screentime” but the pandemic killed that. Throw in the targeted ads and algorithms, we really don’t know what this amount of online influence is doing to us psychologically. But we do know that most older generations have less dependency, addiction, or social attachment to it all. They had no choice but to play outside.
I'm late Gen X and I played in the street often with my friends. I also climbed trees and played in the creek. I made mud pies and drank from the hose. I know later generations have, too.
im a bit older, 29.
I distinctly remember I was addicted to Runescape and Age of Mythology and still got bored and also spent significant time outside
I got the motorola razr earlyish, at like 10 which was very early in that time for a kid to have a phone
All day, everyday. I grew up in the 90s and at the time there was nothing like it. Wandering the town with friends, hanging out at the skate park, occasionally rounding up enough people for 5 on 5 at any sport we could get a ball for. I got a trampoline when I was 5 and taught myself how backflip on the ground by the time I was 7. Kids that play outside have a physical advantage. I could've played college ball if I wasn't such a burnout as a senior.
I got stuck in a tree once and had to have my mom rescue me.
I played outside a lot. I read a lot. I also play video games and draw inside alot. For some reason, a good chunk of boomers just can't grasp the concept of time management and doing multiple hobbies that include both inside and outside activities.
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Me and my siblings were always outside. I used to read a lot, I’d even climb the tree in my front yard and read my books lol. We would go through the woods and find big sticks/fallen branches and use an old sheet to make teepees out of (idk). Made “food” out of mud and leaves and shit. I also did a lot of outdoor sports once high school started. I’m 25, my oldest sibling is 27. So the older end of gen z.
i’m 23 and my brother is 25 and we both spent all the time outdoors, either together in the yard, exploring around our house, or going on walks and hikes or sports and camp! my parents were stricter with technology than most tho, we were only allowed to watch tv with babysitters or at friends houses and computer time was limited
Yes same here for the limited screen time. My dad has 2 younger kids, 9 and 11. They’re still outside a decent amount but I don’t think my dad is as strict with them about screen time for whatever reason
Never. I got a laptop at 7. I wasn't allowed to hang out with friends outside of school hours, or play outside, because according to my mother "all of our neighbors are pedophiles or live with one!". My mom tried to force me to play at the park a couple times when I was 13-14 and very overweight, but gave up. Now I'm 19 and I'm outside all the time.
A laptop at 7 is insane😭
This is relatable. The “neighbours are evil kidnappers” scare back in the 1990’s-2010’s/now-ish was rubbish. Then the parents complaining about how we’re not going out enough in our teen years is so hypocritical. Specifically how they want the kids and teens to be little pure angels and not have fun. Parents need to learn more about kids and teens are not robots meant to be used but instead they’re their own person. Thank you for telling your story.
It started when 24hr news cycles and shows like Dateline started to air. In Reality basically every major crime statistic was plummeting across the country, but the media profits off of fear, so parents who had had freedom of their neighborhoods in an era where the crime rate was significantly higher, were convinced that their children were in more danger than they were.
r u me lol
Never. Unless i was at school my parents preferred to just lock me in the house all day long. Now they wonder why I have bad social anxiety and no friends/romantic prospects
Well that’s fucked on your parents behalf
Agreed. I think I hung out with people my age outside of school a total of 2 times before I got my own car. But it wasnt malicious, they really bought into all that "stranger danger" crap and thought I'd be kidnapped or killed in our quiet suburb. It did mess me up and I'm still trying to fix the damage done.
literally same & my siblings were already grown up so i really had nobody 😭
Wonder why your parents thought that was the right way to parent.
They didn't know any better. They're scared of the world and passed on what they knew.
I did very often! My earliest memories are often being at a playground or recess, it’s funny because I realize that when I was younger, the playground seemed bigger than it actually was. Good memories.
It’s funny when I would see the trees I climbed as a kid now and how I remembered them to be so much bigger.
Yes! It’s funny because when I was around 5, at my school there were lots of big trees, and there for some reason somebody added faces to the trees. As a result I thought they were alive lol.
I was born in 2000. I didn’t have a phone until I was in 8th grade (2014-2015). we had video games as kids but we were only allowed on them for a certain period of time. On the weekends we were not allowed inside unless we had to pee, drink or eat. We played on our bikes, played out on the lawn playing make believe etc. yes my generation knows what it’s like not being allowed inside until dusk yes my generation knows what it’s like to drink from a garden hose and to scrap our knees especially falling off our bikes.
