Parental training has not been the norm in most societies and most times. The problem in the modern west is that people lack the community and family support that helps parents. This combined with other things (lack of time with two parents working full time out of the house being usual, parental addiction to devices, etc).

> TV was safe when I was a kid,

Safe in some ways, but still harmful. it was passive and a substitute for things that helped you develop. A lot of parents (mine included) limited TV for just this reason.

> TV is a treat, so boredom requires them to sit there and fucking day dream like the rest of us.

Exactly this - one of the things I had in mind with regard to TV being harmful. Even in the days when we had three or four broadcast channels and that was it!

> I'm middle class

Worth noting that the British and American definitions of middle class are quite different.