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azureyoshi's review against another edition
4.0
It's impressive the points of this book still hold up as well as they do, even with the advent of the internet. This book is a good overview of the transition society made with the advent of the idiot box, as well as the unintended consequences of doing so.
adrian_h's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
There aren’t just a lot of parallels to our world right now, but it goes beyond that. Every issue mentioned is a lot worse now. Internet and social media particular exasperate every issue mentioned here.
The immediacy and glut of useless information lacking in depth, context and history. The constant attempts at packaging education and learning as entertainment. The assumption that the destination is some technical utopia that solves all our problems without the examination if the current direction of travel is indeed making things better or worse. The writer’s reflection on “Now this…”, newscasters quickly moving on from some terrible disaster to some other unconnected event seems benign compared to what doomscrolling through TikTok videos looks like now.
It’s an old book, but more relevant than ever. AI will again make these issues worse than TV, internet 1.0, and social media ever did.
The immediacy and glut of useless information lacking in depth, context and history. The constant attempts at packaging education and learning as entertainment. The assumption that the destination is some technical utopia that solves all our problems without the examination if the current direction of travel is indeed making things better or worse. The writer’s reflection on “Now this…”, newscasters quickly moving on from some terrible disaster to some other unconnected event seems benign compared to what doomscrolling through TikTok videos looks like now.
It’s an old book, but more relevant than ever. AI will again make these issues worse than TV, internet 1.0, and social media ever did.
soupcocoon's review against another edition
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
Extremely readable and relevant. I'm always interested in how media shape messages especially with the shitshow social media has been lately and I found the arguments very compelling. Unfortunately in my experience Postman was right that education about being media conscious can only go so far; I think we all know the dangers of digital media but for most of us that doesn't change our actions too much. I also liked how Huxley was brought in.
kcrouth's review against another edition
4.0
Amusing Ourselves to Death is an excellent overview of how the US has moved away from being a nation of readers and rational thinkers, and become a society whose primary mode of communication is entertainment via sound bites and images. The specific focus is on television (published in 1985) but the parallels in other media are unmistakable. This book gives a chilling reality to the predictions of Aldous Huxley in Brave New World, which I read in the last year. There are no sure solutions offered, but some suggestions are given. Most frightening to me is that there may be no way out of our soma induced bliss. The present reality of Trump is clearly a symptom of the dysfunctional state of our national "thought", communication and collective intelligence. We are an Idiocracy!
jackiesobota's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
equleart's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
3.75
while very informative in a historical and even philosophical sense and ultimately coming to the correct conclusions in many respects, the hardheaded and unexamined insistence that technological factors first and foremost, and not social, cultural and economic ones, are the main driver of the supposed dumbing down of our society comes across as very narrow-minded.
Many assumptions rest on very shaky ground and anecdotes often do not support Postman's argument if you even partially reject his hypothesis and so read as snarky or overly malicious. Likewise, the possibility that other factors could be at work is repeatedly dismissed out of hand.
Postman proved that he knows what the issues are and where they will lead us. The attempt to convince me of his view of what the causes are was mostly unsuccessful, but that isn't to say the book is without merit. It's not a unique examination of our media consumption anymore but I am pretty sure that it was the genesis of many that followed, as I've previously come across parts of his analysis almost verbatim.
Many assumptions rest on very shaky ground and anecdotes often do not support Postman's argument if you even partially reject his hypothesis and so read as snarky or overly malicious. Likewise, the possibility that other factors could be at work is repeatedly dismissed out of hand.
Postman proved that he knows what the issues are and where they will lead us. The attempt to convince me of his view of what the causes are was mostly unsuccessful, but that isn't to say the book is without merit. It's not a unique examination of our media consumption anymore but I am pretty sure that it was the genesis of many that followed, as I've previously come across parts of his analysis almost verbatim.