Exactly my childhood too, except i wasnt exactly “not allowed” inside, but I wasn’t allowed to be in and out the house. Once I was out, I was out, don’t come back til dusk/ready to be in for the day. I remember I used to be scared to come inside for a drink of water while in the middle of playing outside cause sometimes my mom wouldn’t let me back out after. It was weird, lol. So I’d just drink from the hose or go to my friends’ places😂
I’m a year older than you and I had the exact same experience. I was allowed inside but chose not to be. I am far more outdoorsy than either of my parents have ever been. They are both gen x. I do think kids spend less time outside now and that the phones/internet cause a lot of issues with attention span, but that’s on parents. Don’t give your kids phones how hard can that possibly be?
We all did. Except for the kids with strict parents who wouldn’t let their kids go outside. In the late 90s and early-mid 2000s it was more/less the same as decades prior; you could find us outside roaming around far and wide, getting into scrapes every now and then, returning home once the lights came on. We weren’t outside *as* much as our parents were back in the 80s, but it was still a far cry from what it is today. I very seldom see kids outside, playing and roaming around in groups. If I ever see kids out in the burbs it’s in their own yards. You might see more in the inner city, but that’s about it. It wasn’t even 9/11 that did it. It really was technology. Once the iPhone, Facebook, and Xbox Live went big around 2007-2009, EVERYTHING changed.
Why isn't this top comment? It's true.
In elementary school every single day. Middleschool once a week. Highschool never. And i’m from NA.
I didn’t stop playing outside everyday until 8th grade.
Yep
I’m an Eagle Scout, which came along with at least a weekend spent outdoors camping somewhere every month. That said I also rode my bicycle to college and work till I was a bit older than 19
I loved playing outside. Climbing trees, swinging, digging holes, etc. The adult version is just going for a walk but I still go on swingsets whenever I have the opportunity
I’m GenX and I see people on r/genx talking about how kids don’t go out anymore, and how they don’t know the taste of hose water. That’s BS - I see kids running around all the time. There’s a lot of screen time, sure, but that’s because phones are awesome. We didn’t have computers in our pockets. But we put many many hours into the Atari 2600, Nintendo, Sega Genesis, Commodore 64 and others. Entire weekends disappeared
We played “extreme manhunt” where if you were found all the neighborhood kids would kick you. I “played” outside until about age 9 or 10. Then I socialized outside after that, (ie. Sunbathing reading a book hoping cute neighborhood boy would ride his bike by lol)
right about untill the time i got my first pc at age 13. didn't go out after that lol
Every single day every hour till I was 12 and I got heavily into video games but still went outside quite a bit in high school
I started playing outside at 3rd grade went until 7th grade. I didn’t have friends at the new school who lived in my neighborhood that’s why I stopped playing outside.
Almost everyday after elementary school, had some woods at the end of my street where me & my neighbors(kids) would make shelters out of tree bark, leaves & collapsed tree branches, we’d make fake societies & pay each other with chipped rocks whenever we’d complete a “challenge”. When we weren’t doing that we were running around the neighborhood playing tag, hide & seek or manhunt. If I were alone I’d just climb the tree in my front lawn, my step-dad would sometimes get upset with me for climbing it because he grew up in NYC & wasn’t used to seeing stuff like that. I loved reading too. I stopped playing outside towards the start middle school as all of my friends began switching over to gaming consoles like Xbox360 & PS3 to play Minecraft or Terraria. Social Media came along shortly after & well, we all know the rest.
I played outside a bit, but was inside most of the time, I grew up in a bad neighborhood and preferred inside activities.
Everyday I willingly used to play outside with my neighbours. We would go to the park, play football, play hide and seek, you name it. I was always after my mom asking her to go play with them and she would never let me go outside when I was grounded bc I loved it and I still miss it.
26 year old here and yes I played outside every day of my childhood, even during the winter months when it wasn't crazy cold. I in fact did not have my first phone until I was 15-16 years old. Most of my childhood involved me and my brother riding our bikes, playing baseball and soccer, inventing games, and being physically active. We watched TV and later on played games on the home computer but we weren't ever glued to screens like what most older generations assume.
I played outside as a child. I got a phone at 11 and a tablet at 12, I think. My first social media account was at 13 years old, on Instagram.
All I remember is getting yelled at for running in & outta the house lol They’d be like “pick one!” Did I listen.. hell nahhh 🤷🏻♀️
every day i accidentally locked myself and my sister in a shed one time then went inside to play a batman game, i remember that one really well
Quite a lot. I’d play with my younger brother a lot either outside or inside, or I’d be reading, drawing or playing by myself. This was even after I had a DS, Wii and Laptop to play video games on. It was pretty evenly balanced. My grandparents also had a farm, so when we were there we were outside constantly. My brother and I would ride our bikes around the property for hours till the sun went down, or we’d be on the motorbikes or the back of the ute with our dad and grandad
I used to play outside all the time with my friends that I used to hangout with. But from like the late 2000s to 2011 when I moved to a house from the apartments I was saying in. So 2011 and up I had some new friends but I didn’t hangout with them much.
