It’s been happening quietly for decades: Fewer and fewer kids are walking or biking to school. The number is at about 11% today, down from about half of all kids under 15 in the 1960s. Even more staggering, back then nearly 90% of kids who lived less than a mile from school would walk or bike on a daily basis.

This shift is often chalked up to today’s parents. Anxious Generation author Jonathan Haidt frequently calls on parents to give kids more autonomy, arguing that sheltered kids are more likely to be anxious and depressed.

But there’s just one problem: Has anyone weighing in on this shift actually tried walking to school recently?

YouTuber tries walking from childhood home to elementary school; complications ensue

Evan Edinger, a wildly popular creator on YouTube and social media, recently decided to visit his hometown of Deptford, New Jersey. As an experiment, he wanted to see what it would be like to walk from his childhood home to his old elementary school—a distance of just one mile—in the year 2025.

The walk starts at the home he grew up in and the little development of homes and apartments that surrounded it.

“There’s a lot of people. It’s a really nice, safe place. But you might have noticed something pretty important seems to be missing in this safe little development,” he says. “Sidewalks.”

Indeed, Edinger begins the video by walking down the middle of his admittedly quiet street. He also notes that he can’t walk too close to the side of the road because it’s overgrown with weeds and poison ivy.

“It’s just crazy that this entire area can’t afford a single sidewalk,” he says.

Soon, he’s out of his immediate neighborhood. On a slightly bigger road, he’s forced to walk in a bike lane, right next........

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