To begin my summer reading, I chose Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. The book is written in a sophisticated and mature tone, so I found myself having to reread pages several times to finally discover what Postman was trying to say. It is a very complex text as the author evokes his many thoughts on how television is negatively affecting our world.
Postman shares his many ideas and opinions in a way that makes you really think and understand what his point is. I enjoy how he mentions the differences between a word-centered culture and an image-centered culture as he includes many people in history to explain himself. He asks us to think about former presidents or scientists like Richard Nixon or Albert Einstein. The first thing that I immediately pictured were their faces, and just as Postman stated himself, "of words, almost nothing will come to mind" (61). Evaluating his ideas made me realize the truth in what he was expressing and how television has affected how we think individually. As I finish the book, I am curious to read more of Postman's views on how the media has changed our world.
Jennifer Rubio
I agree with Postman's view of how television negatively affects humanity. It has much affect on self image and consumer's attention span. However, it doesn't have to be this way if it is consumed wisely. Let's use food as a comparison. Food is healthy when consumed moderately, but if it is overconsumed, there are negative side effects. It is the same for TV. When consumed in moderation, it provides a healthy outlet for stress by providing entertainment, but when it is overconsumed, negative effects such as weakened attention span occur.
ReplyDeleteWell it's not the poison that kills it's the dosage. I don't even think a short attention span is that bad. Especially in comparison to a sedentary life style. You get so many health issues. The second biggest threat of a t.v. to me is that it kills creativity and motivation. As you pass by it you it may catch your eye and it casts its entertaining net on you. Which causes you too miss out on doing important tasks and you don't think much during programs so your ideas are non existent.
DeleteMr. Cross, I agree with your statement that the dosage of "poison" one consumes can be a killer. It can, like Postman mentions and restates numerously, negatively affect humans. However, I do not agree with your claim that TV "kills creativity and motivation." I believe that TV, in fact, sparks creativity and can inspire individuals to go out and do great things. I want to use a show I've been watching lately, called "Skin Wars", as an example. This show is about artists, young and old, who basically create and illustrate different scenes on human bodies. Personally, I am not a professional artist or anything, but I can honestly say that the show compels me to draw more and see where drawing can take me.
DeleteYes but usually I find what happens is that you say "I think I'll draw a little...but after this episode." Then that episode turns into two...then three etc. So even though it has the potential to inspire it usually renders you inactive from acting on it. I think it's very good at showing us things we haven't seen before or enough of, but that's just entertainment isn't it? So I'll admit that it may give you some great ideas, but I feel that most of the time it doesn't allow you act on those ideas it helped you create. It also depends on the mood you enter before watching t.v. . If you're tired then you're not going to do anything after watching television.
DeleteYes, I guess it may not allow you to act on the inspiration right away, but the point is that some of the ideas created by the television can and/or will inspire you. It doesn't really matter if you don't act on the inspiration right away because like you said, yes, one can be tired after watching TV, and at that point you don’t want to do anything, but as long as the thought and inspiration are lingering in your mind, you will have some kind of motivation to act on it eventually. But, that also just depends on the individual. Maybe, the viewer is determined and will immediately act on it, and in that case, TV is positively affecting them.
DeleteI agree with you, Naomi, because if we decided to watch television then we should also be able to limit ourselves on how long we watch it. We do not have to be on the couch or bed watching TV all day. It does not have to be a bad thing as long as we can control ourselves. I liked the example you used because it perfectly described what would happen if we are not able to control how long we are watching TV. You stated that there would be "negative side effects" if we consume too much food and it would be the same thing for watching too much television.
Delete