• Home
  • About
    • diacritical
    • Douglas McLennan
    • Contact
  • Other AJBlogs
  • ArtsJournal

diacritical

Douglas McLennan's blog

Still Amusing Ourselves to Death: Information as Cautionary Tale

November 25, 2022 by Douglas McLennan 2 Comments

It might seem like our current information glut is without parallel, but throughout history observers have worried about the impact of too much information on our ability to rationally process and make sense of it. When we moved from an oral storytelling culture to print with the invention of the printing press. Or with the invention of the telegraph, which allowed our thoughts to be transmitted across continents, for the first time exceeding the physical speed of a human body.

The ability to spread information changes the kinds of things we talk about, and therefore find important. And Neil Postman’s 1985 book Amusing Ourselves to Death, is worth revisiting for his observations about the transition from the age of print to the age of television. He laments that in leaving the written argument behind, TV substitutes entertaining aphoristic messages for substantive evidence-based reason. Worse, TV gives the illusion of seeing and knowing more but being less powerful to act on any of it. Information as entertainment. Images as emotional triggers which don’t enlighten. He worries that as we distract ourselves and get addicted to being diverted, we lose the ability to determine what actually matters and forget we have the power to do anything about it. One suspects he would feel fully-vindicated in his cautions seeing the media universe of today in which we carry our phones everywhere in fear of allowing a single second to pass without distraction.

I think the take-home message here is a warning about the trap of feeling informed on a diet of information that does not matter and which we cannot do anything about. Were you outraged during the Trump years and spent hours every day following every little scandal and transgression? For what purpose? After, say, the first dozen or so outrages, did subsequent scandal change your opinion about the man? Did additional information shape new actions, new responses on your part that made a difference in either stopping him or changing the situation? You gave money, sure. You voted, sure. But think about the possibly thousands of hours you wasted in being outraged. And to what purpose?

This was Postman’s point. The “news” as reported on television was about things its viewers would be unable to impact, so why be informed about it? He concludes that it was for entertainment value, as a distraction from having to participate more fully in the world, yet behind an illusion of participating through knowing about it. One can imagine, in a way, this is how fame works. We know about something that others also know so we now feel an investment in and a kinship with our community in the know. This is how we create meaning.

But in the current media universe which has flattened our hierarchies of information, information feeds become more and more deadening, and the sense of boredom that one feels consuming it is not from having nothing to do but being overwhelmed by choices that don’t seem to lead to anything nourishing. I wrote a bit more about Postman over on Post Alley.

Share:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: cultural issues

Comments

  1. John McCann says

    November 26, 2022 at 3:57 am

    I haven’t read this book, yet your review triggered an insight about information shared within organizations and how so much of it is similar in that it is information for information’s sake (one feels informed yet powerless) and that masks or ignores almost completely the data, insight and provocation necessary for making the hard decisions embedded in good stewardship and taking the actions required of responsible leadership.

    Reply
  2. Douglas McLennan says

    November 26, 2022 at 7:46 am

    Hi John: Yes – remember over the last decade how Big Data was going to change everything and drive every decision? While it made an impact on many industries, it doesn’t seem to have driven fresh insights where culture is concerned. A few years ago Arts Council England, the funder, had the bright idea that grantees would have to collect data on “engagement” and the score would help determine whether they would continue to get funding. After howls from the arts sector, the plan was dropped. Data without insight is meaningless.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Douglas McLennan

I’m the founder and editor of ArtsJournal, which was founded in September 1999 and aggregates arts and culture news from all over the internet. The site is also home to some 60 arts bloggers. I’m a … [Read More...]

