A Critique of Neil Postmans Technopoly - Research Paper Example

 Technological Transformation: A Critique of Neil Postman’s Technopoly Introduction There has been a drastic change in how people work, to the way they communicate and even how they spend their leisure time as a result of the recent dramatic rise in computer, information, communication as well as multimedia technologies. A knowledge or information society comes up as a result of this technological revolution and that ascribes education a fundamental role in the aspect of life. This has left educators with a big challenge as they must review their basic tenets, such that they can deploy technology in a more creative, modern and productive way. This means that schooling must be restructured to conform to the technological and social changes in a progressive and constructive manner. Concurrently, we have the world undergoing important demographic and social-political changes brought about by change in technology. The fact that people can move, work and stay in any country all over the world with few restrictions, has seen people from diverse races, classes and background obtain the right tools and competencies they require to enable them to succeed in the transformation of the ever changing and more complex world. Different cultures are washed away by the emergence of technology, some of which come with good effects while others with bad effects to the society. Neil Postman in his works of Technopoly does not show an argument between humanist and scientist but rather between technology and everybody else. According to Postman, most people think that technology came as a friend that helps you with your work by making work easier. This is a friend who requires for one’s obedience and trust which most people pay since it comes with bountiful gifts. However, technology creates a foundation less culture as it tries to undermine certain mental processes and social relations. Some of these make life worth living. From this book, we find that technology is both a friend and an enemy. Here, Postman tries to explain why, when and how technology became such a dangerous enemy to the society. Therefore, this paper tries to look at both sides of the effects of technology as portrayed by Postman. It is a critique of Postman’s idea about such effects of the technology and how technology changes the society in terms of culture, work performance, eroding morality and in other significant areas. As he begins the chapter, it is clear from that Postman tries to bring out the point that technology gives and takes away at the same time. This means that there are those who gain from the introduction of a certain technology since it might come in a way that positively changes their lives, for instance, the introduction of computers has come with its benefits of making work easier, easy way of keeping files and an easy way of transferring information from one point to another without actual involvement in physical movement. On the other hand, through the introduction of certain technologies, other people will have to lose. For instance, due to the introduction of computers, certain employees have lost their jobs. These were previously employed to use typesetting machines and also as office assistance to keep files in the cabinet. This has seen the people in the cabinet making sector lose business since the demand for cabinets reduce with the fast introduction of computers that are able to store a lot of information into their memories. But, to me really, as much as Postman argues that technology in this instance is an enemy, I tend to think that, considering the wider picture of computers, this technology is more capable of performing very many greater tasks and even to lead to innovation of other technologies that help the society solve some problems that could otherwise have not been solved. As much as I agree with the fact that computers make other people become losers even when they lose their cultural values due to the arrival of this technology and perceive themselves as the elite or the light of the society, computers are still of more and greater benefits to the society than the negative effects. However, it doesn’t go without saying that due to the emergence of computers, youths have lost their societal value by spending most of the time on the internet and watching pornographic movies and exposing themselves to the many dangers that soil their minds before they even become of age as explained by Jim Stewart in his article[Jim08]. In the part of a television, yes, several people who are employed in the TV industries earn their living through that. Leave alone that, there are TV programs that teaches the society, entertain the viewers, pass news and vital information to the viewers as well as acting as media through which moral values are passed in the society promoting peace and cohesion in an attempt of national healing in case of a political or economical infliction. However, there is the other side of televisions that we cannot possibly ignore; we find out that there is a lot of time wastage due to certain addictive television programs which would require one to follow every time making even some people not to go to work. Certain television programs are also age restricted, but you find children still watching them hence spreading unwanted societal vices that make immorality to be on the increase. Sometime we have to bare the negative effects that these technologies pose to us and such may trickle down to the generations to come. Long ago, television was used to spread information faster, while right now, as expressed by Douglas in his article [Dou04], teachers and students use television as a medium for learning and very many of the current generation children will learn their second languages very fast through interacting with the television most of the times. More to this, the current generation gets to see what happens in the world very fast hence they try to emulate the happenings of the world which contribute to the eroding of their own cultures and traditions. Television is a technology that has brought a lot of revolution to the world by helping the world move towards industrialization and at the same time, it aids the world towards overlapping of cultures. In summary, it worries people most that our society, with us in it, has become so inundated by technology to an extent that it has adapted to the philosophy of life that undergirds the use of technology in the Western world, that our ability to critique or control its place in our lives, has been lost. With the vast emergence of new television programs and post-apocalyptic films, life has become easy to explore without electricity to drive our technological world. It also worries how our immersion in the world technological transformation has changed our proximity with God and our Christian faith as well as our educating the youth and the children. References Jim08: , (Jim Stewart, 2008), Dou04: , (Kellner, 2004), Read More