Have you forgotten what it's like to be in the head of a teenager? Well, the big media giants haven't. Actually, they are infiltrating young minds, tempting them with sexual imagery and setting their shopping preferences, according to some media critics, who take their analysis just a little too far. What's fascinating, though, is the way big media ad firms follow the teens around, engaging in cool-kid anthropology. Video interviews and focus groups are key tools of the trade.

A few years ago, Douglas Rushkoff produced a compelling documentary called The Merchants of Cool for Frontline. He contends the main media conglomerates -- News Corp., Viacom, Bertelsmann, Sony, Disney, Vivendi and AOL TimeWarner -- have woven themselves deeply into the minds and lives of their teen customers. (Actually, they are pretty active with the pre-teen set, too, as I discover every time my kids grab the remote.)

Some might argue that the new, new media have diminished the power of the established media. Who, after all, owns chat and instant messaging? The media barons, moreover, have consistently failed to gain attention on the Internet. Indeed, Rushkoff's documentary overestimates the power of media and advertising to "colonize" the minds of young consumers. If the kids are not alright, well, we can't really blame it on Britney and Janet. After all, they'll grow out of MTV's lurid, tasteless and sexually charged visuals. Then they will see them on CBS, CNN, and Fox News like the rest of us.