> There was some period of discussion on the subject back in like 1963 but the <tv> companies went to war against human civilization and there's been no going back. It corrupts and twists everything it touches into a constant hustle for eyeball-cash and an entire generation has now reached adulthood knowing nothing but that hustle touching every bit of media they ever interact with. Who even knows what they'll do with that.

Fixed that for you ;)

Like, I remember growing up absolutely surrounded by advertising. It was on the TV, it was on the radio, it was in newspapers and magazines. Literally every second page in a magazine was ads! It was crazy. I grew up with it (as did many of you).

What were the major level societal consequences of this shift? And when did it begin? Was radio just as bad in the 30's?

Are newspapers where it went wrong? Man, at that point we may as well go the whole way and blame the industrial revolution ;)

More generally, advertising is a consequence of the economic system we've (somewhat) collectively as a species decided we want to achieve our goals. I doubt the first urban dwellers expected the vast new cities to be hives of disease, either, but them's the breaks.