So this is my swan song. Naturally, I have gone back to review what has gone on in this space over the course of 200 columns.

Amid steep audience declines, prime-time shows that were deemed ratings failures a few years ago suddenly look like going propositions. Meh is the new wow.

Take this easy, super-fun quiz. It's so simple -- and a hoot to share with your Friends and the vendors of every app in your phone! Just fill in the blanks.

Dude, I have a bot -- a digital slave who answers questions, directs inquiries and offers all kinds of really useful information about me.

Reality TV figures, YouTube stars, recording artists and others with huge followings among Millennials use their social media platforms as paid shills for brands, without disclosing the quid pro quo. This is not a matter of a few isolated bad actors.

The paradox is almost dizzying: we need a healthy press as a watchdog of democracy, and that press is being revived by interest in a regime doing everything in its power to dismantle democracy.

It's time for a gut check. There are those who saw the spot as somehow exploitative and/or trivializing of serious social issues, such as racial justice, religious freedom, women's rights, police brutality and abuse of super-slow motion. Once again -- in hindsight -- these are fair points. But this was not a failure of strategy.

In this semi-annual rite, Bob loses his patience with irrelevant press-release blasts and blasts right back.

The overall problem is that metadata for videos remains thin, and relies mainly on the tagging by posters, who don't typically label their work "hate speech" or "kill the Jews." And the technology for the semantic Web, AI, image screening and other means for detecting repulsive content is simply inadequate. Where porn, racism and gore are concerned, the flagging mechanisms are woefully intermittent.

The ANA wants a window into the walled gardens. Fair enough. The gardens are so lush and inviting.