How Dumb Can We Get Susan Jacoby Analysis

With the internet, many things have almost become obsolete. It is very uncommon to see one with a paper copy of a newspaper in their hands anymore, and why would they, when it’s easier to just look it up quickly on a device with internet

Chris Hedge’s article, “Our Country Is Lost Believing in What It Sees on Screens, and We Are Going to Pay a Nasty Price for It,” highlights the negative influence electronic media has on society. The author provides a realistic insight into the negative effects of electronic media. Hedges states, “It is the electronic image that informs and defines us. It is the image that gives us our identity. It is the image that tells us what is attainable in the vast cult of the self, what we should desire, what we should seek to become and who we are” (Hedges, 4).

Society expect to be constantly entertained; they have become so concerned with things such as who the latest star is dating, scandals, or dumb people doing rather idiotic things. Much of society have been consumed in their personal instant gratification and what makes them “happy”. When on an off chance that news does show things that are serious and impactful(not necessarily positive things that is happening in the world) people have become so numb that the best they could do is feel sympathetic and at worst continue on with their day. The other part of the problem is that those behind what is being published and shown on the news media have been absorbed in their avarice nature, whatever allows them to make as much profit they do. “Writing thousands of hours of coverage from what could have been summarized in a couple of minutes every few weeks, a new rhetorical strategy was developed, or-let’s be generous-evolved”(6), Saunders describes the new formula formed by mass news firms that would yield the most profit.

Growing Up Tethered A professor at the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at MIT, Sherry Turkle talks about how kids today are attached and somewhat obsessed with technology in her article called “Growing Up Tethered.” Turkle interviews with many different teenagers about the different types of technology they possess and how it impacts their everyday life. She talks a lot about how technology can do away with our privacy and also how people feel the need to be constantly connected.

I do believe she is making a logical point that our generation of teenagers are attached to the current technology. We as teenagers, speaking from experience, will be on our phones while driving when we know we shouldn’t, we’re not only risking our lives we’re risking someone else’s just to be connected to our

But with major influx of technology, the fact is changing. Social media like Twitter facilitate the instant, online dissemination of short fragments of information from a variety of official and unofficial sources, namely citizen journalists. Hermida suggests that synchronous and always-on system availability of news are enabling citizens to maintain critical awareness of their surroundings, hence giving rise to ambivalent journalism. The emergence of ambivalent journalism, followed by growing social media, is a sort of question to verifying duty of journalists. The author suggests that to get to the ideal scenario, it is important to regulate and negotiate the flow of awareness information, facilitating the outreach of right information to right

Over time, gadgets and gizmos have taken attention from many Americans. Maggie Jackson gives prominence to this point in “Distracted: The Erosion of Attention and the Coming Dark Age.” According to Jackson, technology has become too advanced for attention’s sake. In her essay, Jackson states that “we are nurturing a culture of social diffusion, intellectual fragmentation & sensory detachment. In this new world, something is amiss.

In table 2.1 wattenberg shows the decline in ratings of network news. Wattenberg credits the decline in television network news to the growing trend of “soft news”. Which could be described as any news which lightly describes information or provides entertaining news. Our generation Wattenberg describes, has become increasingly less interested in politics and more intrigued with being entertained. “By 2004 senior citizens were four times more likely to watch network news every night than those under 30 in the past week.”

He states that the way we read on the internet is changing the way we think and making us less contemplative. Similarly, in “Pearls before Breakfast”, Weingarten notes that “the explosion in technology has perversely limited, not expanded, our exposure to new experiences.” We live in a time when technology can be used to replicate reality, augment reality, and create virtual reality. Technology obviously has its place, but at the same time, it can be potentially suffocating and suppressing. It is common knowledge that a significant number of people waste countless hours, forfeiting vocational and academic achievement due to digital distractions that have little or no lasting

The article “Mind Over Mass Media”, written by Professor Steven Pinker, describes the impact of media on human lives and brains. Pinker illustrates the benefits people gain from using the worlds quickly increasing technology and media. Pinker suggests that today’s technology such as, PowerPoint, Google, and other forms of social media can actually enhance and bring more intelligence to the mind, instead of being detrimental. Critics believe that the many different forms of media can lower intelligence. However, Pinker declares that scientists are using all of this technology everyone else is using, and are still discovering new things.

Major developments in the evolution of mass media during the last century It has come to our attention that media is changing since its origin. In mid last century newspaper and magazine were the principle source of mass communications. Later the radio provided another source to achieve the majority. Individuals frequently tuned in to get records of what is happening in the world, getting to know the current trends.

Society’s core is built around advancing – always creating more. Within the last decade the advancement of technology has grown substantially and has had huge effects on society. In her essay, “In Praise of a Snail’s Pace”, Ellen Goodman illustrates the effects technology has on people. Throughout her essay, Goodman’s opinion on technology is that people shouldn’t rely on it as much as they do. She touched on the fact that people get caught up in their own life through the means of technology.

Journalism has given me the leadership, teamwork, and technology skills to start my own clubs at Stuart, develop new interests, and broaden my horizons just a little bit more every year. Before, I was attracted to the moral disposition of journalism; I admired the pledge of honesty, the search for accuracy, and the constant quest to turn powerful words into powerful actions. With time, The Raiders’ Digest has provided me with the skills and the mindset to actually accomplish these goals. These concepts are no longer viewed in

Technology makes peoples’ lives even busier. In the essay “Alone Together”, Sherry Turkle witnesses how technology changes connections and relationships between people, and influences the authentic lives in the end. Thus, although technology makes people busier, they are accustomed to busyness and technology

Thompson also claims that digital tools can help people’s lives become easier and connect with other people through social media. