I wonder just who funds, & controls this ACCM? It sounds like a Greenpeace offshoot to me.

We find they want to "protect" our kids from those nasty advertisers, but are desperate to expose them to as much "green" propaganda as they possibly can.

A real worry is the idea that watching TV gives us global warming. Wow, & all this time they have been saying it's because of that plant food, CO2.

Just as well we have someone like Barbara to set us on the greenie path to poverty, & eternal happiness, without her & her like, we might never know how unhappy we should be.

Dear Cheryl,
Children are not as discriminating as you think. You simplify the western malaise. And it's not only children who are sucked in. We might drive one car individually, but most families own two or three. We might eat three meals a day, but at least two of them are probably eaten on the run and most of them are pre-packaged or tossed together by a kid just out of highschool who could be putting their time toward attaining a real skill. Our houses are born perfectly formed, at least twice as big as they need to be.
We adhere to an inflated mean when it comes to consumption because we have been conditioned to do so at an early age. Indoctrinating children is really just a continuum in the chain - to the rest of us it is so ingrained that some of us have lost the ability to question it.

People have been aspiring to achieve for millennium, and consumption is largely a sign of achievement.

Luddites like BB might like to look back a few decades to "when life was simpler" with rose tinted glasses, but people were no different then, they just had less technology.

Life without technology was generally short, dreary and tragic. While wishing that life could be better, looking at the past is at best myopic, and at worst self destructive.

Well said Shadow Minister.

We all want the best and more for our children.

Who are these people who want less for their children?

Poirot, this is so confusing "constantly entertained, force-fed information - at home and at school, no creative input in their lives and a resulting total dislocation from the knowledge that sustains life"

Constantly entertained, for fed information .. but no creative input in their lives .. what? Did you read that before you posted it?

What total dislocation? I assure you kids are not dislocated from life or vox populi, they may have no interest for things you think are good, butt hat's hardly current, is it?

The young today are learning how to deal with constant information, in huge volumes - you may wish for a simpler life with few stimulants, but that's not how it is anymore .. and never will be again, well unless you move to North Korea - everyone else is trying to grow, inprove and expand.

Kids do not want less, it's the human condition to strive for more, to improve their lot for themselves and their offsprong .. so let them, it's good for them.

Why do have so many luddites in the community today, probably the same ones who do not want the climate to change! It will change regardless of what we do and the young will seek ever more information and stimulation.

No, odo,(sigh) I didn't read it before I posted - I am capable of composing my own sentences.

Always the same call from those who advocate extreme consumption, never-ending growth and information overload. The minute someone suggests a more measured level of consumption, they are labelled Luddites and invited to take a look at North Korea.

I get it now , odo. You are saying that what I wrote didn't make sense to you. What I was getting at is the lack of creative endeavour required by the average child in exploring his/her world. Throughout history, humans have learned and developed by hands-on interaction with the world that surrounds them.
All too soon childhood is now usurped by television and virtual computer worlds (not to mention their collective incarceration away from society in daycare and educational institutions). Even the toys that are in such abundance offer a limited range of uses - they are designed to do a few things and when they are digested, they are consigned to a cupboard.
You seem to equate the constant bombardment of information as somehow an enhancement of a child's creative abilities. Children become creative by seeking their own information and acting on it with mind and hands - not by sitting in a chair and having it thrown at them.