Essential Reading: Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman

There are several books I constantly bring up in conversation, and Neil Postman's classic is certainly one of them

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"Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business" by Neil Postman is, without a doubt, one of the most valuable pieces of social criticism I have ever read. For anyone who is interested in discovering the reasons why our society seems to be slipping further into a pop culture-driven, incoherent nonsensical mess, Postman's book is a must-read.

Postman makes the assertion that one of the primary downfalls of modern society is the fact that our media is predominantly based on the visual format. Television and movies make an individual a passive observer in the consumption of entertainment, whereas the written and spoken word requires a higher level of active attention and focus.

The visual medium tends to turn any content, educational or otherwise, into an element driven by show business. In order to captivate an audience, quick cuts and flashy imagery become a requirement. A simple conversation between two individuals is almost always enhanced by some visual element to keep the viewer entranced. Cold, hard information is eskewed in favor of bright, entertaining visual cues.

According to Postman, this aspect of visual media has eroded our attention span and has turned our public discourse into a never-ending circus

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Postman postulates that our age of technology is much less rational than in past eras, which can be tied directly to the dominant form of media. Postman argues that American culture was far more coherent and intelligent in the mid to late 1800's, as the dominant form of media was the written word.

Charles Dickens was the equivalent of the Beatles in his day, receiving fanfare unlike anything the most famous authors of today would receive. Mainstream society was based around written communication, which increased and improved the level of discourse that took place in the public space.

Abraham Lincoln and Stephan A. Douglas would debate for hours on end to a spellbound public, captivated by their well-reasoned arguments, a stark contrast to what passes for debate in modern America today. The age of a culture dominated by the visual medium is one that is largely devoid of meaningful and rational discussion, primarily because there simply isn't a context for it.

Though the book was written in 1985 and the concept of social media and the internet in general was not a factor, Postman's work is still as relevant as ever. It's likely that things have only worsened with the endless availability of visual media through youtube, Netflix, Instagram, etc. I've been taking a week off of all media except for books and music, and I can personally attest to having more mental space to think, write, and create.

Relying only on the written word seems antiquated in our digital age, but I would argue that it is more relevant than ever.

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A culture that is dominated by endless moving imagery is one that encourages passivity and generally lacks the ability to properly communicate complicated ideas. Certain issues require more than soundbites, memes, or quick and easy videos, requiring extended attention spans that most individuals lack.

As someone who has grown up underneath the glow of the television and the endless stream of visual entertainment provided by the internet, I am not immune from the intense allure that visual media can have in relation to the written word. Though I'm a writer myself, I struggle with balancing the attraction of a Netflix/Youtube session with my desire to read or write.

The visual medium is not going away, nor should it. Television programs have become much more sophisticated and serial than in the past, and some have argued that we are in a golden age of quality programming. I'm certainly not here to demonize or argue that we should do away with visual media.

But it is important to reflect upon how our media impacts our ability to communicate with one another, and how the endless stream of visual content isn't a beneficial component of a healthy, rational society. Postman doesn't have any obvious solutions to this problem and he paints a rather bleak picture of where our society is heading.

I don't have any easy answers for this issue either. However, picking up a book and turning off the Netflix for an evening might be a solid start.

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All uncredited pictures from pixabay.com or my personal account

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