Media, Information and Technoculture 2000F/G Lecture Notes - Neil Postman, Lyndon B. Johnson, Image Scanner
Document Summary
Slide 2: tv as problem child of communication. People say i don"t have time for tv but no one says that about radio, internet, newspapers, etc. Television wasn"t seen with the high regard other technologies were. Tv has a discontinuity of emotion to it: it"ll tell you about a rape in new york and the next minute be talking about a hockey game score the next . So neil postman is saying that it doesn"t allow you to think logically, sequentially, even rationally. Tv is a way to enable you to contradict yourself and not realize the logical progression of your argument to adhere to. Tv makes us passive; we don"t have to be actively involved with it. Can act as a hypnotist by making us complacent without really realizing it. Attention spans have been shortened by tv, instant messaging, smartphones, etc. Argued that tv has a strong effect on the way family interaction has developed historically.