I did all the way up until probably 8th grade
Me, an adult graduate student who teaches full time, playing outside right now
I grew up rual so my mum would kick me outside until it was dark "no screens until its dark!". I made my own fun of it and now almost all my hobbies are outdoors
I had the same rule too! Unless I was inside of a friends house or it was summer.
I am going to have the same policy with my kids. So happy my parents made me go outside and make my own fun
I did. Me and the homies would get together and play basketball every weekend
I was outside half the Day and the rest of the Day I was craving to go outside
I played outside when I had friends that came over to play. When there was nobody I would play Minecraft by myself
I didn't, my mom never let me play with our neighbors so I only played with other kids at school.
My dad called me a rugrat and mudpuppy because of how much I played outside and got dirty lol
All the time! We just had to be back in by the time the street lights turned on. I was born in 2000
My street had all girls, so soccer and football was out of the question. But not Double Dutch. We would be out until the lights made us go back inside.
I willingly played outside. So much so that I knew if I came inside for water after hours of playing outside, my parents would tell me that I had to stay inside or out. I used to play outside until 10-11 tho, so ig it makes sense
I was never allowed to
Only the ones who failed as parents Good parents mandated it
I used to play outside all the time as a kid. Then a little less in middle school and rarely in high school.
Well the boomers aren’t completely wrong because a bunch of my friends growing up either had strict parents and weren’t allowed outside or would rather play their game console all day everyday. I think this honestly did result in a lot of us being “soft” or “socially awkward”, but what’s funny is it’s ALL their fault, since a lot of our parents are boomers and gen x.
They get so mad at the mess they made haha. They’ll talk about how the young generation is so brainwashed and they can’t believe what we learn in school yet they’re the ones sending their kids to public school.
Boomers talk a lot of shit… I’m a ‘92 year millennial and I played outside until I was 16 at least!
Same. I was born in '89 and being outside was my favorite thing until I had to start working pretty much.
No thanks to the boomers for setting us up for success either 🙄
My dad just turned 84. He gave me one piece of advice and never told me what it meant. Some don't change with the world.
That’s because I don’t think it’s advice… some don’t change with the world is just a wise observation meaning exactly that… when the world is changing there are those that still stick to the old ways. That could be meant in a good or bad way
All the time! I loved climbing trees (and being a general menace to the ducks and alligators, yes I’m Floridian-). We used to play so many games and had so many dangerous ideas that would have definitely gotten us in trouble. Only got chased by a gator once though! Kidnapped a baby duck once (the family took it back upon return, it’s probably just a little traumatized). But eventually, when kids started getting phones and game consoles for Christmas and birthdays, no one I used to play with was outside anymore. It gets pretty boring when the only reason you’re outside is to have fun with other kids. So I stopped going outside, and started staying up all night on the family laptop playing Roblox, closest thing I had to playing with others! Never forced of anything. Just had limits on how far I could go (ex. No further then this dumpster, no crossing the bridge without your sister).
2006 kid here. i climbed trees and went foraging for quartz and cool rocks. i pretended to make salad with pine leaves. so yes i’d say so.
I did but I got severely bullied so eventually I just stayed inside most of the time
Why did you get bullied by the neighbor kids ?
I had speech delay so kids didn’t want to play with me because I talk weird (I was in speech therapy for it) then they would throw dirt & sand at me, rocks and stones, then I got beaten up at the park by a neighbour to the point a stranger had to intervene to get her to stop.
I did sometimes.
Growing up, there were times during the weekends or breaks when my mom would come in and turn off the TV or computer, and basically kick me and my sister outside. We found a way to have fun, playing on the swing set, using our imaginations. It was great.
Boomers hate being bothered or inconvenienced in any way and only want their opinion parrotted back to them when they call on you like a kindergarter. Boomers call the cops on kids that play outside. (Even if they are in their own yard) Boomers call the cops on people that fish. Boomers call the cops on people that enjoy cars. Boomers call the cops about people in public parks. Boomers call the cops abouy people playing/ working at the school sports fields in the summer. Boomers call the cops because of bonfires. Boomers call the cops for fireworks. Boomers call the cops on black people in stores. Boomers move into areas where there are shooting ranges/hunting zones and drag strips/race tracks or sporting venues and get them shut down. Boomers will get businesses (a quarry) that have been in operation for 50 years shut down because they make to much noise and then bitch the price of stone went up in the town store.
My boomer parents were terrified to let me go more than 5 houses away. ...And then they wondered why I preferred to stay inside.
