Neil Postman's Analysis

Pop culture, what does this term even mean? It seems to be a word that contains subjects of media, social structure, and society as a whole. According to the dictionary, pop culture is defined as “cultural activities or commercial products reflecting, suited to, or aimed at the tastes of the general masses of people”. In the society we live in today, we are constantly surrounded by pop culture, either that is with television, magazines, different sources of social media and/or exposure to others. Due to pop culture being such a dominant contribution into our world today, it has effected many parts of society. The domination of social media has created idealistic views that are stressed upon female adolescents in particular. Upon media’s influence, traditional tactics and work have been modified in order to keep up with our technology oriented society. This alters the schools and education systems. Through the use of television, social media and other means of pop culture, serious study is necessary due to the negative effects it has on the younger generation and the effects it has for their futures.

Knowledge has come about through many different forms throughout history and has constantly changed along with the times. To equate media to epistemology is to say how media relates to how we understand knowledge. In this chapter, Neil Postman discusses how modern media has created an epistemological shift and whether it has affected us for better or for worse. Postman argues that this shift has altered the structure of discourse no differently than how every new medium before it has always done.

The average American child watches 20 hours of television per week, that is 5,000 hours before first grade. Most children between the ages of 3-6 years old can even turn on the television and start a DVD by themselves. I am guilty of allowing my children more TV time then they should have, but I guess that is because I enjoy watching it myself. There are many hidden messages in children’s shows that I was oblivious to until now. For instance, in the show “Rugrats” Charlotte Pickles, Angelica’s mom never had time for her, always on the phone and working. Ethnic stereotyping is another message sent in Speedy Gonzalez’s cousin Slow Poke Rodriguez which is lazy, slow, and dim witted. Morality is also affected by these shows. Most every little boy

Huxley’s Brave New World could be considered almost prophetic by many people today. It is alarmingly obvious how modern society is eerily similar to Huxley’s novel with the constant demand for instant gratification encouraging laziness, greed, and entitlement. Neil Postman, a contemporary social critic, seems to have noticed this similarity, as he has made bold, valid statements regarding the text and its relevance to our world today. This response is strongly in support of those statements and will prove both their accuracy in clarifying Huxley’s intentions and how Postman’s assertions compare to society today.

Obviously, amateur human brain can become weak to the annoying impact of the information overload, although the brain can adapt to the huge information flow and process the information selectively that leads to the adaptation of human way of thinking. So, internet can effect not only human brain and behavior but also the way users think. The information overload and the way the information is delivered to users cause consistent changes in the way of thinking.

The main thing Huxley speaks about is moral and cultural decay in modern society. chaps

The mass media consists of any means of communication that has the ability to reach a large amount of people. The term ‘media’ can refer to movies, television, the newspaper, etc. It is because of it’s ability to out reach to a mass quantity of people that it is able to “reinforce and teach societal values.” At a young age, socialization occurs in that it involves the “learning of the values and the norms of society” and adopting them into their own personal values (Perse, 2001.) Children often have little life experience so they learn and imitate their environment whether that be the characters on television or societal institutions like their families or teachers at school. Adolescents are more susceptible to socialization in that they are at a period in which they are trying to find

As analyzed by social critic Neil Postman, Huxley's vision of the future, portrayed in the novel Brave New World, holds far more relevance to present day society than that of Orwell's classic 1984.  Huxley's vision was simple:  it was a vision of a trivial society, drowned in a sea of pleasure and ignorant of knowledge and pain, slightly resembling the world of today.  In society today, knowledge is no longer appreciated as it has been in past cultures, in turn causing a deficiency in intelligence and will to learn.  Also, as envisioned by Huxley, mind altering substances are becoming of greater availability

Among nerds and Trekkies, Neil Postman’s portrayal of the Typographic Mind perhaps sounds very much like the mind of Mr. Spock. Like the Vulcan Mind, the Typographic Mind, utilizes a logical and rational method, it is both detached and objective. Imaginably, the Vulcans were a culture submerged in the printed word. The author paints a picture of the American written word-based culture of the eighteenth and nineteenth century in “The Typographic Mind”. He calls this the Age of Exposition in his fourth chapter of his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death. He portrays the influence on public discourse when based on the written word. It defines the content, the effects on the audience and shapes the spheres of public life in politics, religion, and

In the article Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman, he brings into question if our society has in fact, delved into the story line of a George Orwellian or Brave New World scenario. In George Orwell’s 1984, the culture had gotten rid of useful and sufficiently communicative language, as well as written text contradicting anything to do with the government. The characters, along with being forbidden individual or radical thoughts, were deprived of their individualism and history. The Brave New World scenario, as mentioned by Postman, portrays another story. Instead of having external oppression, as in 1984, the characters willingly gave themselves over to the love of technology that, “undo their capacity to think.” Postman believes that the American culture is moving towards a Huxleyan future and gives an example in a study taken in 1983 by the Nielsen Report on Television. He summarizes that the average American child watches 5,000 hours of television before they even start school, and 16,000 hours by the time they graduate high school. This startling data contributed to a growing alarm that both television and other aspects of daily life (church, school, news, politics) are leaning more towards the pull of entertaining its audience than delivering

Throughout the span of the past few weeks I have traversed the globe, visiting several countries and regions, only to realize that although new methods develop, language as a way of expressing ones self has remained the most effective. Despite this fact, language still has its pitfalls. Neil Postman, in his essay “Defending Against the Indefensible,'; outlines seven concepts that can be used to aid a student in better understanding the language as a means of communication. He describes how modern teaching methods leave a student vulnerable to the “prejudices of their elders';, further stating that a good teacher must always be skeptical. He urges teachers of all subjects to break free from traditional teachings as

George Orwell and Aldous Huxley both penned novels about their prophecies of a future ruled by totalitarianism. Neil Postman juxtaposes these prophecies in an excerpt from his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death. Orwell’s vision proclaims the oppression of an external source, while Huxley’s states that the greatest oppression comes from within a society. Postman argues that Huxley’s vision pertains to today’s society more than Orwell’s. His assertion correctly expresses the fears about society’s future, identifying the power of internal passivity over external captivity.

Postman asserts what Huxley feared the world would become, and how his vision implies to the abounding possibilities of the future. Postman writes, “As he (Huxley) saw it, people will

In the following passage Neil Postman contrasts George Orwell's depiction of the future in his novel 1984 with that of Aldous Huxley's in Brave New World. Both of these novels were written around the same century during the times of war. Both of these novels address some of the same issues, but they both portray these issues in a different way. These authors are both predicting what would happen to the civilization that we live in if we continued with our way of life. Neil Postman asserts that "Huxley's prophecy is more relevant today than Orwell's". In my opinion Huxley's prophecy is in fact more accurate today than Orwell's and the civilization that we live in today is gradually moving towards the civilization that is depicted in Brave New

Back in the 1920s people had receive news and entertainment through the radio, which then in turn out-shined newspapers and magazines. Now day’s social media sites have become the most popular form to get the news and information. The biggest tool in the media that generates revenue by the millions every day, is advertising. The media has its way of showing us constructive information when it comes to news channels, travel and other educational shows. Kids benefit from watching these, since it can boost self-esteem, heighten interest levels in a particular subject, or encourage them to ask relevant questions.