I went back on reading "Amusing ourselves to death" and saw Postman's argument about how written work is much more relevant than verbal speaking, viewing photos or watching television. He states that people believe that "seeing is believing" but argues that "reading is believing" and "feeling is believing." He states that we are living in a "peek-a-boo world" where knowledge and information from photos or television just pops up in a person's mind for a second before it disappears and becomes irrelevant for the person. Reading material gives us time to store in all the information given to us, it gives us time to make it understandable for all of us.
I used to believe that seeing things was much more useful and more educational than reading. In all truth I never liked reading, though the argument in this book is forcing me to think differently. Today's society are more likely to sit on a couch and reach for their universal remote and flip on a DVD or a Television program. If reading is more relevant than watching T.V than why don't people just press the off button and pick up a book of their choice to assimilate the information they need to keep them busy? If a book like so can give you more information to keep than discovery channel than why don't we just go to the library?
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Well, you actually answered your own question, really. You said you used to believe that seeing things was much more useful and more educational than reading. And you said you never liked reading [before reading the book, mind me].
So, those two reasons are probably more common than you think. It's easier [and requires less skill] to watch something on the television than read a book. And for people who don't like to read, it is far more entertaining to watch the television. The sad truth, people just want to be fed entertainment than go read a book.
People want to be entertained, happy, and lazy rather than go out and learn, study, or read.
In other words, a lot of people would rather be stupid than understand the way things work. Let's not sugar coat anything, we see this at school... a lot.
By the way, the politically correct term is being southerners-err, ignorant.
I believe what Postman says about our society and how it’s a "seeing is believing" world, for example in current news there have been many dystopian societies which we haven’t seen, so therefore we do not consider it to be truths. We are shifting from a typography culture to one whose sole purpose is to entertain rather than to inform. Which is why society rather click the T.V on and not analyze (or use their head), rather than to grasp a book and fully understand a concept.
(Question: could this be a society in which written knowledge lacks interest, which will set us off for regression?)
Daniel Román said... for example in current news there have been many dystopian societies which we haven’t seen, so therefore we do not consider it to be truths.
I am sorry; I have a hard grasp on what you're saying. Are you claiming there to be societies that we don't believe exist so we dismiss them? Or do we simply dismiss them because of lack of importance? Can you please elaborate?
And I disagree with the idea that we're shifting from a typography culture to a more media based entertaining one...Why? Simply because we already have done the shift and I like to call it...The Television and media. And, I do agree that we'd rather, dare I say, click the remote and see what's happening in Hollywood than go read some Voltaire. We'd rather have some educational channel tell us who Bonnie and Clyde were than to go research at the library [WHAT'S THAT?!]. And we most definitely have become accustomed to being fed Jebuz every Sunday morning on TBN [not ME, specifically, I'm an atheist].
That is to say, while I do not believe that books have been entirely replaced by television, television has become more than just an alternative.
Also, Daniel, to address your last question... Do you mean regression in the sense that we'll revert to immaturity and ignorance? As a culture? As a society?
Daniel... I sincerely hope not.
The truth is that our minds have been corrupted by photography/technology since we were born. Think about it, your mom or somebody probably read you those stories when you were one or two. You won't be happy untill you see pictures of what the person is reading about. That's how it is today. Nobody wants to read a boring book like your World History textbook. It will be so much easier to just flip on the TV and watch something of your choice. When it comes to learning, we find it more exciting to see and learn (if we ever learn anything good from tv) than to read and learn.
People choose not to turn off the TV because they have short attention spans.
With TV, all you have to do is switch it to a channel and stare at the picture and hear the words.
With a book, they actually have to use their mind and read word by word to gather the knowledge. And then they lose interest, just like that.
I think they're crazy, because reading is ultimately one of the best ways to entertain and teach yourselves. In my opinion, reading is way more fun than television and you get more out of it.
-Alyssa Kocon
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