[PCWorld]

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[jonarosen]

Fifty years ago? Try maybe fifteen to twenty. I'm 38 myself, and I can remember bicycling to school, where the only real worry from my parents was to wear my helmet. This was back when Compuserv and Prodigy were still burgeoning. Don't talk to strangers was common, but also COMMON SENSE. Something that parents are lacking these days and that no one teaches to kids.
Being a night-owl by nature, I was often up after curfew, doing LEGOS or reading books, or comics. Texting is just still the 'new' thing. This is nothing new. Kids will stay up late, and be tired the next day. Kids WILL be bullied. It's a part of life.
If you want to give your kids a better life TEACH them what is right and wrong. TEACH them what common sense is and how to use it. TEACH them how to use their minds. God forbid, PUNISH them with more than taking their phone away if they misbehave. Kids are coddled so badly now that when they enter the real world after school, they will FAIL and not know how to deal with it.