Neil Postman Amusing Ourselves To Death Analysis

In Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman discusses “the news of the day”(7), and his opinion on it. Had it not been for the mediums that we get our information from, we would not pay attention to certain stories. He states that the news of the day is simply “a figment of our technological imagination” (8) and without the platform to display it, “the news of the day does not exist” (8). I agree with Postman's view because in my everyday life I choose to get information from not only the people around me, but from media that reports stories from all over the world. I usually start my mornings with local news on television. I don’t necessarily watch particular network because they usually have the same stories. I watch it for weather, traffic, and just general local news. All of which I could obtain on specific apps on my phone, but it's just easier in the morning to have as background noise. Throughout the day, on my phone, I’ll read on my BBC news app. The app is simple and convenient for me, because I can read it whenever I have free time. The ones I often check the most are their Top Stories, US and Canada, and Latin America sections. I decide what to read usually by the headline or by how important it is at the time. If I am on the internet, I'll check The New York Times or sometimes Al Jazeera America. I'll check them weekly to see if I missed anything that I didn't see during the week. The New York Times for more United States related articles. Al Jazeera America because I like their Environment section and most of their international coverage, especially recently months with their stories about the child refugees from Central America and the Ukraine crisis. They are informative, clear and to the point. My “news of the day” also consists of frivolous gossip sites, my guilty pleasure, such as Dlisted and TMZ. I look for tidbits on celebrities, latest gossip and not going to lie, the latest on the Kardashians. Entertainment sites like Vulture for articles …show more content…
The news I'll get from here usually is about right wing politicians, or even news networks such as CNN, and just the ridiculous stuff they tend to do. I'm not going out of my way to look at what is on Fox News so when I watch these shows, I’ll get a small dose of all the crazy. I think that even this goes with Postman's ideas about how “we have multiple media whose forms are well suited to fragmented conversation.” (8) and his thoughts on how television “made it possible to move decontextualized information over vast spaces at incredible speed” (8). All of these different ways for me to get my news are still just small fragments and on television it is not likely for them to give you the complete story. Another quote from Postman stating “As the influence of print wanes, the content of politics, religion, education, and anything else that comprises public business must change and be recast in terms that are more suitable to television” (8). I can say that I agree with him because some of the things on print do not translate on television. That television sometimes has to rely on antics to get your attention, and as a result, end up on shows like the ones I mentioned