Why is Neil Postman still important today?

" This is his term for a society that deifies technology, believing that every innovation is an unalloyed good and that virtually all human problems have a technological solution. He observed it in medicine, where the treatment of a statistic could take precedence over the care of a patient. He observed this in the overuse of standardized testing in the classroom, which reduced learning — a complex and messy human process — to a collection of data points.

In a technopoly, he warned, we risk losing the narratives that give life meaning — be they religious, social, or traditional — and replacing them with the cold, efficiency-driven logic of the machine. and his criticism went beyond television. The risk lies not in utilizing technology, but in being consumed by it and letting it change our values without our knowledge or approval. Postman even states at one point that he agrees with Orwell on the perils of totalitarianism.

he stated in Amusing Ourselves to Death. But to dismiss neil postman books's «high-tech gift» thesis as merely «on the same side» as Orwell is to miss a fundamental aspect of Postman's argument. thesis as simply being First off, Postman is more interested in democracy than totalitarianism. He stated in Amusing Ourselves to Death. According to Postman, the very prosperity of high-tech society is what makes democracy possible. It's like sitting down with a sage, slightly mischievous friend who knows how to listen — to the rhythms of speech, to the hum of machines, to the quiet uneasiness beneath the noise — and who gently encourages you to do the same.

It doesn't feel like reading an old textbook when you read him nowadays. His voice continues to be a calm, steady counterpoint in a time of hot takes and reactive outrage — not because he had all the answers, but rather because he asked questions that open doors rather than shut them. Questions that remain vital anchors in an age of AI tutors, algorithmic feeds, and immersive virtual worlds. Even so, his tone remained upbeat. Later in life, he turned his attention to technology and education more directly.

We might think about how Postman foresaw that an emphasis on information, spectacle, emotionalism, We could concentrate on his predictions regarding the emergence of social media and the decline of print and television news. It is appropriate to reflect on what Postman has taught us about politics and technology today, the twentieth anniversary of his passing. Postman had insightful things to say about each of these topics, but today I will contend that his concept of the The , In his book Amusing Ourselves to Death.

According to Orwell's theory, political systems and the individuals in charge of them are fundamentally evil and corrupt.