I
have a growing suspicion that maintaining innocence in a developing person for as long as possible may be extremely vital work. Innocence is a pretty well derided virtue these days. In our age of information overload, we come to the table assuming that our children are going to be stripped of their innocence quickly and efficiently by the internet, and the baseness of our culture. We've decided to call this a good thing. Pornography, graphic violence, millenarian fears, existential questioning -- if a twelve year old hasn't been exposed to all of these things in modern America, they're a substantial outlier.
I imagine that a pretty good percentage of the mental health issues we're dealing with in this day and age come from introduction of these brutal realities before people are well-equipped to categorize them. At best, I think we end up with cynical, hedonistic adults; at worst, these disruptions of young minds probably lead to serious trauma, and deeply affect the way that people build trust and relationships.
Ten years ago, I never would have thought I'd be crying out about protecting children from violence and porn, but here we are. The world won't end if a child plays violent video games -- but I think children need an extended, stable period in which they build strength in a world that they believe is not out to hurt or exploit them. We should be learning about evil only once we have the inner reserves to resist it. Innocence is a crucial time in which to gather strength, and grow in virtue, uninhibited by fear.