Were kids in 80s actually allowed to roam around unsupervised, or is that just in movies?

It’s terribly sad that Gen Z folks post this same question on Reddit every few days. The world that was seems to them some impossible phantasmagoric dream.

But yes, almost all kids roamed wherever they liked in the 1980s after the age of 9-10. Not just those with “bad” parents. In fact, the “bad” parents back then were ones who didn’t let their kids outside much. Then that would’ve been considered at least near-abuse.

Deny it as many people do, but the fact is the world has changed immensely since that time. It feels very foreign now even to me and I lived it.