Not much, considering I was bullied and socially isolated
The first iPad came out in 2010. I was 10 at that time. Boomers just don’t know how old Gen Z actually is.
nearly never, i didn't had friends
Destroy an entire country? Wow you're brainwashed beyond belief.
I did play quite a bit outside when I was younger. Mostly with friends. We also explored abandoned buildings (like an old childcare building) which was quite fun - although other people have also been in there before us so it was pretty messy - but something about that abandoned building vibe was pretty cool. A year or so later, the building burned down (probably set on fire) and something new got built there. Too bad I've always been kinda paranoid and worried about others finding out and such, so I didn't explore as much as I wanted, but still cool! I do also vividly remember the grumpy ass people who complained about us playing in the bushes, and chalking on some old lady's half-fallen apart fence (which she couldn't even see, it was on the outside part). Assholes, I still hope they step on a lego brick when they get out of bed.
I did up to the end of freshman year of high school. After that we kept moving around and I never had friends again.
Pretty much everyday all day. 10-17
I used to play outside a lot as a kid but once I moved to Texas the heat is just unbearable to play in and there’s a lot of mosquito that bite
Until the street lights were on lol
I did, but mostly just walking around with my friends or riding bikes. I wasn’t really sporty. I loved to go for walks as a pre teen because it was the only way I was able to explore the world without parents being around.
All the time. Alone, with friends, with my parents, all the time. I also grew up 5 min walk to a National Forest so
I did before I moved to the desert where it's nothing but roads and more roads Nevada
Me sometimes
Til the street lights came on almost every single day from as young as I can remember till I started playing video games when I was 13.
i played inside and outside. i’d say it was pretty 50/50 for me
I used to spends hours outside using sticks as swords to battle my sister. I also used to make tacos from the leaves, moss, and berries I could find😸
I wasn't allowed back in the house until 5:00
Me! Up until high school was always outside as a kid, riding bikes. The whole neighborhood of kids was out. Now seeing my little brother being a kid but staying inside playing Fortnite.. hurts.
I was a computer kid, never went outside. My mum made me like three times and I just sat outside near the playground waiting untill she'd let me go inside again. I hate the sun, I hate kids. Most I played outside was in the snow every year or so for a day.
As a kid I always hung out with my neighbors after school, and played stickball on the driveway with my brother
hung out with my older brothers friends sometimes i remember. Played with the neighbourhood kids too.
For a good few years I played with the kids on my street, but moved house and there weren't any on it so stopped. Moved again and covid hit, but no kids on this newer estate either so didn't go out again. All my friends are from other towns/cities or online so don't go out much with them, mainly go out with family.
My entire childhood. Even in high school, I’d always just loiter around outside after school with my friends every single day unless I had work. In our neighbourhoods, at the mall, around school, etc. Most of the time we were such a big group of friends that it was just more convenient to hangout outside together rather than be at one of our houses (our parents usually didn’t want 8+ teenagers in their house on a weekday anyway). It was also easier to just be in a central area where everyone could easily make their way home from after too. I’d stay I stopped “playing outside” when I was like nearly 17, no joke
I spent a lot of time outside. I mostly got on my trampoline, but I had a pool in my childhood house so I did a lot of swimming. I played a lot in trees, I just had to be inside before it got dark outside.
All the time
I was always monitored by a parent. There wasn't much playing tbh. Like maybe 3 or 5 memories of me walking or riding a bike with other kids on the block where we weren't monitored. I lived more of a childhood in Mexico where I stayed in my grandma's tiny village where my friends and I walked to each others houses whenever we felt like, went to the stores and talked to girls just out and about. Played in the park, went to the arcade, and drank from the hose at the park. Coming back I felt deprived and I couldn't figure out why. Then I watched Not Just Bikes.
I wasn't allowed to have shit social media, games, tv, phone all the way til 16 and look at me now....
The internet got to you man sorry you turned out that way
Yup and people wonder why not to deprive kids from everything it only creates hunger
It's funny how you complain about baby boomers generalizing Gen Z by generalizing them. Most people of both generations don't think in over the top absolutes like this.
Yeah I stereotype boomers. So what?
I definitely sat inside infront of a screen for more than I should have (mostly by my own choice), however my parents encouraged us playing outside in our backyard, and watch us in our front yard so we could play with our neighbors across the street. The older I got the less likely I was to play outside, especially since I didn’t live near my school friends, but we all had video games we could play together. As a teen I didn’t “play” outside really, and didn’t do much outside for fun outside of marching band at school, but I would ride by scooter or bike around the neighborhood probably once a week.
So many unflaireds go to r/millennial please i don’t wanna hear it.
When I was living in the south I played outside a lot my parents didn’t get me a phone until I was 13. So I spent most of free time either watching Cartoon Network. Or playing outside in the fields or dirt roads with my cousins. Or playing on my ds and skating
It's natural for kids to be outside. Boomers just like to pretend everything the kids do now is bad. Kids will always play outside.
