I grew up in the 70s and 80s in Los Angeles with unbreathable air. Parks were already few while I snuck across a golf course to get home from school. My parents both worked, so they didn’t have time or inclination to say what I did with my time.

In areas even more urban than mine, kids played in construction zones and abandoned buildings, which made for a regular run of injuries and tetanus shots. All this is to say, kids weren’t enjoying nature much before the microchips, and if we had parks, we’d probably have more games like Pokémon Go that encouraged engagement with outside (or hacking your GPS to the Himalayas).

The microchip is a tiny part of a much bigger picture of deterioration.

I’m reminded of the bus stop line of newspaper readers and the fret that we no longer socialize at bus stops like we once did.