Sun Bending Seeding Stem Germinated Indoors - Should I harden off?

No, it is not killing it. It either needs water or is bending to follow the sun as it moves through the sky. Obviously, indoors the light is usually fixed in one position, meaning the stem stays straight up. Outdoors, the sun moves from one horizon to the opposite one, through 180 degrees. The plant will follow the path of the sun, meaning the stem will bend towards the sun in its various positios throughout the day. In the very early morning, some seedling stems can be bent almost 90 degrees as it waits for the sun to appear on the horizon. If this seed was sprouted indoors and placed outside the next day, it will not need "hardening off". Late afternoon, the sun is at about 45 degrees, which is exactly what your seedling is doing and this is completely normal and to be expected. There is no need to make any sort of cover/tent for it, it will be just fine. Sunlight and varying/forcing nutrient intake is absolute BS, the plant only takes what it needs. How do people think cannabis has survived in nature for tens of thousands of years with full sun and rain storms? Water your plant properly....deeply and until run off, the advice of "just a teaspoon next to the stem" is garbage, this does nothing, you want the water down deep, where the roots are headed. A cannabis plants' roots will be as long, if not longer, than the plant is tall, this is why deep watering is essential and a thimble or shot glass of water is pointless. My advice is based on forty years of outdoor cultivation and real world experience, not interweb ghetto science. Good luck and no need to worry, everything is ay ok!