The big difference today is how ruthless the competition is to position yourself for a rewarding career in science. Even at a young age, you need to be setting yourself apart with accomplishments not just curiosity.

If you were to read the the autobiography of many of today's top scientists like E.O. Wilson [0], they explicitly say that they wouldn't be accepted into hard science program today with a childhood spent collecting bugs.

So the "scary" part of little Johnny going through an Xbox phase for a few years is that even if he comes out the other side curious about the natural world, little Suzy has already entered the Intel Science Fair, made connections at a research university, etc.

[0]: http://www.amazon.com/Letters-Young-Scientist-Edward-Wilson/...