Neil Postman 's An Internet Age Response

Postman made it clear that his book is not an attack on the television itself. Instead he asserted that, supplied by the television's form, it is the change in the definition of how we learn, and thus perceive, the world around us that is under his criticism. When it comes to entertainment, Postman admitted that the television does an excellent job. "Television [...] serves us most usefully when presenting junk-entertainment; it serves us most ill when it co-opts serious modes of discourse-news, politics, science, education, commerce, religion-and turns them into entertainment packages" (159). The television does not require viewers to carry thoughts from minute to minute, and their eyes are never unstimulated, as the average duration of a camera view is a mere 3.5 seconds (86). Such brevity of thought and picture are a drastic difference from the way we used to get our information. That is, through the monopoly of the print media. Then contiguous information, uninterrupted by advertisements and thoughts not spliced into sentence-long segments, was expressed from cover to cover. Now, the kind of information (or misinformation) we are accustomed to receiving via the television set is redefining the way we receive and perceive information. It is not

Rather instead we are actually left with the author’s notion television is not yet a fully utilized tool. Through the use of these rhetorical strategies the author has created a convincing argument against a widely held belief of the general public, effectively evoking critical thought unto the public and possibly even changing the view in whole. Even though these strategies alone do not make an argument, when used in order to support one you canget a very effective persuasive, even informative, piece like the one presented

Postman says that, as a result, "all public understanding of these subjects is shaped by the biases of television" (78) and that in the absence of rational discourse, cultural decay is sure to follow.

Neil postman does not think television is completely harmful. He loves television for its “junk” because he says that

In “Why Games Are Good For You,” an excerpt from the book Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today's Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter, the author Steven Johnson defends gaming as a valid form of entertainment against its conventional opponents and delves deep into its benefits. Firstly, Johnson presents the old conventional argument of beneficial reading as opposed to the colossal time-wasting

Some negative health outcomes are attributed to television. There is that of becoming the “couch potato”, many of us base television around our lives, and some of us get lazy and spend too much time watching television which can result in health problems. Not only is watching too much TV and being sedentary a bad thing, but the overwhelming amount of advertising and marketing that we see on television causes an increase in intake of a range of unhealthy products. Each hour per day increases the risk of developing diabetes by 3.4%. A variety of other potential behavioral and physical effects exist such as poorer social relationships, less

In “Everything Bad Is Good For You,” Steven Johnson discusses why and how he believes today’s popular culture is actually making us smarter, rather than dumbing us down. Johnson has his book split into two different parts, focusing mainly on the first part of his book, he talks about the ways people consume media and how it has become more complex and challenging over the years. The title headings for each sub-chapters are - Video Games, Television, Internet, and Movies. Within each subchapter he uses a vast number of examples from each section to support his argument. The biggest part the first chapter is dedicated to video games. Johnston suggests that when video games were first released that people thought they made us dumber and wasted our mind’s skills. He uses the example about how if video games had arrived before books, we would be more hesitant towards books. We would be looking at the negative aspects of book reading and how they are isolating, under-stimulating and do not engage enough. Stating that we use books to test cognitive benefits – attention, memory, focus and following threads, Johnston goes into a detail about how video games uses all these skills and more. He uses examples from Tetris, Pac-Man, SimCity200 and even The Legend of Zelda. Continuing his argument that video games engage us more that any other media our there at the moment, he acknowledges how to reward system and the desire to explore in video games keep us engaged. No other form of

Is video gaming a force for psychological good or for psychological harm? This is one of the issues discussed in the last thirty years. A lot of people, especially parents, would say gaming is harmful on a child’s psychology. Those people would say that video games make children aggressive; they are frustrating and highly addictive. The concerns are not only about children, they go for teenagers and young adults as well. Something which just a few years ago was only a way of unwinding and passing a bit of time has now become a much criticized lifestyle, with allegedly disturbing long-turn effects on people’s minds and perception of the world. One thing needs to be made

Based on the author, endless and uncontrolled playing with electronic visual entertaining has an adverse effect that causes several diseases in kids. Christopher points out that youngsters "who spend more than two hours a day" on computers can go through serious problems and "may suffer from childhood obesity." The writer adds evidence from University of Texas at Dallas to her assertive claim that the youth can experience more health issues other than excessive weight increasing, such as pain in the back, head, and wrist. The article "Do Video Games Contribute to Childhood Obesity?" on the website http://www.livesh·ong.com/ reinforces Christopher’s believes. In paragraph 1, Loop introduces the article by stating, "Although genetics and diet

Is entertainment destroying or benefiting modern society? There is no doubt that entertainment is the main source of amusement for many today. It is used in almost every common man’s daily life, from watching TV to listening to the news. However, entertainment has unfortunately become deeply saturated in people’s lives, to the point where it is no longer healthy or beneficial. The utilization of entertainment has become an addiction, thus giving it the capability to annihilate society. From the adult industry to television shows, one conclusion is inescapable” entertainment is, indeed, a dangerous tool.

Videogames has made a new era of entertainment in society. Through the years, video games has been a debate due to concern of one’s health. On the other hand, some latest research has been done to support that videogames are actually good for people. There are four websites that addresses the negative and positive effect on videogames in the society. The websites are, raisesmartkids, Game Designing, Washington Post and Livestrong. Each website has their own authority, clear disclosure of advocacy, coverage, accuracy and currency. One may think that videogames are bad for individuals, but can also be beneficial to individuals.

Video games today have become a huge role in the consumption of people’s entertainment. Ninety- seven percent of kids between the ages of 12 and 17 play video games and the industry only shows signs of large growth. In 2016, 24.5 billion games were sold (Nichols) leading to a 21.53 billion dollar industry (“Do Violent Video”). With the growth of new players around the world, the debate has sparked whether video games are beneficial to society or if they come with repercussions. They may be fun for the kids, but the parents may not agree. Research is quickly being done to determine whether they are harmful or helpful. Some believe that the violence and addiction of video games make them a danger to society while others argue there are benefits to playing video games. However, video games have been misrepresented in the media and wrongly blamed for the actions they are not related to. Research has actually shown that video games can come with a large group of benefits that disprove much of the speculation around them. With video games being misrepresented and research suggesting they are beneficial, it is logical and reasonable to come to the conclusion that video games can do more good than harm.

A controversy of video games is that they don’t benefit our society, over the years this controversy has become national news. Those who oppose video games say that they make you violent and that they don’t benefit you or our society. Video games have benefitted society because it has made breakthroughs in science, benefitted us in social skills, and has caused health benefits physically and mentally. Video games have done more good in society than what we are told by the media, it’s not as evil as some may think.

America is a nation that focuses on entertainment and obsesses with what we see on screen, so much so that it has shaped our modern form of discourse. In his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman discusses the way that television has shaped the American culture. He makes the argument that television has now crept its way into the education system, therefore enforcing the idea that teaching and learning must now be made entertaining.

A saying anyone who grew up playing video games has likely heard. Since the release of the first video game in 1971 the general masses viewed them with disregard. Parents and media alike only saw these electronic games as a new way for people to erode their brain with bright flashing lights and mindless, repetitive actions. Fast forward thirty or so years later, studies started to emerge trying to find out the true effect video games have on the mind. Some did prove that the speculation was an actual truth, while others proved that playing could do the brain some good. The findings of theses studies concluded that playing video games has both positive and negative effects on the brain all dependent on what type of game is played and for how long.