Our kids recently spent a week at their grandparents’ house. They have television. We don’t, though we do use the Internet and Netflix to watch shows. The major difference: commercials.

Commercials was one of the main reasons we stopped a steady diet of television. Not only did we get tired of telling the kids, “Close your eyes,” when horror and action film previews came on during prime time, we also got tired of the constant “Can I get that?” requests prompted by the advertising gimmicks.

But our kids must be suffering withdrawal because they seemed to notice the commercials more than ever. We discovered how closely they watched them when Jake got a clear look at the top of his uncle’s head on our last day there and said, “You know, Uncle Scott, if you call the Hair Club for Men, they’ll guarantee some growth up there in about four weeks!”