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I just finished reading Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, by Neil Postman. (Wikipedia link)
I will start by admitting that I probably would not have read this book, or even really known of its existence, had it not been assigned by Professor Schafer in my ENG 450 class, but that, having read it, I found it incredibly interesting. I'm not necessarily saying that I agree with what all the author is saying (nor do I claim to disagree either), as that will take some more processing on my part. But it was still interesting, nonetheless, and thought provoking. If I had to take a stance, I would lean more to agreeing, however.
My only slight quibble with it was that the material obviously dates itself, such as with references to the "current" President Ronald Reagan, references to Michael Jackson as though he were still a figure of public admiration, and (most tellingly) a bit near the end in which the author says that "I believe the computer to be a vastly overrated technology".
Beyond that, however, the overall theme of the book certainly applies today, if not even more so than it did back then (which was the mid-80's), and especially to computers/Internet (and the proliferation of viral videos, the plethora of juvenile online forums, etc.), and not just to television.
I was reading some of the reviews on Amazon, and one of the reviewers describes the book as such: "Most people will not want to read this because many parts are hard to grasp, and he goes on and on. Was this his master's thesis or something? Totally unreadable for people of today." This, I think, actually illustrates Postman's point perfectly, and is what he is warning against.
On the one hand, it makes me kind of glad that I watch zero television these days. However, on the other hand, I don't know that I'm any better off, because the time that most would probably spend watching TV is time that I spend either surfing the Internet or playing video games.
I will start by admitting that I probably would not have read this book, or even really known of its existence, had it not been assigned by Professor Schafer in my ENG 450 class, but that, having read it, I found it incredibly interesting. I'm not necessarily saying that I agree with what all the author is saying (nor do I claim to disagree either), as that will take some more processing on my part. But it was still interesting, nonetheless, and thought provoking. If I had to take a stance, I would lean more to agreeing, however.
My only slight quibble with it was that the material obviously dates itself, such as with references to the "current" President Ronald Reagan, references to Michael Jackson as though he were still a figure of public admiration, and (most tellingly) a bit near the end in which the author says that "I believe the computer to be a vastly overrated technology".
Beyond that, however, the overall theme of the book certainly applies today, if not even more so than it did back then (which was the mid-80's), and especially to computers/Internet (and the proliferation of viral videos, the plethora of juvenile online forums, etc.), and not just to television.
I was reading some of the reviews on Amazon, and one of the reviewers describes the book as such: "Most people will not want to read this because many parts are hard to grasp, and he goes on and on. Was this his master's thesis or something? Totally unreadable for people of today." This, I think, actually illustrates Postman's point perfectly, and is what he is warning against.
On the one hand, it makes me kind of glad that I watch zero television these days. However, on the other hand, I don't know that I'm any better off, because the time that most would probably spend watching TV is time that I spend either surfing the Internet or playing video games.
