Do adverts drive you crazy too?

If you are tempted into using them on the basis of their ridiculous statistics then you are SO moneysupermarket.com.

They claim 40% of customers saved up to £316.20? So by definition 60% of customers didn't save anything. That's customers, moving to them and then getting a worse deal.

And of the 40% that did make a saving the MOST they saved was £316.20. So that is supposed to convince me to bother with the company is it? Way to go!

And what about supposedly 'healthy' snacks? Barney cereals try and make their product sound better than your standard cake or biscuit by specifically stating on the advert that they have, and I quote; "healthy ingredients like flour, chocolate and eggs..." Really? The main ingredients of all chocolate cakes, biscuits and many chocolate bars? So desperate that you are quoting the staple ingredients of flour and eggs and selling them as the healthy option. Healthy? Relative to what exactly? Compared to the sugar also in there?

Online versus real life?

On 8 out of 10 cats the question "Would you rather communicate with your friends online?" was asked. Good grief, is that really where we are at?

In the space of 30 years we have gone from being completely amazed at the magic that is Bungle on Rainbow walking backwards through a door because we could record it on VHS for the first time and there was a magic button on the VHS machine called Rewind.

We've gone from sitting on our bottom stair for hours talking to our mates on the phone, because the landline was in the hall, and the only place to sit was on the stairs.

We've moved on from vinyl LPs, a dodgy stylus and the magic that was the record button on your tape deck to enable you to record the top 40 every Sunday.

And to where have we got?

The post-TV grump

Every time we turn off the TV my daughter, Princess Peppa, will, within one hour, have a major strop, be at best really grumpy and snappy with the family, at worst be an absolute devil-child.

I have noticed this phenomenon develop in her over the last couple of years and get swiftly worse in the last few months as the type of TV she watches has evolved. She is now 7 years old and has recently graduated from CBeebies to CBBC.

At the same time we have started watching more action cartoons in preference to the former Peppa Pig, Dora the Explorer, Disney Princess films or Barbie.

Since Little Miss George is such a Tomboy in her attempt to be individual from her girlie big sister, we now watch Ben10, Scooby Doo, Spider-Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Marvel Avengers. I must admit to being proud they are breaking away from the stereotypical 'girl' TV, however it's not without its disadvantages.

Apparently, when a child gets to an age where their concentration span is strong enough to really focus on a half-hour programme and really get into it, they find it difficult, after the programme, to go back to normal social niceties. Jo Frost, in her original book Supernanny, says of television; "what they are getting is mindless stimulation that will wind them up and shorten their attention spans."