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Notes -
Maybe your experience is more common in the vast low-density landscapes of America, but to me that sounds pretty atypical. Even in a tiny village you'd have a bunch of kids you'd hang out with. This wasn't always for the better, because bored kids in a low-stimulation environment would come up with dumb ideas, but the specific problem of isolation wasn't really there.
I don't know if comparing watching TV with a trip to the theater makes sense, it's not like you'd do the latter every day after work, for most people I knew maybe went once or twice per year. It's not something you'd do to be social, but something you'd do to "uplift" yourself culturally. The mention of restaurants also feels neither here nor there, yeah it was a treat, normally you'd just eat at home with your family, and the typical family size tended to be larger that 2+1.
Don't get me wrong, there were always loners that preferred their own company, and by the sound of it, that seems to have been the case in your entire family, but it was nowhere bear as widespread as nowadays. Plus, the technology we have nowadays turned even social activities, like playing games with your friends or dating, into something rather alienating.
Maybe, but I'm skeptical. It's not just a question of looking at the past through rose-tinted glasses, I can literally just travel to parts of the world that ate less affected by these social changes and notice they still have things like kids of all ages playing by themselves on the streets, and compare it to my country where it used to be a common sight, but isn't anymore.
Traditionalists always catch heat for nostalgia, but as far as I can tell the problem is perfectly symmetrical. There are people who find it really hard to believe that progress caused something to get worse, and once they get over that hump they'll insist nothing can be done about it.
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