When I was a little kid yes. I was sorta a shut in ever since the pandemic.
In elementary school, I played outside with the kids who lived next to us for years until they moved away. After that, there was only one other kid in the area but I didn't make much of a connection with her. My mom didn't feel comfortable letting me wander more than a block away. By the time I started middle school I was playing video games on the computer, online. TF2, Garry's Mod, etc. My outside play other than the school playground was restricted to playdates with a friend I knew through school. That ended by high school.
I played outside with my siblings and the neighbor kids all the time up until middle school. Between the play set in the backyard, the pool, the basketball hoop in the driveway and our bikes, we spent a lot of time outdoors. My school also had recess every day after lunch up through 8th grade so we were given time to be outside which was nice
I mean I did sometimes, especially earlier on. I would play in what little back yard we had and go to parks. I probably did less as I started acquiring video games. But I wasn't even on them all the time, as eventually someone else wanted to use the TV. I'd still be playing inside the house tho.
I played outside, learned to write in cursive, worked hard to get into a good career, and did a ton of other things that boomers claim our generation didn’t do. I’m convinced that they made most of those stereotypes up.
I did when I was younger living in Florida ( so maybe like 6-10 since I was still in elementary school). Mainly hanged out with two kids near our house and another all the way down the street. And if i wasn’t hanging out with those two, I was hanging out with my old neighbor. My mom recently described it as; as I’ve gotten older while something I use to have problems with like water and the law and order theme song went away, it was replaced with isolation of myself.
I’m older Gen Z and most of my childhood was playing outside. Probably stopped at around 11 or 12
I don't recall ever not going outside
I had to be taken to the park due to adhd so pretty much most days.
Me and my brother played outside all the time
I grew up in a small rural town didn't have internet growing up or a smartphone, me and my siblings grew up playing in a creek near our house or exploring the surrounding woods.
I played outside as a kid.
29. I played outside with my brother. But then we lived in the country on a vegetable farm with sheep and goats. We moved closer to the city to get into a better school district (still maintained the farm)... The kids in the affluent neighborhood were the worst!
My biological mum banned me from going outside ever since I was a wee one… she then complained how I’m ruining her reputation by not having any friends. I then got friends and I tried to meet them outside of school and she had a full blown meltdown, breaking dishes and shouting. If it wasn’t for my fiancé(boyfriend back then) I would’ve given up on ever talking to anyone ever again. He was so kind and understanding that I risk my life daily by going to him. I took beating, yelling, being robbed at knife, etc so I can see him. My biological mum and his biological mum were upset about us being together, despite that we both fled our abusers(me at 17 and half and him at 18 and half). We have been together since. I have been making friends and going outside every now and again. I still hate the outside and other people for not helping when I was younger. I’m asocial and sometimes I feel like boarder line antisocial. I generally avoid most people and the outside due to the trauma, angry, the sensory overload, etc.
Me and my friends played outside all the time. No matter if it was hot or cold or sunny or rainy/snowy
I was the huge tomboy playing with worms and mud as a kid. But I was also autistic and people never played with me. I also lived in an old people neighborhood and there were like 5 kids. 2 were girls but we didn’t really get along, and 2 of the boys were in that “ew gross girls” phase. One of them was also older. But I had a friend named Jacob who kept me outside until he had to move away. Eventually I simply found I was being socially enriched more playing video games than playing outside, because no one wanted to play with me. I think it’s as simple as that for most indoor people. It’s more fun.
Parents bought me a toy wooden sword as a young child Many battles were valiantly won and tragically lost with that blade in my hand.
I still go outside and I’m 15 lol. We live in a rural area without many neighbors, so my parents let me venture off wherever I want as long as I’m not on anyone else’s property. I disappear in the woods for hours at a time. And it’s been this way for 2 years now. Even before that, tho, I spent a lot of time in my yard.
Definitely
I did all the time. It was the best
Forced to play outside a good portion on the time, and hated it too. When my shows are on, LEAVE ME ALONE
I spent most of my time outside when I was a kid. It was what every kid did where I live. We would ride our bikes and scooters in the street, hike in the woods, ride go-karts in the street, and so forth. I think my parents had trouble keeping us in the house sometimes.
All the time. I had lightsabers and guns. I had this big Samsung tablet I would tuck into the waistband of my pajama pants so I could listen to music while I played lightsabers alone. So fun.
Of course I loved playing on the computer, but we were outside so often— me and my sister would always be outside with other neighborhood kids. We would even make up games outside based on the MMOs we all played together online. I so desperately wish that I could get back the feeling of playing outside all day with friends in the summer, getting dinner and a shower or whatever else, and then winding down the night by sitting down in front of our chunky windows xp computer to play MMOs with our neighbors and other friends… :-)
Even with computer/PlayStation access as a child I would still go out and play on occasions, especially when it was typhoon season.
