Postman's Point

Neil Postman’s warning about the world’s collapsing culture do to the overuse of technology remains consistent in both his novel, Amusing Ourselves to Death, and his speech at Calvin College. Postman draws his audiences’ attention to the shift from “the Age of Typography” to the “Age of Television.” In his book Postman writes, “our own tribe is undergoing a vast and trembling shift from the magic of writing to the magic of electronics.” He discusses this idea of a changing culture from the ancient time of smoke signals, to discovering the written word, and now to the era of television. He believes that not all changes are advancements. He mentions how the new way of “conversing” has in fact regressed from the magic of the written word. Postman expresses this idea of negative changes in his speech when he quotes Henry David Thoreau who stated that, “all our inventions are but improved means to an unimproved end.” He continues to prove that same point that just because people make changes doesn’t mean they are going to provide a better end result.

            Postman also points out that the worth and capacity of humans is declining because of the hindering effects of electronics. In his novel, he compares today’s society with Las Vegas, a city known for its wild and over-the-top entertainment. Similar to his idea of human’s becoming slaves to entertainment; Postman speaks about how people start becoming their computer’s pets. He wants to show how people are no longer in control of themselves. Las Vegas is known for its excess which is part of his point that people now have become excessive with their use of technology. He talks of this excess in his speech when he brings up the idea of people talking more to machines than actual human beings. Postman is very clear in both his novel and speech that our society is changing but not necessarily advancing. He also sends an obvious warning about excessive technology use.