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_lilbey_'s review against another edition
4.0
Super interesting and mostly still relevant, though I disagree with some of his claims about education and am a little boggled by his apparent hatred of Sesame Street. In what way are sitcoms harmless to our society, but SESAME STREET is causing the decay of critical thought?
kevinm56's review against another edition
5.0
This is a very thought provoking book. It was written in 1985, but the concepts remain valid. The basic premise is that there is a difference between the typographic medium and the visual medium. Television largely defined the visual medium in 1985, and it still does, but now the internet has become far more influential. The rise of a visual medium has changed the way we think because the medium of communication is different. Print tends to allow us to think logically, linearly, and more slowly than a visual medium. TV, and the internet, has changed the way we consume information. It has turned information into bite-sized chunks, but in so doing has made it less comprehensive. We think solutions should be simpler, easier. We no longer tolerate nuance and complexity - things are more black and white. We see this in the political polarization of our time. Postman says that the "junk" on TV - sitcoms, vapid dramas, reality TV are not the danger, but the serious shows: news, documentaries, educational TV that shows information as entertainment. That is where the danger lies. Interesting book. Well written - not dry and dull. Recommended.
endpaper's review against another edition
4.0
Postman had no idea how much worse it could get. Dark laughter.
mbwojci's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
5.0
Prophetic.
In his conclusion, Postman states (in 1985!!):
“…I believe the computer to be a vastly overrated technology. I mention it here because, clearly, Americans have accorded it in their customary mindless inattention; which means they will use it as they are told, without a whimper… until, years from now, when it will be noticed that the massive collection and speed-of-light retrieval of data have been of great value to large-scale organizations but have solved very little of importance to most people and have created at least as many problems for them as they may have solved.” (p. 161)
Postman’s perspective as a communication scholar is asking serious questions around the benefits both of what and how things are communicated by TV (and by extension, social media), and the impacts to how we as people communicate with each other.
He builds upon Marshall McLuhan’s popular aphorism, “The medium is the message’, proposing “The medium is the metaphor”. This idea expressly connects the idea that we cannot underestimate the impact of the mediums we use to communicate ultimately influence how we as a culture both absorb information and/or accept that information.
There’s a lot of helpfully-framed questions in here related to TV / the ‘information age’ and prospective negative outcomes related to economics, politics, religion, social issues, human development, and more. Written in 1985, it is a bit shocking of how more applicable his ideas are today.
I think it’s popular to say ‘everybody should read X book’ today… but seriously. For people who are actively using online media (all of us?), this book is so important to engage with serious questions that are neglected around potential impacts to our lives.
In his conclusion, Postman states (in 1985!!):
“…I believe the computer to be a vastly overrated technology. I mention it here because, clearly, Americans have accorded it in their customary mindless inattention; which means they will use it as they are told, without a whimper… until, years from now, when it will be noticed that the massive collection and speed-of-light retrieval of data have been of great value to large-scale organizations but have solved very little of importance to most people and have created at least as many problems for them as they may have solved.” (p. 161)
Postman’s perspective as a communication scholar is asking serious questions around the benefits both of what and how things are communicated by TV (and by extension, social media), and the impacts to how we as people communicate with each other.
He builds upon Marshall McLuhan’s popular aphorism, “The medium is the message’, proposing “The medium is the metaphor”. This idea expressly connects the idea that we cannot underestimate the impact of the mediums we use to communicate ultimately influence how we as a culture both absorb information and/or accept that information.
There’s a lot of helpfully-framed questions in here related to TV / the ‘information age’ and prospective negative outcomes related to economics, politics, religion, social issues, human development, and more. Written in 1985, it is a bit shocking of how more applicable his ideas are today.
I think it’s popular to say ‘everybody should read X book’ today… but seriously. For people who are actively using online media (all of us?), this book is so important to engage with serious questions that are neglected around potential impacts to our lives.
tittypete's review against another edition
3.0
A lot of this went over my head. Guy goes hard on how society has from an oral/listening culture to a alphabet/reading culture and now to a passive TV culture. And that’s bad. While erudite, the author sounds a bit like a grumpy old man. In the age of supercomputers that can fit up our asses, this guy’s doom and gloom sounds like an old-timey stump speaker going on about the dangers of magazines. Postman’s point is valid as I honestly hoped this book would be more amusing. Yawnorrhea.
kaywoods's review against another edition
1.0
Written by yet another privileged white guy who, while claiming to know much about the hardships of women and minorities and also claiming to not be undermining the mental capacities of people who engage in "new media," actually proves to not know or care about women and minorities and how media has shaped public discourse for them, and does in fact undermine people who use new media. This book is elitist and while it does being up a few good points about the slippery slope of wanting pleasure and amusement most of the time, had many more points which serve to prove that the writer is a technophobe, even for the late twentieth century.
margyly's review against another edition
5.0
Zac recommended this polemic about how television has changed the basic paradigm of communication into entertainment, to the detriment of politics, religion, and education. Dated and strident, but probably correct!