Thursday, September 25, 2008

The Ecology of Media

Television, some think of it as a medium of entertainment and others prefer to think of it as a mode of sharing information. The creation of television has allowed the once isolated places on earth to be unified by technology. The rural areas in the world have now been invaded by television meaning they are constantly being influenced by western cultures and views. I believe that this has resulted in a loss of cultural uniqueness. This technology is also responsible for child obesity. Children have been the target audience for television shows and they are feeling the consequences of being glued to this form of entertainment. I believe the determinist theory that culture is drastically affected by media.

Neil Postman states that “prior to the age of telegraphy, the information-action ratio was sufficiently close so that most people had a sense of being able to control some of the contingencies in their lives”; this just isn’t the case today. We are a culture that is numb to the effects of television. I will give an example, normally at home I watch about an hour and a half of television a day. When I came to Guelph, I had no television and within weeks I felt out control since I had no recollection of what was going on in the World. This should not have to be the case. I believe that this is why people enjoy isolating themselves from television on trips, for once they are not being bombarded by information.

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