Eradicating Naivety

The fear of the unknown and even the fear of the barely familiar seems to be quite the cause for concern for many people. It seems to me that in this day and age of the information superhighway that runs multiple lanes we seem to be quite timid about doing the work to discover what others who came before us spent days, hours and weeks pouring over dusty old books. Reading clippings in newspapers and listing to the latest news on radios and TV used to be the only way a person could become informed of the world around them. Now with the internet being so much a part of ones life information is but a few clicks away. How then is it still possible that the world still has people who are naive. Looking up the definition of it on the online Webster dictionary I am give the following descriptor. "deficient in worldly wisdom or informed judgment". 

When anything you want to know from Aardvarks to Zoot suits are readily available why the naivety? I think that there is a growing trend to stay in our comfort zone. This seems to be reenforced with kids today when we tell them to not talk to strangers, be safe, don't climb that tree, don't wander too far from home, in-fact don't leave home at all. All these restrictions to protect them when they are still in grade school and then college rolls around and its a "thanks for playing, now move out and find your own way". To muddle this even more while I enjoy the ability to learn about the world around me via the mode of the internet even that is getting to the point were children need to be guarded from it. 

So where does this leave us? The only way I see how we can influence future as well as current generations to be more curious is to create environments that are safe in which they are able to explore and learn without fear. Train the young that stranger danger does not mean avoid all people that you don't know or people that are different. This just promotes ethnic and racial walls. I cant say what may be best for everyone as that is a choice that each person may need to make for them selves, however I think that we as a society should no longer be naive. Lets be aware of what is going on around us so that we can be better citizens of it and influence it to a higher plain.