Amusing Our Selves to Death by Neil Postman, was a very long book for me, maybe it's because I'm not use to reading but even so, I found it very difficult to understand most of the book. Sometimes, Postman went so deep into an example I forgot the point he was trying to get across, but like I said this is most likely because I haven't read in awhile. Reading a book written so long ago about how technology (mostly television) would completely change human's lives in a negative way was very interesting. Television now is the least life changing as computers have now taken the spotlight. Even so, the main focus of technology, as Postman explains, is entertainment and that still remains true. Advertisements usually are based off the program being aired at the time, or the channel its on. Everything is meant to please the viewer while also making money.
In television everything is meant to grab viewers attention, it doesn't even matter if you watch some show three seasons in. Creators of shows, usually make them so that anyone can watch any episode at anytime, which makes people feel they have freedom. Even Clive Thompson the author of Smarter Than You Think explains how the freedom of checking in and out on something makes that thing more interesting, in Clive's case he talks about status updates, but I feel the main idea of freedom causing greater interests is the same for television shows. I completely agree with this, just giving this small feeling of freedom can really change how a person functions and what they do.
One of the chapters I remember most is the chapter about religion and how it has been so dramatically changed by television. Why I remember this section most, I don't know, other than that I found it interesting. Channels would air a giant church service, but are really nothing more then a normal show for entertainment. These church services have taken out the traditions of real services and made the main focus entertainment. I find it sad that such a thing has occurred, that something so big as religion to get so corrupted by television.
Trevin,
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the part where you talk about church. Religion is seen as sacred and it has specific traditions depending on the religion you are. As on television it is seen more as entertainment, so it begins to lose the value it has, it begins to lose the sacredness, the experience, and most importantly the message. I feel that church programs being placed on television is so viewers may see it and believe something they want to hear instead of what they need to hear from actually going to church.
Treven, I noticed you said that computers have taken the spotlight that once belonged to television. As technology progresses aren't computers and television becoming almost synonymous with each other? I mean nowadays we have Smart Tvs, the ability to stream television shows over the computer & much more. Soon it may just be once big screen that can be a computer, tv, or gaming system. Whether we like it or not, technology will never stop evolving.
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