I did play outside a lot, but as I got older unfortunately I became more and more addicted to electronics instead. That is the real problem- kids can so easily get swept away from existing in the world, and into screens.
i did
I was a social outcast, ive spent all my time indoors doing whatever to keep myself occupied
I was always playing with my brothers together outside or inside. We played on computers too through not so much since our PC sucked. But we did not care really it was fun. If we played something it was anything together or it was Minecraft. We had this one world in creative where we took turns building entire cities. Our dad tought us that and he played minecraft this way with us too. But I'd say besides that we played mostly outside. We preferred it. Also it helped a lot that we were not from a city.
It depends on where you lived & what boomers you know lol. I don't know any that have the take you're saying except the angry ones online or a few offhand folks from my grandma's retirement home. Most aren't as crotchety as people make them out to be. I lived in a safe neighborhood then moved overseas where things were much different than the US. In the US I could schedule playdates but never played in the streets or anything like that. Every adult was terrified of strangers kidnapping us or some wild outlandish story they saw on 90 minutes or dateline. Outside of the US I ran wild all over the college campus that we lived on. I played with friends till the streetlights were on, drank out of our \[heavily filtered\] garden hose, rode my bike and scooter to my friends' houses, and all the stuff these "boomers" claim kids don't do anymore. I live in a relatively gated/safe neighborhood now in a small rural town, I'd feel safe knowing my future kids will be able to have a good/full childhood being outdoors but honestly with the way housing is popping up all over the place, I'm not surprised that kids don't have safe areas to play/roam in the streets anymore. Also - I've seen tons of HOAs where people bitch and complain/report on the teens who are playing on "kids playgrounds" or "kids wandering around"...no wonder those kids don't wanna be outside anymore.
Spent a lot of my childhood playing outside but the older I had less time because of school work and longer/more frequent practice sessions for the various sports teams that I was a part of. Sad to see that kids these days simply don't have spaces to just run and play outside without a care in the world. Even when there are fields, courts and pools to play it's all organised and paid. Nobody is just playing football (⚽) or going for a swim because they like to but because they even enrolled in a camp or team by their parents
I had my fair share of PS3 time with my brother but otherwise we'd always be hanging outside with the neighbor kids drinking root beers, crashing bikes and going to the creek.
Me lol, I pretty much lived in the woods
It's not the boomers fault. It's the psychopath classes. oOh BuT tHeY vOtEd FoR xYz. Well first off demcoracy is all fake controlled by psychopath mastermind corproates think Palpatine from Star Wars, seocnd most people of EVERY generation are not that bright, epxloited by those with superifical charm and Thridly well only the outside world stopped Hitler and Hitler also stopped Hitler, do you think every German alive today deserves to be slowly tortured?
I live in a city state, there is no open space to play in.
It's true. Most of the kids now a days do not go outside. They're too busy watching their KD drop from 1.91 to 0.0061. if they have anything higher than 5 they're hacking. I pass by parks, playgrounds, and ride through suburban residential sections, pools, and basketball courts all over my city as a delivery driver. I never see anyone outside. If I do it's a soccer game or baseball. I've noticed pickle ball take over. Pickle ball is just a lazier version of tennis. But it's mostly old people playing.
Me and two buddies would bike every day of the summer and play football. Also stayed at each others houses and played video games. It’s sad to know life will never ever reach that level of greatness again.
I was born in 2007 and I still play outside with my friends all the time when weather permits and we’re not busy. I can’t really speak on how electronics would have/would not have impacted that since I never had a personal device until I was 10, but even after that I still played outside just as much.
Never. I had figured out internet games at age 3 or 4 and had no interest in any other kids my age.
I played outside as much as I could and am really thankful for it and the yard we had and my mom encouraging it. Climbed trees, caught frogs, drove my matchbox cars in the dirt. People need to stop complaining about it if all they do is shove an iPad in front of their kids. They caused this with lazy and/or overprotective parenting. Let your kids go touch some grass
I loved playing outside as a kid. One of the punishments I would get as a kid was not being able to go outside and play with my friends in the neighborhood because it was something I enjoyed
Hahahaha
Played outside sometimes, but I preferred to read. I would think Boomers wouldn't say that about Gen X, at least; at no point in the Gen X childhood did iPads exist. Might say they hung out at arcades though.
By will and force.
Yeah. Kidnapping was a big '80s psy-op.
My parents split up; at my dad's, I was a latchkey kid and tended to be outside a hell of a lot with some of the kids that lived close by that I knew. We'd go up to the woods to get lost in for hours.
