Youtube resembles TV but the apparent commercial breaks aren't. Much of the purported content on youtube is shilling less thinly-veiled than the '80s most toyetic TV shows.

"We now return to your regularly-scheduled commercial."

"Oh good, I didn't miss a moment of this week's episode of Product Unboxing."

"This week's episode of Product Unboxing features the limited edition Thneed Premium but first I gotta give a shout out to my sponsor..."

True, and ads were damaging back then as well, and I believe that was also quite problematic for society.

However, we should also note that ads have gotten worse, more insidious, and personalized with tracking and that's rather creepy.

Which consumerist propaganda video on TV was your childhood favorite? My favorite is a tie between Trix and Cookie Crisp -- two cereals so good you had to protect them from thieves. Now that I think about it, maybe Lucky Charms is my favorite because in those commercials the children were the thieves!

This is why my parents only permitted me to watch public broadcasting until I was 13. I didn't appreciate it at the time but in retrospect they were right. It's utterly bizarre how much time most kids spent watching commercial propaganda.

I spent half a day with a family (friend of a girlfriend) many years ago and was blown away by their home and parenting, which was very much what I'd want if I was ever a parent (which I won't be). No screens visible except a TV that I never saw turned on, no computers visible, no electronic toys, and very few toys in general. Their child, maybe age 9, was amazing - didn't ask for anything, wasn't pleading for sugar or TV time or toys or attention. She was having a lot of fun politely socializing with adults and amusing herself with drawing, crafts, and reading.

It's wild to see a lot of parenting in contrast. Kids come home from school, instantly sit down on phone or tablet, will complain incessantly or throw a tantrum if it's taken away for any amount of time, and eat whatever they want whenever they want and also tantrum if they can't. Usually involves a lot of yelling by parent with zero effect on child.