Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Think Tank #50

Why are children afraid of the dark?

I’m not talking about a ‘rational’ fear of the dark, like not wanting to walk around a cluttered room in case you might fall.

I’m talking about the imagination running wild—that jacket hung up in the corner of the room is a wraith that was birthed from the shadows, that faint whistling wind outside is a demon beckoning you towards your window.

It’s strange, right? It doesn’t happen right away. Infants and toddlers generally don’t freak out when their parents turn the lights off.

When kids get a little older, though, something changes. They start to become more aware.

Kids become afraid of the dark when they start to understand that life is dangerous. Perhaps they’ve broken a bone for the first time and learned that their bodies are not invincible. Perhaps their goldfish died (or their grandma), and they learned that they, too, will not live forever.

The world is a scary place. This fact is lost on very young children. But when it’s realized, it opens up a world of possibilities. Their worldview has been shattered. Suddenly, everything they think is safe is in jeopardy.

Then why does this stop when we get older? Shouldn’t adults be more afraid of everything, having been exposed to more of the countless ways that life can absolutely devastate you?

Adults are more entrenched in their ways. Yeah, they have even more experience with life’s horrors than most children, but their experience has told them that their bedroom is basically safe, that flickering lights are power surges, not angry spirits.

Also, somewhat more depressingly, we’ve lost our imagination. Ask a kid to come up with a story, and see how easy it is for him to dream up a concept that would’ve taken you a week to hash out. They’re wired for creativity.

The narrowing of possibilities that occurs in the adult mind makes us more sure of ourselves, but it also stops us from dreaming.

So, while it’s nice to be able to wake up in the middle of the night to pee without turning on every light in the house and to sleep with one foot out of the covers when it’s slightly warm, it’s kind of sad that we’re not afraid of the dark anymore.

It means we’ve given up on the idea that anything is possible.