NEIL POSTMAN WRITER - MEDIA THEORIST - PROVOCATEUR Amusing Ourselves to Death The Disappearance of Childhood The Biases of Modern Media Neil Postman Writer, Media-Social Critic, Educational Theorist Provocateur Forerunner in the field of Media Anthropology/Sociology (Jacques Ellul, Marshall McLuhan, Harold Innis) Established New York University’s Graduate Media Ecology Program Postman's Central interests/focus: 1. The interactions between humans and their communication technologies 2. Paradigm shifts in human thought, culture, and media 3. How Our MEDIA & Our Technologies are REDEFINING HUMANITY Author of over 20 Books + 200 Articles: Teaching as a Subversive Activity (1969) "Bullshit and the Art of Crap-Detection“ (1969) Conscientious Objections (1988) The Disappearance of Childhood (1982) Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985) Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology (1992) The End of Education: Redefining the Value of School (1995) The Disappearance of Childhood How Media and Technology are RE-Defining Children, Youth, and Culture • CENTRAL QUESTIONS: What is “CHILDHOOD?” Who gets to define it? How has it changed in the face of MODERN MEDIA and TECHNOLOGY? • Our definition of "childhood" REALLY matters!... And it should matter to ALL of us. Incredibly important DEVELOPMENTAL phase in life • physical, psych, intellectual • will you become a DECENT HUMAN BEING?) “Childhood” is a social construct/contract Each generation redefines its boundaries and priorities We need to have a more enlighted and sophisticated awareness of the INFLUENCERS MEDIA & TECHNOLOGY have co-opted and TRANSFORMED CHILDHOOD MEDIA REDEFINITION of Childhood = How Media and Technology are RE-Defining Children, Youth, and Culture • MEDIA INVASION of Childhood 1. EXPOSURE • Modern MEDIA (TV, Radio, News, Movies, Ads) are exposing (baraging) kids to problems, issues, conflicts WELL-BEYOND their abilities to deal with those issues • The Entertained childOver-protected child • The TECHNO-centered child • The CHILD as GODSpoiled childEntitled/celebrity childSelf-centered child 2. SCHOOLS/LEARNING: • Replaced real learning with TECHNOLOGY-DRIVEN entertainment • Education itself is being transformed into a branch of the entertainment industry • No coping skillsets to combat the exposure Media Technologies and Mental Health: The Over-communicated Society • 2000-2019: MASSIVIE INCREASE in communication devices over the past decade • Cell phones, Texting, Facebook, email, Instagram, twitter, chat, blogs, online gaming, etc. • Links to Mental and Physical Health? • Correlations (but not yet causal links) between heavy media use and the following: Stress Stress related cancers Anxiety Autism Depression Mental “brown outs” ADD and ADHD Chronic Distraction Diabetes Solutions? 1. Teaching as a SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITY • Challenge the status-quo in SCHOOL and at HOME! • Do something different than conditioned consumer TECHNO in TEACHING/SCHOOLS • Accentuate INTERDISCIPLINARY approaches and Multiple Intelligences • Creativity, Imagination, NON-TECH AUTOMATONS 2. EXPERIENTIAL Education • (John Dewey) Learn by doing! 3. BIG PICTURE PERSPECTIVE (Global) • Merged with local co-present interpersonal environments 4. Interdisciplinary INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 5. MEDIA EDUCTION! (in 5 parts) • Theoretical Cross-cultural--> LARGER PERSPECTIVE • Technological ECOLOGY (holistic analysis of CURRENT ISSUES!) • Critical Evaluation of SELF, LOCAL, NATIONAL GLOBAL SOCIETY? • Creative Artistic Use/Development • STEP OUT OF THE FEEDBACK LOOP! Connections? You!? Marshall McLuhan University of Toronto Neil Postman New York University Yo Prof! NYUSMC ?! .