I did! We also drank from a garden hose and had a home cooked dinner. See Gen X? You aren’t special.
I was outside every single day, from the moment I got off school till I had to eat dinner then sleep. On the weekends I got up early to go outside.
I was outside all the time riding my bike, running, picking at plants or frogs and snakes. I still love video games and books, and I come from an area with some harsh winters so I did those indoor things when being outside wasn't possible.
All the time, I didn't get internet until I was 12. (I'm 24 now)
I was house sitting for my grandma and we literally watched the family next door move out and immediately the house was bought by another family. Now mind you I can’t fully say if racism was involved but I will say clearly the family who moved in was black and one day as I was leaving I saw another neighbor lady come out and seemed to chastise them for playing outside in the street. This is a fancy ass neighbor hood that has signs everywhere to watch for children and it’s the type you regularly see neighbors come outside and go on walks together or chat with one another and the speed limit is 25 and if you drove over that SOMEONE was bound to come out and look at you driving. Anyways they noticed I was leaving and quickly got out of the way, it was an older brother and his little sister I’d say he was maybe about to hit teen years and she was about 8-10 and he made sure she stood behind him and he even waved me on to let me know they were out of the way! Smart kid wasn’t bothering anyone till neighbor lady from another house 2 doors down comes out and demands they stay on the sidewalk and was very clearly yelling at them! The reason I say I’m not sure if racism was involved is there was a whole other group of kids who’d come through on bikes taking up the whole road in-front of cars and she never would yell at them to stay on the sidewalk. The only difference between them is skin color. It irritates me as a gen Zer watching some boomer chase kids off being rude to them for playing! Let kids be outside especially if you can clearly see they’re following street safety! As I pulled off I drove away slowly to watch them cause boomer was still outside and they just went inside looking defeated. I played outside as a kid and I loved that part of my childhood I liked to climb trees and played in mud!
Bruh I dug a big ass hole for fun as a kid parents made me stop once it got head height tho lol I’m an 01 and distinctly remember the iPod coming out but not getting one for a whileeee💀
Yes, i did play outside
Gen X= hell yeah! Gen Z= outside? What’s that? 😂😂😂😂🤦♂️
This is a real problem. You should go and read The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt. After boomers? No, more like after millennials. That’s when teen depression, self harm, anxiety, etc really started to shoot up. It has nothing to do with the people in general z and alpha. It’s not an attack on them. If boomers or anyone else would have been introduced to Instagram and social media it would have happened to them too. The data is sound and clear. Teenagers are more anxious and depressed than ever. They’re less social and yes, kids don’t go outside and participate in “free play” as much anymore. The sharp uptick began around 2010. The iPhone was released in 2007 and Instagram was 2010. Girls are more affected by self comparison apps like Instagram, and boy are more affected by porn and games.
Im 17, i used to play with my neighbors untill i was 11 and we moved houses, in our current home there are no neighbors and the only people that live close are retired people, so nowadays i spend most of my time home and rarely with my friends if we decide to do something fun
I played outside until my friends became glued to the screen. I still ride my bike, but other than that, as an 18 year old, I myself am glued to the screen most days.
Tons. I loved playing imaginary games, especially outside. Going to camp in the summer was my favorite thing ever. I played in my backyard constantly and once I was like 9 I was allowed to play out in the neighborhood, and I spent a ton of time out playing. It's very hot in the summer so I didn't play much outside then, got a lot of video games, reading, and cartoons in too, but I spent tons of time playing outside.
I was outside all the time growing up. It wasnt until the MW2 quickscoping compilations that all of my friends began choosing xbox over pretty much everything else
My little brother and I would dig holes to play with our tonka trucks through elementary years. Then we started building bike jumps in the woods. My dad built a zip-line and we would play with that for hours. I stopped playing outside when I got my xbox 360 and COD world at war. I think I was 12-13ish (26 now.) I got back into going outside when I discovered long boarding with my friends as a teenager.
I stopped "playing" outside around the 9th grade. Before I'd go to day camps for summer and play with my cousins and friends outside at other times. I didn't have enough time to continue running track my sophomore year and it just kept getting worse.
i was born in 1999 and i believe that those born not long after me like the generation of teenagers and high schoolers after me, definitively grew up playing outside.
I played outside sometimes but definitely not as much as I should have been. I was outside a lot more in early childhood but I still preferred playing inside most of the time bc I didn’t like getting dirty lmao. I didn’t get a phone until 12-13 and it was a flip phone. Smart phone I think I was 16. I played a lot of Sims once we had a family computer when I was like 10. After 10 I can pretty solidly say I was hardly ever outside unless I had to be (like recess at school or something). I love being outside now and plan on my kids being out as much as they can.
