A Day Without Media Essay

In the curb amuse Ourselves to cobblers last the idea that assiduity in what we love will lead to our end is presented and analyzed. After discipline this book I took it upon myself, as part of a class assignment, to go 24 hours with turn out media. Initi bothy I believed that this would be an easy task scarce found that as a whole we ar surrounded by media in every instance of our lives. From car rides, to alone walking rough my house I had to be observant to avoid media that would reset my 24 hour time frame.In mailmans book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, he reflects on how the television set brings families to the same room solely creates insularism between them. In my time without media I spent two meals with my family (a dejeuner and dinner). At both of these gatherings my family talked much more than we usually did. plot of ground honoring television we would shush for each one other to hear the show, but without it we discussed school, politics, and controversies such(prenominal) as legalizing weed. Looking back at this I compute mail carriers evidence. We become so focused on the story plica out in front of us that we block out each other in the process.I also noticed the same deed when I was driving with my grandfather that night. He needed to deliver a present to family and I needed driving hours, so I swarm the hour and a half drive. I wasnt allowed to touch the piano tuner because of my media break so we talked for that time. I found out that my close grandfather, whom I see five times a week, has severe ankle business and was going to get treatment later that week. I like to recover Im close to my family, but this occurring without me even knowing close it struck a chord in me. How much do we truly know about our loved ones? What simply hasnt come up because we spend our time learning about the new celebrity fads or who wore what where?As Im sitting here listening to the wireless(prenominal) while writing this I need to ref lect on common carriers thoughts of how intertwined our world is with media. As he put it, President Taft wouldnt have been voted into office in todays world because less pack would vote for someone that overweight. By this Postman means to point out how media has touch our lives. Not being able to use my mobile phone phone to call people or watch the news on television, shrunk myworld to what I could see, hear, and touch around me. I spent approximately of my time in my room reading books to pass the time, and when I did get by my room I all saw my family room, kitchen, and a little outside.We imprecate on television, radio, and other media to bring us information. But, what is never a minded(p) is that the information sources we depend on arnt biased. When opinions disguised as facts are viewed without any analysis and taken at face value, we are only creating sue do opinions that arent even ours. This influence in our lives not only emphasizes rifts in ideals, but also c an give groups the government agency to falsify information and mislead others. Maybe we are not simply Amusing Ourselves to Death but Amusing Ourselves to the Death of Ourselves.When I was in middle school up till eighth grade I had a friend who used to watch BBC all the time as a child. I remember asking him about his speech patterns, and him sexual relation me that he even used to have a British artistic style I can also relate to these thoughts. When I was smaller I used to speak using syntax that wasnt very normal. This was because I used to be very sheltered and not get out much. Sesame Street was one of my favorites as a child. Communication skills have to be developed like anything else, with practice. When I wasnt exposed to people talking casually, I developed a way of speaking that didnt fit with the people around me. This is a prime example of Postmans point. We as a new generation cant communicate like we should be able to. Technology has stripped us of that. When mo st kids get seizet know what to say nigh in a situation, the check their phones. This is a good example of our confidence on media and technology and shows our subconscious dependence on these devices.When you turn to your television tonight who or what do you see? What do you learn? What tender action do you participate in? Postman mentions in his book how through television we learn to interact with people. But, these people we learn how to interact with dont act like real humans do. They are actors, their body movements and word phrasing has been planned out and set beat by step for them. This means that those actors we learn to interact with, and habits we gain dont help us to talk to people face to face. Whilebreaking from media I thought about this at a point.In summary I believe the time I spent without media allowed me to see through Postmans lens. The thought that the media we love so dearly is slowly destroying us may seem preposterous at first, but when further ana lyzed has ground to stand on. We gain social skills, news, opinions, bias, and a central meeting place for a family from media. Are these good or bad? Does this media influence our life to the point that it is the main factor we all cling to? We have to guard ourselves against the negative effects of this technology so we are not used. That doesnt mean we cut ourselves off from it completely. If we do that than we are shrinking our world view to that which we can see ourselves. deal everything else in life we must take new media in proportion, with a clear mind. If so we may be able to avoid Amusing Ourselves to Death.