Summary Of Wired World By Peter Gibbon

Author Peter Gibbon goes into detail on how the media has been linked with constant negative effects in society. He shows this by explaining that our society has become a “Wired World”(Gibbon 249). He informs the reader that the media has the ability to misinform people on current issues which results in turning people into a, cynical, suspicious, and fearful person. “It can lead us to lose faith in our nation, repudiate our past, question our leaders, and cease to believe in progress”(Gibbon 249)
The media as well posses an empire of information. This information can impact small towns and cities which can then impact other nations. This is a feature that was seen as unimaginable to our ancestors but it is now a reality. Despite all of this negativity the author believes there is faith in the future. We must be able to study our past in order to avoid becoming arrogant and the remember the positive things that way we can also avoid becoming cynical.
Peter H.
Gibbon, a researcher at Boston University does a tremendous job at persuading the reader that the media has impacted, and played a pivotal role in the way people have recently viewed the world around them. He goes into great detail explaining what the media has done to impact people starting by explaining how the simple change from newspaper, and magazines to television and radio have slowly paved the way to something worst. He is trying to say that this change has made today's society lazy in the way that we don't retain the proper vocabulary that we once had. He states this by saying “ one editor reminded me that newspaper stories are now aimed at a sixth grade reading level”(Gibbon 248). This information shows the reader just how impactful one change can make on people, and modern society, as well as demonstrate Gibbons understanding of the issue at
hand.
Gibbon goes into further detail supporting his belief as to how being more wired and connected has played a negative role in today's society. He does this by highlighting moments when the media has misinformed the public with information that is filled with bias and non factual information. The author emphasizes that doing this would result in negative consequences that would lead to a world with distrust, and lack of faith. He shows this by saying “It can lead us to lose faith in our nation, repudiate our past, question our leaders, and cease to believe in progress.” (Gibbon 249). By doing so they are impacting our views in a way that can result in further negative outcomes if such corruption continues to arise.
Not only does Gibbon support his belief that the media has greatly influenced modern society in a negative way by highlighting impactful examples, but he also shows ways that this may not be the case for very long. He backs his positive input by convincing the reader that there is hope for the future. He does this by positively describing the American people in an attempt to contradict the negative views the media has input ed on today's society. He shows this by stating “The American people are basically hardworking, idealistic, compassionate, and religious”(Gibbon 252).
Gibbons does an incredible job at attempting to persuade the reader that the media influences the way people think and view many of the things that they interact with, and he does this by using factual information that is very convincing to the reader. In an attempt to convince the reader that the media is manipulating and misinforming the public, he also supports his belief that even though the media has done harm, there is a way to revert the negative impact that has already been done. Gibbons makes his solution clear by explaining that in order to fix this issue Americans must first be able to study the past in order to avoid becoming arrogant, and to remember the positives. By doing so Gibbons makes his final influential statement. “ We need to be honest and realistic without losing our capacity for admiration”(Gibbon 252)