Recently, The Atlantic published a fantastic article about kids and phones in which the authors uncovered what kids in our country really want to be doing with their time.

To look at this question, Lenore Skenazy, author of Free-Range Kids, Zach Rausch, senior research scientist at NYU, and Jonathan Haidt, renowned social psychologist, helped to conduct a Harris Poll in which kids themselves were asked what would get them off their phones and what kinds of activities they prefer.

The results?

Kids want unstructured time to play with their friends. And their parents aren't allowing this.

We blame phones, we blame social media, we blame gaming for kids not playing outside and with friends more, but it seems to be time to look at ourselves.

In the poll, 500 kids between 8 and 12 were asked for their opinions. A majority reported having smartphones, and about half of the 12-year-olds said their friends are on social media. Kids spend more time than we would like on these devices. But what light did the poll shed on this?

Most of the kids polled said they aren't allowed out in public without an adult. Over half of the 8- and 9-year-olds said they aren't allowed to go down a grocery aisle alone, and over a quarter are not allowed to play unsupervised with friends.

So what has

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