I think a contributing factor, among many, is that many kids are BUSY compared to when I was a kid. I look at the difference between my time commitments growing up, to what my kids have, and it is crazy. We limit them to two extra curricular activities...which is light compared to many of our friends and their kids. Even with that "light" load. My 9 year old has the following every week on top of school:
- Homework: at least 3 nights a week, and way more than I had at his age
- Reading (at home) everyday for a minimum of 30 min (usually does 60)
- Practice violin (at home): 4 days, total of 2.5 h/wk on top of giving up his "work" time at school thereby making more homework.
- Swim practice: 5 days @ 1.5 h per practice (this sounds insane, until you meet my son...he is the theoretical maximum energy you can put in a human without them catching fire)
- Sunday School & Church
The 6 year old's schedule is almost as packed, except he only swims 3x1h, and has choir instead of violin...and these are "light" schedules for many of the kids I know.
We try to defend the unstructured time as much as possible, but there are only so many hours in the day. When we are all actually at home together we try to do things that all of us want to do, and Mom ain't into rockets and building stuff...she built a rocket in a real effort, but it just isn't her deal. As such, board games are our "hobby"/family time...Harry Potter Clue, Hogwarts Battle, and Exploding Kittens consume many hours around here. Just getting to a launch is almost impossible with swim meets, and other commitments, so rocketry is tough to pursue. When we do get a rare free weekend it competes with the other things the kids need exposure to, like the outdoors (and I don't mean a rocket field). I call it our "Why I love the CCC tour". We run off to go hiking in places where cell phones don't work...we try for at least two of these a year (Ozarks National Forest and Big Bend National Park were the 2017 destinations).
Screen time is also a less simple consideration than many think it is/make it out to be. Screens are a fact of life, and are only getting more important. That trendline won't change until Skynet becomes self aware, and renders the argument moot. I don't let my kids sit around and play games all the time. They get about 2-3 hours per week on their tablets to play Angry bird type games, but there is some value in that too. Getting to the point where interfacing with technology is second nature is increasingly important in the workplace, and again that arrow is only going one way. Knowing how top effectively communicate electronically, Powerpoint, etc. is a skill they will need, and I dearly wish my contemporaries and those older than me knew better how to do (Don't read me every word on the freakin slide!).
I don't know if this is really offered as an explanation, a defense, or a cry for help...it is what it is. Which is definitely a significantly busier pace than I grew up with, and I'm only 38.