Bridging the Policy Gap

I have been attending meetings and conferences about Bridging the Policy Gap which is a European Strategy to tackle poverty. The Swansea group met with visitors from Glasgow and the London Borough of Newham in the Pheonix Centre and we had 2 very productive days about the Play Strategy.
I will be going to Glasgow next week for further meetings. The play strategy is all about how to have an effective policy on play, to enable children to play safely, with adventure, to learn to make mistakes and learn from them, to be given the freedom to play, to have access for ALL children regardless of race, disability, etc. It is important that service providers communicate and work in partnership together to have the best outcomes for children's play.
I have found these meetings very interesting. We did an exercise about what we did, and where we played when we were children. I drew a picture of trees, woods, river, lots of friends and outdoor imaginative play. If you think about what children do today - there is such a difference... children are not given the freedom to go out and be adventerous with out being told off, without having adult supervision, or being allowed to make mistakes. They are wrapped up in cotton wool! There is also all the new technology thats available, where children spend hours on end on computers, play stations, and talk to their mates on mobile phones - rather than meet them face to face and have fun out in the fresh air... how times have changed.
I was out from morning til night, with out my parents having picnics in the woods, playing hide n seek over the park, and never got into trouble - should we allow kids to have the freedom I had? People say about strangers lurking about and the dangers of sex offenders - but they were always there even when i was a child, but its just made more public these days. What is your opinion on children's play today?