About diacritical

Our culture is undergoing profound changes. Our expectations for what culture can (or should) do for us are changing. Relationships between those who make and distribute culture and those who consume it are changing. And our definitions of what artists are, how they work, and how we access them and their work are changing. So... [Read more]

Subscribe to Diacritical by Email

Receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 3,819 other subscribers
Follow Us on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterFollow Us on RSSFollow Us on E-mail

Archives

@AJDoug

Tweets by @AJDoug

Recent Comments

  • Douglas McLennan on Still Amusing Ourselves to Death: Information as Cautionary Tale: “Hi John: Yes – remember over the last decade how Big Data was going to change everything and drive every…” Nov 26, 07:46
  • John McCann on Still Amusing Ourselves to Death: Information as Cautionary Tale: “I haven’t read this book, yet your review triggered an insight about information shared within organizations and how so much…” Nov 26, 03:57
  • Richard Voorhaar on The UnderTow: The High-flying Oil Industry fears “Demand Destruction.” Should the Arts?: “We have reached the point where the average American has no attention span. A 3-4 minute pop tune is all…” Jun 10, 11:22
  • Alan Harrison on The UnderTow: The High-flying Oil Industry fears “Demand Destruction.” Should the Arts?: “Brilliant piece, Doug. It’s why, in my own columns on LinkedIn and Medium, I may have become more strident recently…” Jun 8, 15:46
  • Tom Corddry on The UnderTow: The High-flying Oil Industry fears “Demand Destruction.” Should the Arts?: “Slick analogy. Social scientists estimate that 95% of everything we do is basically done out of habit, because it’s an…” Jun 7, 21:04
  • sandi kurtz on The UnderTow: Subscriptions are the New Business Model of Choice. So Why are Subscriptions Failing in the Arts?: ““As for seat licenses in the arts – I think it doesn’t work unless demand is so spectacular you can…” Jun 1, 23:19
  • Douglas McLennan on The UnderTow: Subscriptions are the New Business Model of Choice. So Why are Subscriptions Failing in the Arts?: “I think the membership model is an interesting variant. And the web has gone back and forth on labeling its…” May 31, 07:42
  • Douglas McLennan on The UnderTow: Subscriptions are the New Business Model of Choice. So Why are Subscriptions Failing in the Arts?: “Thanks Gary. I originally had a section in this podcast discussing why the NYTs’ success hasn’t worked its way down…” May 31, 07:19
  • sandi kurtz on The UnderTow: Subscriptions are the New Business Model of Choice. So Why are Subscriptions Failing in the Arts?: “A couple of thoughts. The single subscription model, where you sign on to the entire run of the season, curated…” May 30, 23:57
  • Gary P Steuer on The UnderTow: Subscriptions are the New Business Model of Choice. So Why are Subscriptions Failing in the Arts?: “Loved the podcast Doug. Glad you included newspapers as an example of another business type that has pivoted towards subscriptions.…” May 28, 12:11

Top Posts

  • If Dance Can't Pay Its Dancers What Does It Mean To Be A Professional Dancer?
  • Five Notable Stories From This Week's ArtsJournal - Blockbuster Mozart?
  • Still Amusing Ourselves to Death: Information as Cautionary Tale
  • "Art Is Good?" Not Much Of An Argument For Art Is It?
  • Is The Institutionalization Of Our Arts A Dead End?

Recent Posts

  • Still Amusing Ourselves to Death: Information as Cautionary Tale November 25, 2022
  • The UnderTow: What the new Edinburgh Fringe Tells us about a Post-COVID World June 26, 2022
  • The UnderTow: The High-flying Oil Industry fears “Demand Destruction.” Should the Arts? June 7, 2022
  • The UnderTow: Subscriptions are the New Business Model of Choice. So Why are Subscriptions Failing in the Arts? May 23, 2022
  • This Week’s UnderTow: Why are Police Playing Disney Songs? And Why did this Orchestra Fire its Conductor for… Conducting? April 23, 2022
November 2022
M T W T F S S
 123456
78910111213
14151617181920
21222324252627
282930  
« Jun    

An ArtsJournal Blog

Recent Posts

  • Still Amusing Ourselves to Death: Information as Cautionary Tale
  • The UnderTow: What the new Edinburgh Fringe Tells us about a Post-COVID World
  • The UnderTow: The High-flying Oil Industry fears “Demand Destruction.” Should the Arts?
  • The UnderTow: Subscriptions are the New Business Model of Choice. So Why are Subscriptions Failing in the Arts?
  • This Week’s UnderTow: Why are Police Playing Disney Songs? And Why did this Orchestra Fire its Conductor for… Conducting?

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in