Again, you can access all my Medium articles from my blog. There's even a link there that duplicates this "trove" link list. I've linked that blog list of the articles below.

I actually wrote something along the lines of your idea. I wrote two articles on modern infantilization, including one that argues that this effect was baked into the Age of Reason. See the last section of "American Infantilization and the Age of Reason" (second link below). The section's called "The Childishness of the Age of Reason."

http://rantswithintheundeadgod.blogspot.com/2013/02/map-of-rants.html

https://medium.com/@benjamincain8/american-infantilization-and-the-age-of-reason-2da7faf92c34?sk=a76c121e43a5314438d12c81e04be822