You know I so much love the point you made saying that one can change without improving, that says it all.
This topic of discussion is not as simple as it seems.
Not all kinds of change is welcome.
Our human brain works in various dimensions. And once an idea or ideology is planted it become very difficult to adjust afterwards.
Just like Socrates said "an unexamined life is not worth living."
Sincerely my heart goes for the younger generation. It has become a norm in the society that one of the indications of a wealthy home is how lavishly breed the children are.
I agree that not everything a child wants should be giving to them. This is because while we as adults can chose our distractions, these younger ones are eager to embrace whatever idea comes their way.
And those childhood experiences goes a long way to give them perspective with which they see the world going forward, and those ideology once planted are very difficult to change, or do I say improve on. Hence the need for caution in those early days.
I think the adults are getting to be not much better. It is like people are no longer maturing as they age, because they aren't experiencing a broad enough pool of experience to learn from.