Eight hundred thousand. That is how many children and young people accessed NHSThe National Health Service, the publicly funded healthcare system in the UK. The NHS was founded in 1948. mental health services in just the last year. That includes 20% of all 16-year-old girls.¹

The culprit? Most say the blame rests firmly on social media. Just last month, a major study found a clear correlation between rates of anxietyA feeling of unease or worry. It can be mild or very severe. and depressionLow mood that affects someone's daily life, and can last for weeks or months. and time spent on social media sites.²

Which is why some think it is time to get young people off social media for good. A new law proposes raising the age at which social media companies can allow users to sign up from 13 to 16.

For some, this evokes an older notion of childhood as a time that should be spent far from the worries and the evils of the world.

In 1794, English poet William BlakePoet and printmaker associated with the Romantic Age (late 1700s and early 1800s). The Romantics were often doubtful of the value of science - they thought it gave reason too much credit. wrote a set of poems based on this idea, called Songs of Innocence and Experience. He criticised those who sent small children off to sweep chimneys or work in dangerous factories.

They should instead be given the space for idle play, exploration and moral learning.³

The term "innocence" ultimately derives from the LatinThe language of Ancient Rome and its empire. Today it is considered a dead language, but it was for a long time the language of academics and scholars. "in-", meaning "not", and "nocere", meaning "to harm". That is why we can be "innocent" of a crime.

But it has also taken on a more general meaning: someone who has not yet done any harm to the world. Historically, this meant it was closely associated with children.⁴

As such, many thinkers who believed the world was a bad and vicious place pinned their hopes on children, who had not yet been corrupted by it.

Swiss philosopher Jean-Jacques RousseauAn 18th Century Swiss philosopher whose book Reveries of the Solitary Walker extolled the virtues of being alone in nature. argued that children must be educated in such a way as to retain their initial innocent goodness.⁵

In the same way, some adults today hope that if children are kept away from the corrupting influences of modern media they might be able to build us a better future.

Do we need more innocence?

Yes: We are incredibly lucky to live in an age where most children are not sent out into the fields or up chimneys. Yet instead they are on the frontline of social media. We must strive to preserve them from the world's horrors.

No: The day will come when young people must face the evils of the world. It is better that they already have some exposure to it before that day arrives.

Or... Innocence should not only be for children. We must all be engaged in the process of building a better world without the evils that threaten everyone's innocence.