Commercials and the Demise of American Society

The more I post on here, the more I begin to realize how specifically I notice oddities in my media usage. Almost always I have a conscious thought about something on television that disturbs me, and rarely do I talk about my direct use of media. I am addicted to my cell phone and my iPod (though I use my iPod to draw inspiration from the music for my paintings, drawings and ceramics pieces) and I am on facebook every chance I can get. I know that I am slave to my technology, but I don't think coming to terms with this makes a difference. I suppose that I could actually cut down my "screen time" but when I'm trying to make the grade in college while networking elsewhere, I need to be able to check my email as often as possible and use other tools to get ahead in both school and the workplace. I realize this has nothing to do with facebook, but I don't see myself falling off that wagon.

So now that I've explained all that, I'm going to talk about a commercial I saw on TV. To me, commercials seem to exude every negative stereotype of America. Sometimes the commercials are for the SPCA, but entertainer Sarah McLachlan is the one endorsing them anyway. I recently saw a commercial for CommonSenseMedia.org that struck me as strange. With a name like Common Sense Media, you would think the site could give you guidance on how to effectively use media, as the commercial illuded to after stating statistics about how often kids stare at screens per day and setting paranoia in about where all the information comes from. The add aims to capture the interest of caring parents, concerned with what their kids could be seeing on the internet. Here's the fun part: CommonSenseMedia.org is not by any means opposed to media. It is a website that, though including an "education" section, is meant to entertain parents and kids alike. If the aim is to get them away from the screens, how does having them play "educational" games help if it is also online?