Summary Of Amusing Ourselves To Death By Neil Postman

Over time, gadgets and gizmos have taken attention from many Americans. Maggie Jackson gives prominence to this point in “Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age.” According to Jackson, technology has become too advanced for attention’s sake. In her essay, Jackson states that “we are nurturing a culture of social diffusion, intellectual fragmentation & sensory detachment. In this new world, something is amiss.

The 19th century or typographic America was a time where modern media sources, such as television and radio did not exist. Therefore everything was either presented in written word or spoken word, by a source which could either be a book or a person. In Amusing Ourselves To Death, Neil Postman communicates that the people of the 19th century would endure very long hours of debates and speeches. These events were very long, but these people seemed genuinely interested in these events due to the fact that it would inform them on current political events. However many people began wondering how these people were able to maintain such interests in these events.

However, Postman wanted to promote the idea that people would become so obsessed with pleasure that they eventually sacrifice their rights. Postman furthers on this idea by describing television as something that will be an exchange of rights for entertainment. He then extends this theory by saying ideas are affected by their medium and that media as a medium causes people to evaluate information’s quality by its entertainment

The news; a common part of the American household since newspapers were first produced. But the news the public reads may have more effect than just informing. The newspaper then grew into the television news hour and from there the Internet. There are so many ways of getting the information on events going on around the world and locally and some sources have Levine popular because of their entertainment value. In Amusing Ourselves to Depth, Greg Beato informs about the information and entertainment value of the “fake news” shows and publications.

The Overuse of Television Kameron G Loyd BYU-Idaho  During an average week, how much television does the average child watch? Parents, educators, and concerned citizens alike would be appalled at the answer of 1,480 minutes (BLS American Time Use Survey, A.C. Nielsen Co.). They would also be revolted by the statistic that 54% of four to six year olds would rather spend time watching television instead of spending time with their fathers (BLS American Time Use Survey, A.C. Nielsen Co.). In 1984, Neil Postman saw how devastating television watching was becoming to the culture of America, and gave a speech to the literary community at the 1984 Frankfort Germany Book Fair entitled “Amusing Ourselves to Death” which deals directly with this monolithic issue. Although the speech and subsequent article, published in Et Cetra, were directed at the publishers, writers, illustrators, etc., all those who read this article can also benefit from Postman’s overarching desire to decrease the hours of mind-numbing television watching.

In The Essay “The News” Neil Postman demonstrates the problems with News on TV and the Psychology behind it of why our society continues to watch. Postman displayed many points that becuase television news is must appeal to everyone in a short amount of time; the coverage is often shallow and gives a false impression of the world. Neil Postman describes the time restrictions of (22 mins) because of commercials overtaking the news. This reflects “The News” as we know it to become a big piece of entertainment that has nothing to do with the intellectual information that affects our lives. The lack of in-depth look on News nowadays draws an Appearance vs. Reality that the News isn’t what It should be.

Whether it is Postman’s text on the truth of our society engaging the written word or The Wire’s statement of causality and identification, there are multiple personal connections from the material that are relatable to one another. In Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, readers learn that the written word is being replaced and even ignored. Print word was the media metaphor at the time, influencing discourse and classifying inferences in our history. Though, as explained by Postman, typography and exposition are replaced by show business and entertainment (Postman 63); this statement is truly relevant in our culture and can be seen in The Wire.

In the reading “Amusing Ourselves to Death” by Neil Postman, the most surprising aspect is when he talks about how people do not remember anything they watched on television. According to Postman, Stern said 51 percent of viewers could not recall a single item of news a few minutes after viewing a news program on television” (p152). This is surprising because I believe that a lot of people could recall the news from television, especially when the anchor mention the news story more than once. One time before a commercial break and when the anchor is talking is about it. And when there is breaking news, the anchor spends most of the newscast talking about the topic.

Lauren Hale, professor in the department of family, population, and preventative health at Stony Brook University, collaborated with her team at Stony Brook University to study the effects of screen time in children. This study focused on exploring the differences between passive and interactive screen time. However, the study showed no significant differences between the effects of interactive versus passive screen time. Thus, the article concludes that all forms of screen time should be limited. This article will be helpful in supporting the thesis, because it denies one of the common fallacies that screen time can be categorized into positive and negative types of screen time, arguing instead that all forms of screen time should be limited and treated with caution.

Neil Postman Rhetorical Analysis Inventions are changing before our eyes and the world does not seem to question what new technology reveals and what its consequences will be. In the future of technology, there are many individuals who see technology as either a sanction or a burden. Many individuals cannot seem to imagine a world with no technology, however, there are many others who argue that humans are becoming too dependent on technology instead of their own observances and cognition. Technology continues to develop and has become affected people’s everyday life. This issue is addressed by an American Critic and an educator by the name Neil Postman.

Sue Honoré, an independent learning consultant who has studied people who were born from 1982 to 2002 has that “while young people are "undoubtedly capable of long periods of concentration", those who spend a lot of time alone using technology tend to have less in the way of communication skills, self-awareness and emotional intelligence”. It has been proven that around 31 nations that students who used computers everyday in class had lower test scores in reading and math than students who don’t use them as much (Study: Students Who Use in School Doesn’t Help Test Scores). Though technology is amazing and has given so many people different opportunities they would’ve never had before it is resulting in a few bad habits for students. Casey Schools systems around the United States have begun to rely on technology to teach their students instead of teachers to teach them. According Michael Godsey, a veteran high-school English educator, even said and agreed with many people today that we are at the point in time where since we have the internet at our fingertips, there is really no need for teachers

For years, television has been deemed as mind dulling entertainment. In Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Guy Montag lives life without questioning his job and the world around him. That is until the fateful day that he meets Faber, an elderly man who harbors books. Although it is Montag’s duty to burn books and the homes in which they reside, he disregards Faber’s outlawed belongings. The two speak of how their world is plagued by violence and a lack of literature.

Neil Postman, "Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change" (speech) Summary Postman warns us about the key issues we have to consider when embracing or using technology, he summarised this using five points. These issues are trade-offs, unnatural nature of technology, the connection with radical change in the society, our basic ideas and the distribution of technological cost and gains. What he reveals is that technology has its advantages and downsides, which must be taken into account. Analysis

In only a couple of decades, technology has imbedded itself into people’s lives, to the point it would be difficult to live without using technology. In Neil Postman’s speech “Informing Ourselves to Death,” he explains how not all technology is being used for what its original purpose was, and how people are starting to drown in the useless information technology gives. Postman also makes the claim, “And therefore, in a sense, we are more naïve than those in the Middle Ages, and more frightened, for we can be made to believe almost anything” (5). Though Postman gave this speech about thirty years ago, this accurately describes modern society. Technology was meant to help people learn and improve their lives, but it has instead increased the naivety of the world.

Children and young people are becoming addicted to technology. I chose two articles regarding this topic. One is called “Banning Children from Technology is Counter-Productive", and "If We Don’t Want Our Children To Be Addicted To Technology, We Should Start Putting Down Our Phones”. The first article thinks that children shouldn’t be banned from technology, and it will be, well, counter-productive. The second article talks about how adults should limit their technology use if they want kids to not be addicted to technology.