Something has gone seriously wrong for children in the UK. On the radio, in the papers, among friends; everyone is talking about the epidemic of childhood unhappiness and anxiety. Smartphones, social media, and easy access to violent content and pornography are, of course, part of it. The rising tide of anger at under-regulated tech companies is justified. But there has been another huge change to childhood in recent years – the almost total loss of children and their play from the streets and neighbourhoods around us.
Children and their games, their scooters, their chalks and bouncing balls have vanished, replaced by speeding traffic and parked cars. And in losing doorstep play, children have lost the hours of exploration and physical activity that nature designed them to seek out in order to thrive. This, along with the slow erosion of time for play in schools and the austerity-driven closure of youth spaces, is profoundly changing childhood.
