I have a bit of a theory as to why this is happening more. It is not being distracted, in my opinion. It is being dissociated from reality. In a variety of ways. When we scroll through facebook, when we outsource our responsibilities, ect. I think the current state of daycare is a very important piece of the equation. Let me see if I can explain.
The other day, in a current thread, there was a link to an old thread on the topic. I went to it and of course, after reading it, I went on to read about 30 more, because the archives just suck you right in!
The main theme (most of these were from the 2011 timeframe) was that kids spend more time in daycare than they do with their parents. A very common theme were kids at daycare open to close, every day, who would go home and be put to bed. The amount of awake time with the parent is getting less and less. We already know this is not good for the child, but I am curious as to how it effects the parent. This may be one of the effects. I don't think it is intentional, but I do think that it can be a result of habitual absence from your child. A mild and temporary form of dissociation is also called "daydreaming". Now, if you have children and are around your kids, you know that the luxury of daydreaming is very rare
. They snap you back into reality every 15-30 seconds or so. If you are not around them, you can daydream to your brain's content. I wonder if parents who spend long hours away from their child every day are in a sort of altered state of reality for such a long period of time, that it transfers to the time they are actually with their children as well, hence forgetting your kid. As a nation, we have normalized the outsourcing of our parenting responsibilities to the point that we forget we are parents, even when we are with our children. It is kind of mind boggling. I think the chemistry of the brain plays a huge factor, but in terms of accountability, maybe parents need to be scared into coming back to reality. I know that daycare is our bread and butter, but I wish that when people got pregnant, their first concern was not about which daycare to send them too once they are born. Every single one of the stories listed in the OP would have been prevented if that was the case.
Anyways, this is just my theory and opinion on how we prioritize life in 2018. It kind of doesn't shock me anymore that kids are forgotten, since it is hard to remember something that you are rarely around.
If parents had to feel the full impact of 24 hour care of their child, I think it would be incredibly hard to forget your child. They literally become a part of your normal, because they are the REALITY. We are parents 24/7, but I DO think daycare allows parents to check out for a very long period of that time, and maybe that messes with the brain chemistry and leads to these types of incidences.