Development shapes that skill. As children’s memory, attention, and theory-of-mind mature, they gain the tools to predict consequences of knowing. Social changes—more complex friendships, schooling, and digital exposure—create situations where some truths can harm social standing or cause worry. Those changes allow young people to evaluate when information will be useful, distracting, or harmful, and then to act on that evaluation.
Thinking about deliberate ignorance through a developmental lens connects to human potential and inclusion. If choosing not to know requires cognitive and social resources, then some children will have more access to that choice than others. Understanding how that capacity grows offers ways to support kids in managing information wisely, protecting mental space, and navigating digital life with intention. Curious about which specific capacities matter and how environments shape those choices? The full article explores mechanisms and examples that illuminate how not knowing becomes a skill.
In an information-rich world the ability to choose not to know is an important cognitive tool. But what are the developmental origins of deliberate ignorance? We identify a selection of cognitive capacities and changes in children’s information ecology that make deliberate ignorance increasingly possible – and desirable – across development.