Amusing Ourselves To Death Postman Analysis

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Introduction If you place a frog into boiling water it will jump out, but if it is placed in cold water that is gradually heated over time it will boil to death. This anecdote can be related to technology and how society has perceived it. Over time technology has been shown to take over one’s ability to think for themselves. During my essay I will use two reputable authors to help answer my question, Is technology distracting the individual from thinking for oneself? The search for the answer leads me to Carr’s, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” (2008/2015) and Postman’s, “Amusing Ourselves To Death”(1984/2015). Both authors address this question in different ways but both lead to the same answer: Technology is distracting society for thinking for themselves. Summary In his essay, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Nicholas Carr, a graduate…show more content…
Postman compares two notable literary authors, George Orwell and Aldous Huxley, and they’re prophesies of the evolution of man’s attitudes towards receiving information. Postman discusses Huxley’s prophesy, of people adoring the technology that is undoing their capacity to think, more in depth. Postman mainly refers to the distractions made possible by the television. By comparison it is believed that our society is leaning towards Huxley’s prophecy of our culture becoming a burlesque, rather than Orwell’s prophesy of our culture becoming a prison. It is feared that we will amuse ourselves to death and not even know it. In summary, Postman goes through his address trying to find the, “antidote to a culture dying of laughter.” But unfortunately one cannot be
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