Summary Essay Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 Neil Postman Amusing Ourselves to Death
Majhok Chaw
University of Maryland University College
Amusing Ourselves To Death
Summary Essay. Neil Postman (1985) claims that “the news of the day” did not exist-could not exist in a world that lack the media to get it expression” (p. 7). He explains how the development and evolution of communication over the mankind’s history has changed at critical points. These critical points include the development of the alphabet, the printing press invention, the progress of the telegraph and the creation of the television. The endangerment of Technology and its influence on Society that idolize television, media as epistemology and the decline of print-based textbooks need an immediate attention. The first endangerment is television communication. Television is playing a big role in today’s society. Technology is growing and expanding to 21st century. Almost everybody in the United States and around the world watches television. People even plan some of their lives around it by turning in to a show every week. Stuff that people see on the television can make them to be naïve and delusional. For instance, by believing what they see on the television is real without rational thinking. Postman “our politics, religion, news, athletics, education and commerce have been transformed into congenial adjuncts of show business, largely without protest or even much popular notice. The result is that we are the people on the verge of amusing ourselves to death” (pp. 3-4). As technology advances and media choice increases, children are developing unconstructive social, learning, and health habits that many parents are greatly unaware of. Parents don’t realize that the amount of time children spend consuming media is second most to anything else children do, beside of studying school assignments. The second endangerment is the media epistemology, Postman’s intention in his book is to show that a “great media metaphor shift has taken place in America, with the result that the
University of Maryland University College
Amusing Ourselves To Death
Summary Essay. Neil Postman (1985) claims that “the news of the day” did not exist-could not exist in a world that lack the media to get it expression” (p. 7). He explains how the development and evolution of communication over the mankind’s history has changed at critical points. These critical points include the development of the alphabet, the printing press invention, the progress of the telegraph and the creation of the television. The endangerment of Technology and its influence on Society that idolize television, media as epistemology and the decline of print-based textbooks need an immediate attention. The first endangerment is television communication. Television is playing a big role in today’s society. Technology is growing and expanding to 21st century. Almost everybody in the United States and around the world watches television. People even plan some of their lives around it by turning in to a show every week. Stuff that people see on the television can make them to be naïve and delusional. For instance, by believing what they see on the television is real without rational thinking. Postman “our politics, religion, news, athletics, education and commerce have been transformed into congenial adjuncts of show business, largely without protest or even much popular notice. The result is that we are the people on the verge of amusing ourselves to death” (pp. 3-4). As technology advances and media choice increases, children are developing unconstructive social, learning, and health habits that many parents are greatly unaware of. Parents don’t realize that the amount of time children spend consuming media is second most to anything else children do, beside of studying school assignments. The second endangerment is the media epistemology, Postman’s intention in his book is to show that a “great media metaphor shift has taken place in America, with the result that the