Overprotective Parents and the Harm They Can Do To Their Kids

Overprotective parents -I hope you're not one of them, or you'll never become one of them.
My parents are overprotective and all I can say is that it affected me in many ways, most of them negatively. First thing, it has made me be afraid of almost anything. Ever since I can remember, my parents wouldn't let me ride a bike, skip rope, or even ride the bumper cars alone. They wouldn't let me go outside and play with my friends, they always demanded that they'd held my hand to cross the road even when I was 15. They wouldn't let me go outside for a walk around our neighborhood afraid that a car might run me over while trying to cross a street!
Later on when I became a teenager, they didn't even want to hear the word boyfriend. They checked my cell phone regularly for "suspicious text messages from boys", and my e-mails for the same reason. They still checked if I had done my homework forcing me to learn everything by heart and then go and recite it to them, so that they'll know I had done it. If they didn't like a friend of mine they'd never let me hang out with her again, needless to say that it was even off limits to have guy friends. I wasn't allowed to wear make-up till I turned 18, I wasn't even allowed to study what I wanted to in college because they feared I might have financial problems later on with my life.
Now I'm in college, thankfully living on my own, but my parents still pressure me to call them everyday day, three times a day, tell them that I studied, tell them about my day, confirm that I still have no boyfriend. And if I'm in a hurry to close the phone or get annoyed by the fact that they do this to me they simply recite the whole "You don't love us, we only have a few hours a day to talk and you treat us like shit, and you should love your parents and talk to them about everything because they're the only people that trully love you" speech.
I know my parents love me and only did and still do this for my own good, in their opinion, but as I said above, this thing has mostly affected me negatively. I'm afraid of forming a relationship and telling my parents about it, because I know they won't approve of it, I'm scared of not being able to be at home on time for the scheduled time that we talk on the phone. I only hang out with people that my parents approve of, and of course I never go out at night afraid that they'll find out. I'm also scared of becoming a parent in the future, afraid that I'll do to my child what my parents did to me.
There's a thin line between protecting your child and advising your child about the dangers in life, and overprotectiveness. Sometimes it's good to let your child make their own mistakes and learn from them.
What do you think? Are you an overprotective parent? Were your parents overprotective, if so how has it affected you? Tell me your story.