From an evolutionary perspective children are, literally, designed to learn. Childhood is a special period of protected immaturity. It gives the young breathing time to master the things they will need to know in order to survive as adults.
What happens when children reach puberty earlier and adulthood later? The answer is: a good deal of teenage weirdness.
Imaginary friends are one of the weirder forms of pretend play in childhood. But the research shows that imaginary friends actually help children understand the other people around them and imagine all the many ways that people could be.
One of the most distinctive evolutionary features of human beings is our unusually long, protected childhood.
The radio was an improvement on the telegraph but it didn't have the same exponential, transformative effect.
Texts and e-mails travel no faster than phone calls and telegrams, and their content isn't necessarily richer or poorer.