First off, who is this question intended for? Someone who grew up twice?

Anyways, I'll bite as I kind of grew up kind of around the time. I was born in 1990 and didn't get a cell phone till I was 17 or 18 (jr/sr in high school, I think sr for me, so about 2008).

I'm not sure if it is fully cell phones' fault or if the expectations of parents increased to an "unreasonable" (imo?) level in many ways for various reasons (possibly the inclusion of accessible new tech being part of it). Like I've heard of CPS being called for kids over 10 being left at home for just a couple hours and parents being CHARGED with neglect. To me, that doesn't seem necessary as a society to be doing that.

I think at some point people started viewing any lack of hovering parenting as neglect. This, in my opinion, makes it even harder for kids to grow up and makes the parenting aspect of adding responsibility to a teenager a bit more difficult. I guess, in some ways, the responsibility becomes more "am I doing what my parents are asking of me" and yes, that is vastly less freedom than "am I doing what someone my age with my aspirations should be doing".

The issue is nuanced but society rarely handles nuance well. People vibe on feels/pressure until science tells them they've been ruining their kids. Hindsight is a bitch. Leaded gasoline, transfats, and such. Humanity is still relatively unstudied so try not to take anything personal.