Whether or not I may have particularly enjoyed these commercials is besides the point (I didn't though, in case you were wondering). Incredibly, it has reached a point where losing ones cell phone could result in the loss of contact information, including emails and phone numbers, business documents, important messages, pictures and videos. Communication through cell phones has stretched out farther than simple phone calls. In this day and age we can literally have the whole world in our pocket. However, this seemingly positive power may not always be as wonderful as it may seem. If you ask Neil Postman I'm willing to bet that he would agree, although Postman's work goes beyond cell phones.
In Postman's keynote speech at the Media Ecology Assosication in June 2000, he adressed "The Humanism of Media Ecology". In the speech he said:
"In assessing the humanistic consequences of a new medium, one must take into account the factor of time. I think some of you know that among the severely negative consequences of television—at least as I see them—is its role in making the institution of childhood obsolete. I would call that a moral decline. Of course, there are some people, especially merchants, who think that the disappearance of childhood is a good idea. But even those, like me, who think it is a catastrophe have to keep in mind that 100 years from now, it may not seem so. In fact, people might believe that the idea of childhood was no great advantage, at any time, either to the young or to the old, and the sooner television wrecked it the better." (1)
Media Ecology is the study of media environments, and Postman is a master at it. When it comes to the media today, we are distracted by what we see and hear. All that we seek lately has been "information, and more information". (2) In the quotation above from "The Humanism of Media Ecology", Postman suggests that the values of childhood are being lost through time. The evolution of media has resulted in a drastic change in society, in which our lives are mediated from the second we wake up until we go to sleep. Among other things like film, magazines and the Internet, television takes childhood and eliminates the innocence, thus eliminating the values and purity of childhood itself.
So although cell phones are a great addition to the world of technology, they are a distraction nonetheless, just as all media are. While writing this blog I have visited NFL.com once, Wikipedia once, and Facebook (naturally) twice. In the last 24 hours i have been affected by some form of media for nearly all 24 of those hours. From when I woke up in the morning and checked the weather channel, to when I turned on the radio and got ready for school. Then I got into my car and listened to a CD, made the drive to Guelph-Humber and popped open my laptop when I sat down in class.
We live in a mediated world. Still a skeptic? Well, can you read me now? Good! Now you're a believer too.
Works Cited
Postman, Neil. "The Humanism of Media Ecology." 16 June 2000 2 Oct 2008 <http://www.media-ecology.org/publications/MEA_proceedings/v1/humanism_of_media_ecology.html>.
