But when I became a man, I browsed for childish things

All I remembered was a theme tune, some garbled images and some dramatic moments involving magic. That was more than enough to rediscover the children's television serial "Ace of Wands". I was not particularly surprised to see a multitude of sites remembering a 70's show of no great academic significance. "Sadly, series one no longer exists because the videotape was wiped to save space". A crime indeed; someone tell the Hague. At least my memories are in good hands with Google.

I didn’t feel guilty wasting time on this network navel gazing; it’s no more than scratching a vague itch. But nevertheless, I accept that no problem in my life or anyone else’s could be solved by reliving how Tarot guards with mystic hands.

The biblical reference in the title does not, of course, refer to the change in television viewing habits through the years. It is assumed that there are attitudes, desires and emotions that must be left behind once you step into adulthood. Today, most people in the West have the time and resources to ignore all that. Do you remember your parents saying to you that you can't always have what you want? Today, selfish individualism is not just an enshrined right; it’s the cornerstone of capitalism. Entire livelihoods depend on the fact that "I want it in pink". The Middle Youth culture is certainly thriving. Its a bit beyond lads mags, girl fights, and nostalgic repeats of The Sweeney. Stories of parents too hung over to send their kids to school are no longer signs of urban depravation. The truism that you are as old as you feel seems to imply that acting like a kid keeps you young.

The school of hard knocks cannot force you into maturity either. The film The Road to Guantanamo on over the weekend featured the British Asian kids captured in Afghanistan and held illegally because the CIA believed they supped with Osama. In this re-enactment, it appeared the victims faced their circumstances with little more than schoolyard bravura. "Nah, I wasn’t with the Taliban, I was working in Curries" was probably not the battle cry of a budding Che Guevara.

Is a tendency towards the juvenile, or social neoteny, a natural human condition when the environment allows? We know domesticated dogs have lost their wolf like tendencies in order to live with humans successfully. Perhaps this is a similar process. Playing Grand Theft Auto is probably more socially responsible than the more adult pursuit of corruption or aerial bombing. But when it displaces keeping up with the news or communicating with offspring then it seems less benign.

I've often assumed we fall short of our stated ambitions because we grow lazy or have other distractions. Its possible that these ambitions are just not sufficiently fun. A lot of people complained that the various Live Aid charity events had worryingly juvenile tag lines such as "lets end poverty by holding hands" etc. Perhaps the assumption that adults should seek economic reality is misplaced; simply connecting any issue with youth culture is the best goal.

The internet is certainly the place to find plenty of mature material (as well as just "adult material"). Google counts 12 million hits on the loose phrase "Will the human race destroy itself?", certainly many orders of magnitude greater than "Is Tinky Winky gay?". But its not the lack of the serious, its the prominence of the silly that is interesting. The increase in juvenilia in the media, mistaken for dumbing down, is probably just a reflection of what keeps readers attention. But like sugar in tea, I suspect it's hard to give up.