TV was just one of many sources for stories and entertainment and one mostly in line with my experience in my daily world. Children do become loyal to Nike and Barbie. They do learn to be lifelong consumers in a world that cannot afford wanton consumption. The walls my generation grew up with were exclusive, stifling and constraining. We imagined that knocking down walls was enough to build the new world, but now understand, at great expense to a whole generation of children, that growing up with no walls is as damaging, and probably more damaging, that growing up with too many.
Walls can exclude and restrain, but they can also protect.
If good parenting in the 60's meant exposing children to more, good parenting in the 90's means protecting them from too much. One last image. The hole in our cultural ozone layer grows daily larger, eroding the protective filters that shield us from harmful rays. Our biggest challenge as parents is to remember to rub the media sunscreen on our children. Someday our children will thank us for it.