[pmontra]

I was born in the second half of the 20th century, I read Pinocchio as a child and the Grimm brothers and more. Those were the books for children. Did they damage us compared to kids of 50 years later? I can't tell. Probably nobody can tell until at least next century.

[MarsIronPI]

Well it can't be worse than TikTok-induced brainrot, so if that's what we replace Pinocchio with then I'd say we were better off before.

[OJFord]

I don't know which version you read of course, but worth noting they've been increasingly diluted over the years, in much the same way as OP says Disney did to Pinocchio.