Pets to Technology

In both his novel Amusing ourselves to Death as well as his interview at Calvin, Neil Postman revolves around the ideas that humans are slowly becoming “pets to their technology” as well as the idea that humans are used to change and preferring it in many circumstances.  Using both ideas, Postman creates his universal idea that Americans of the ‘80s as well as modern day are too obsessed with technology.

            In the interview, Postman discusses how instead of simply having technology as a convenience, Americans are becoming too addicted to their televisions and phones for example, making them dependent on them. This dependency, Postman describes, resembles how a pet depends on its caregiver. “They are becoming pets to their computers” he says. Postman describes an idea much like this in his novel. On page 11, he says that “A person who reads a book or who watches television or who glances at his watch is no usually interested in how his mind is organized and controlled by these events, still less in what idea of the world is suggested by a book, television, or a watch.”

By stating this, Postman is making the point that humans are becoming more and more accustomed to watching tv, or using a phone without realizing the idea behind it. It is becoming daily routine and slowly taking over humans’ lives and humans don’t even realize how dependent they are becoming on technology. They are becoming “pets to technology.”

            “People like ourselves see nothing wondrous in writing.” Postman makes a great point when stating this. In his interview, he describes how people are adapted to high end technology and prefer change and advances in it. They do not stick to old time traditions and his novel on page 13 he describes an example of this. While in the past humans depended on reading and writing as not only their informational sources, but as well as their entertainment, modern day citizens are being to lose their interest and  desire for reading and enjoy it.