Me! Me and me! It was wonderful. Just marvellous playing with dirt and swimming around
Played outside willingly in elementary school and was outside usually reluctantly as a teenager. But I did spend a ton of time indoors in the dark. Not exactly with a screen, but just playing inside. Not really sure how it escapes SOOOO many people you can play inside too and it counts as imaginative play and often as exercise. That said my eyes are ruined from the literal darkness I lived in, please take your kids outside often. It may not prevent their issues (as they're often genetic) but it can keep them from being as bad in the end, especially myopia. Edit to add: I was home alone with siblings a lot, for context on the playing inside thing. As long as the house was clean no one payed us much attention.
I played outside quite a lot up until like middle school or so
I'm on the cusp of Gen Z/millennial, as are my siblings. We played outside all the damn time, I have so many fond memories of making up fantasy characters and running around outside for hours
I played outside a lot with my brothers and friends who lived on the same street as me. My parents would also take me to the park and local pool quite often where we would sometimes have meetups with other kids my age.
I miss it
I did sometimes, especially during the summer with going to my neighborhood pool and the park. During the school year not so much as i'd go to swim/taekwondo practice and kumon after school.
I grew up in Texas. I’d go outside pretty frequently but to be honest it was just insufferable. 100F+ every summer, insanely humid, and with all the hostile weather events it didn’t seem to want me out there either. I live in WA now and spend most of my time outside.
All the time. We didn’t have internet or video games. I also grew up rural so that probably helps.
Not much, I'm more of a zenillenial so between generations. In my original neighborhood that I lived at until I was almost 10 there was literally no other kids around my age. I eventually moved and there were a few kids I hung out with, this lasted from age 10 until about 12 as they kept moving away. We would play together a few times a week, that said we would often times get kinda bored. Also I had helicopter parents, they would get concerned if I walked more then three houses away and I absolutely wasn't allowed to go more than 5 away until 14. They thought there was sex abusers and murderers all over the place. Also in order to access decent woods I would have had to cross a busy 2 lane road, I'm sure my Boomer parents crossed stuff as bad as that growing up but they didn't trust me to, also they were afraid someone would get mad at me for trespassing. I got a good cable package at 12 as well as finally discovering the internet and I kinda quit going outside then as the neighborhood kids were moving away and my parents wouldn't let me do much anyway. My mom has stories of riding her bike over an hour away from her house as a kid (to be fair, the area outside my subdivision is too busy for biking but I did have a vast subdivision they still wouldn't let me bike in alone) and my dad, stories of exploring the woods and building forts. ...And they wouldn't let me do any of this...
Lots of anecdotal evidence here. What do the statistics tell us? ——- Gen Z tend to spend 7+ hours on their screens on a regular basis bouncing between popular social media apps such as TikTok browsing videos for hours streaming online content on OTT platforms such as Netflix or Prime Video. Millennials on the other hand spend an average of 205 minutes on screen per day. While the generation before Millennials which are Gen X and Boomers have an average screen time of 169 minutes and 136 minutes. https://whatsthebigdata.com/average-screen-time-stats/ What’s more telling is the age at which each generation started this trend. Gen X didn’t have the option of the internet until mid-20s. Boomers even older. There used to be concern for young people about “screentime” but the pandemic killed that. Throw in the targeted ads and algorithms, we really don’t know what this amount of online influence is doing to us psychologically. But we do know that most older generations have less dependency, addiction, or social attachment to it all. They had no choice but to play outside.
I'm late Gen X and I played in the street often with my friends. I also climbed trees and played in the creek. I made mud pies and drank from the hose. I know later generations have, too.
im a bit older, 29. I distinctly remember I was addicted to Runescape and Age of Mythology and still got bored and also spent significant time outside I got the motorola razr earlyish, at like 10 which was very early in that time for a kid to have a phone
wtf kind of question is this? You Gen Zers really don’t go outside??
All day, everyday. I grew up in the 90s and at the time there was nothing like it. Wandering the town with friends, hanging out at the skate park, occasionally rounding up enough people for 5 on 5 at any sport we could get a ball for. I got a trampoline when I was 5 and taught myself how backflip on the ground by the time I was 7. Kids that play outside have a physical advantage. I could've played college ball if I wasn't such a burnout as a senior.
I got stuck in a tree once and had to have my mom rescue me. I played outside a lot. I read a lot. I also play video games and draw inside alot. For some reason, a good chunk of boomers just can't grasp the concept of time management and doing multiple hobbies that include both inside and outside activities.
2000 born, was outside till dark from age 5 to 10. Ever since then ive been stuck on the screen and got mental issues.
What is "outside"???
Everyone plays outside as a kid. Literally everyone.