Amusing Our Selves to Death

A detailed Summary of Amusing Our Selves to Death


I have just read Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death. Postman states that the age of typography has been replaced by the age of television. This has changed the way we look at the world and the way we think, which in turn has almost made us less intelligent. Postman speaks his opinions freely, and really gives the reader a new perspective on media, and the effect it has on society. To often we think nothing of what we see and read in the media, but after reading this book you see things a lot differently.

Postman believes that the culture is shaped by how its media is conducted. In the age of typography, for example, politicians spoke of how people wrote. In today's society the news is broadcasted in bits and pieces, and the unrelated topics are all thrown up and tied together with the phrase "Now and This". Our culture, he states, now functions best when focused on tiny bits of unrelated material.

We believe that things should come in unrelated bits, continuously, and with lots of flash. To


Postman goes deep into television and its damaging effects on our culture. Postman says that when watching Television for entertainment only no harm is done, but when it tries to inform us that is when it can get dangerous. He goes into the history of technology and how it affected the past. His main focus throughout the book is that the media shapes our culture directly. We tend not to see just how media does this; we just keep thinking that everything that happens on TV is "ok" and "normal"

After reading this book I am looking at the media, and the effects it has, in a whole new way. Postman opened up doors that have never been opened, and asked questions that have never been asked. It has helped me to see media in a new light. I will end with this verse. Let us seek those things that are above and have our mind fixed on Christ alone (Col 3:1). For if we do this, then media can play no role, and have no effect. The only problem is that it's all around us. Fixing my mind on Jesus just makes i

Some common words found in the essay are:
Sesame Street, Death Postman, Christ Col, Teaching Children, postman believes, , reading book, age typography, watching television, children learn, sesame street,

Approximate Word count = 674
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Novels

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