Agree or Disagree?
There are many discussions in Neil Postman’s book “Amusing Ourselves to Death”. Many in which I agree with and I also disagree with. Neil Postman’s book has good moral lessons inside of it, yet some of them I question if they could be just words of jealousy towards the technology of today.
One of the ideas that Postman explains in his book is that typograph in America is decreasing rapidly with the use of technology such as television, computer, cell phone, I-pod. Which all these devices can go on social networking websites and other new distractions like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, etc. I will admit to over excessively using these new devices and yes these are distractions that take up useless time, but I cannot help not to use them. Although just because I use these devices does not mean I do not agree with Postman. I agree with his statement. I think that people should use their time more wisely than spending all of it on Facebook. If there were to be a pole at any High School on “Who goes on Facebook regularly?” the percentage would probably be around 80%-90%.
In Postman’s book he talks about how if society depends on their technology too much that all we will be reliant on is our technology all the time. We will not even know what to do if that situation comes and we would probably go crazy. I disagree with this idea that portrays from Postman’s book. I think people in our nation would at least have the decency to put down the device and solve your problems. In Postman's article he talks about how people become dependent on their technology and become very lazy in the way they communicate which can carry over into real life. I disagree with what Postman says in his article because sometimes when I am talking to a person on a social networking website, the person I am communicating with through chat is very talkative, yet when you meet that someone in person they can be very quiet and awkward.
There are many parts of Postman’s book where reading and writing show up. He likes to call these two arts typograph. He talks about how if society is using their technology so much and completely ignoring books and writing what will our future be for our nation. Without writing we will lack logical organization. Postman says in his article that “In a culture without writing, human memory is of the greatest importance, as are the proverbs, sayings and songs which contain the accumulated oral wisdom of centuries.” Much importance comes from writing and if writing is stopped what would happen to society. I agree with Postman’s argument. Without writing some of the greatest musical melodies would not have been written, which is a big reason why I would have to agree with Postman. Although nothing really cannot replace writing since it is such a vital aspect in everyone’s lives.
When Postman says the Age of Exposition in now turning to the Age of Show Business, he means that people are stuck watching useless news on their television instead of reading productive news. I agree that the news channels on television are putting useless information on their shows to try and get more viewers to convert to their news channels than the other. The other day I was watching the news on Fox 2 and the reporters were talking about the people in Egypt and the crisis it is there, then it cut to an American Idol clip and pretty much promoted the show so people would watch the network show. I am pretty sure that American Idol is definitely not news.
In Postman’s book he talks about education and how schools should use more books and less technology in their curriculum. This is where I disagree with Postman, because I think that schools should help their students prepare for the new world of technology by letting them learn on a computer to surf the internet for resources and using new gadgets for learning purposes. Even though we should all read more books, students should not neglect new technology and substitute them for just books. Both would be fine, but no one has to pick one or the other. In a article about Postman he talks about the problems created by technology these days.
In the last few chapters of Postman’s book it goes back to the Age of Show Business and talks about commercials and ads. It is how the media uses technology to try to get people to buy their products. Without pictures or pretty videos that people watch, a person would not get persuaded into buying a product as easy as if there was a picture. Postman quotes in the book “The television commercial is not at all about the character of products to be consumed. It is about the character of the consumers of products.” I agree with Postman on this one. What I think Postman is trying to say is that all the companies care about is getting you the buyer to purchase their products.
