The Artificial Everything:
How We Traded Health for Convenience
Decades ago someone noted that evening television was mainly a medicine show. Has anything changed since then?
I don’t get to watch evening tv anymore—haven’t in almost 10 years—so I don’t truly know the current state of affairs with the advertising industry.
However, I do spend my evenings watching something—a movie, an original series, sports—and I am bombarded with ads for medicines to cure things I’ve never heard of.
There are, of course, the occasional ads for cars and fast food restaurants; but by and large, medicine tops the advertising interruptions. Many of them are cheaply done and are actually laughable in their presentation.
This fact makes me wonder about the state of the ad-writing industry.
When I was pursuing my journalism degree from ’94-’98, there were also those who were pursuing a degree in advertising. Most of those students hated the writing classes which were required. And now it shows.
Don’t get me wrong, journalism has not fared much better.
I got out of journalism shortly before the plane crash over New York because the tail fell off the plane. The Associated Press headline read “TALE SECTION FALLS OFF PLANE.” That kind of typo should never get past the writer’s desk, let alone the editor’s.
I knew then we were doomed to consuming and vaunting ignorance as a staple from the news industry. Currently, I’ve yet to be proven wrong.
This medicine show, however, has elevated the population to a place of pill-dependency that appears to be irreversible.
From my perspective, the new medicines are coming out faster than Taylor Sheridan’s launching of a new series. Are these medicines being tested?
Almost everyone of them have a listing of side-effects which the ad is required to announce. Consequently, the listing lasts longer than the actual promotion.
What floors me is how many of these list “possible death” as a side effect.
“Yes, doctor. I don’t care if this kills me tomorrow, I want rid of the pain today. Gimme the pill.”
We’ve also multiplied the number of pills and shots to help us get rid of weight. Coupled with that, there is also a plethora of supplements to help with whatever change you want to make in your overall health.
I don’t think anyone would argue with the fact that overweight and obesity has become a huge problem in American society. I’m sure the factors are many, but most are easily changed.
But, change is not what we want to do. We want someone or something to make the change for me. Therefore, the rise in the supplement industry.
Apparently we have forgotten—or maybe the generation after mine—was not taught that nutrition is the basic building block of good health.
However, in the same way that we have resorted to sound-bite information, we have taken on the idea that just a little tweak in my diet will fix my problems.
We were told that sugar was bad for us. Therefore, the industry gave us artificial sweeteners. Soon, artificial sweeteners began to dominate our food choices and we opted for “lite.”
Since the new fake sugar was approved by the FDA, there was no way it could hurt us. Joy, oh, joy!! Put that stuff in everything!
I’m not a fan of junk food—though I eat my share of it—but one thing I cannot tolerate is artificial junk food. Diet sodas and sugar-free candies are the worst thing to put in your body.
Yet, I see and know people with health problems that continue to follow this lemming-like parade. Have you ever noticed how many pink packets of sweetener are used by a diabetic to sweeten their tea or coffee? Astounding.
My mother was addicted to a particular diet soda and began to have cognition problems, which the doctor said was a direct result of the sodas. He found that the capillaries in her brain were bursting and leaking.
Modern research has found that high consumption of artificial sweeteners (e.g., aspartame, sucralose, erythritol) is linked to brain fog, cognitive decline, and memory issues, with studies showing a 62% faster cognitive decline in high-consumers. These compounds may cause neuroinflammation, disrupt neurotransmitters, and act as chemical stressors. Symptoms often include decreased focus, memory impairment, and mental sluggishness.
Here’s the problem: the word “high”. Without a specific amount, people will respond with, “I don’t use that much.”
Back in the late ‘70s I was teaching a class about nutrition, and we got to the issue of sugar. A 23-year-old man exclaimed, “I don’t eat that much sugar. I have a Pepsi and Ding-Dong every morning for breakfast and there’s nothing wrong with me.”
At 23, he did not have a single natural tooth in his head, but sugar hadn’t hurt him.
It is that kind of a mentality which causes the despair I feel about our ever waking up form our stupor about most anything.
As I write this (1/2026), pro-biotics are all the rage. They are advertised profusely. We are told they are essential for a healthy gut, which they are.
However, without a lifestyle change they have about the same effect as the vitamins we take for better health. They only result in having an expensive pee.
The good bacteria of the probiotics are compromised and destroyed by the processed foods which people have become dependent on. Therefore, their attempt at health is an exercise in futility.
Speaking of exercise, almost all the ads for controlling weight and/or diabetes have “along with diet and exercise” somewhere in the promotion. But, that is not what we are after. That requires a change in my behavior and I am comfortable with the life I’m living. Just fix my pain.
There is a megalithic industry out there trying to do just that. And with each new pain comes a new pill—when all that is needed in most cases is a change in diet.
BOTTOM LINE.
If we would first try to understand how we got in the condition we are in, we would find that it would be much cheaper to make the necessary changes.
When the cause is understood, a change in lifestyle will often bring a cure for the pain.
______________________________________________
This article appeared in my inbox two hours after I posted this blog. It is a long read, but it verifies and amplifies–with research–what I said. Well worth your time if you are interested in yours or someone else’s health.
JUST THINKING 
Leave a comment