Editing Innocence (section)

==In relation to knowledge==
Innocence can imply lesser [[experience]] in either a relative view to social peers, or by an absolute comparison to a more common normative scale. In contrast to ''[[ignorance]]'', it is generally viewed as a positive term, connoting an [[Optimism|optimistic]] view of the world, in particular one where the lack of wrongdoing stems from a lack of knowledge, whereas wrongdoing comes from a lack of knowledge in children. Subjects such as [[crime]] and [[human sexuality|sexuality]] may be especially considered. This connotation may be connected with a popular [[false etymology]] explaining "innocent" as meaning "not knowing" (Latin {{lang|la|noscere}} — to know, learn). The actual etymology is from general negation prefix {{lang|la|in-}} and the Latin {{lang|la|nocere}}, "to harm".

People who lack the mental capacity to understand the nature of their acts may be regarded as innocent regardless of their behavior. From this meaning comes the usage of ''innocent'' as a noun to refer to a child under the [[Age of reason (canon law)|age of reason]], or a person, of any age, who is severely [[Developmental disability|mentally disabled]]. 

[[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]] described "childhood as a time of innocence" where children are "not-knowing" and must reach the age of reason to become competent people in society. However, as technology advances, children in the contemporary world have a platform where they are referred to as "digital natives", where they appear to be more knowledgeable in some areas than adults.<ref>{{cite book|last=Boyd|first=Danah|title=It's Complicated: the Social Lives of Networked Teens|location=New Haven|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2014}}</ref>