science

That implies that kids are making an executive decision to stick things up their noses, and search for options. That can be true, like if their noses are really itchy; but it can also just whatever nearby miscellany they happen to be curious about.

But really, its the shape is relevant. Because these are cases that require a parent takes them to ED, meaning they couldnt solve it themselves. A coin that goes up and turns flat is muuuch harder to get out than something with points or edges to grab, like a LEGO man. Perhaps it's not that kids are sticking less things up there, it's that coins are more likely to get trapped up there.

I can't tell you the minds of toddlers man, but if ED's records say less toddlers are going to ED for nose-junk, then they probably are, and we can speculate on why that is.