In my latest post on how - and why - to read, I cite Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves To Death, from 1985. It’s a devastatingly well written polemic which still resounds today, perhaps even more so than when it was published. Postman argued that television was destroying America’s culture of literacy - a culture to which he attributed its greatest achievements. He makes a convincing case for the importance of the written word to democratic society and culture and for its inexorable decline in the age of visual entertainment. You can’t help but read it and think oh boy, you have no idea how bad it’s going to get…(Postman died in 2003, four years before smartphones). I was introduced to Postman by the Times columnist and friend-of-the-show James Marriott. We ended up recording a conversation about it and the wider themes of technology and stupidity, late last year. It was fun to do and I hope you enjoy listening to it. This episode is for paid subscribers only; obviously I love all my children but I do have favourites. If you haven’t yet stepped up, it’s quick and easy…
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