Brave New World or 1984?
Brave New World or 1984?
As far as it concerns the world we live in right now, Aldous Huxley’s dystopian vision is clearly dominating. There really is overall information overload due to the always developing technologies and their need to be adopted by us. And that is a result nobody can really bring to a stop. One possible action is still there as the previous generations didn’t have any information to base their understanding about technology and its influence. In a way, it might become possible to use this information overload in our favor, to design, establish and cultivate systems of perception that would help filter the information coming in, to effectively use the technological tools we have. However, that too sounds like the next utopian structure where new problems would arise. In previous generations when the information flow was ensured by word, then expanding to written form, print, and spoken form, radio (that might already be arguable example for this point), Neil Postman questions whether there still can be a Rational argument when it comes to the form of television (now, other audiovisual media, Internet) as the information transmitters. The content of a book, for example, didn’t have to compete with its form that would be highlighted, emphasized. Although, there still did exist some attention to the form, as examples would be the cover of book, the illuminated decorations and initials etc., those were just minor attention grabbers from the main content. The main focus was put on the information and therefore it was qualitative. As Postman sees, the information flow with the rise of audiovisual media (more specific, the television) has lost that quality value as they tend to put the emphasis on the form where the information is packed in. Also the interactive relation between the medium and the user has been called into question. With the print media the user was given a great deal of visualization by him/herself and that probably is the best
As far as it concerns the world we live in right now, Aldous Huxley’s dystopian vision is clearly dominating. There really is overall information overload due to the always developing technologies and their need to be adopted by us. And that is a result nobody can really bring to a stop. One possible action is still there as the previous generations didn’t have any information to base their understanding about technology and its influence. In a way, it might become possible to use this information overload in our favor, to design, establish and cultivate systems of perception that would help filter the information coming in, to effectively use the technological tools we have. However, that too sounds like the next utopian structure where new problems would arise. In previous generations when the information flow was ensured by word, then expanding to written form, print, and spoken form, radio (that might already be arguable example for this point), Neil Postman questions whether there still can be a Rational argument when it comes to the form of television (now, other audiovisual media, Internet) as the information transmitters. The content of a book, for example, didn’t have to compete with its form that would be highlighted, emphasized. Although, there still did exist some attention to the form, as examples would be the cover of book, the illuminated decorations and initials etc., those were just minor attention grabbers from the main content. The main focus was put on the information and therefore it was qualitative. As Postman sees, the information flow with the rise of audiovisual media (more specific, the television) has lost that quality value as they tend to put the emphasis on the form where the information is packed in. Also the interactive relation between the medium and the user has been called into question. With the print media the user was given a great deal of visualization by him/herself and that probably is the best
References: Postman, N. Speech in German Informatics Society (October 11, 1990) The Canadian Mental Health Association (n.d.) http://www.cmha.ca/bins/index.asp?lang=1 Yoo, H. J., Cho, S. C., Ha, J., Yune, S. K., Kim, S. J., Hwang, J., Chung, A., Sung, Y. H. and Lyoo, I. K. (2004), Attention deficit hyperactivity symptoms and Internet addiction. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 58: 487–494. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-1819.2004.01290.x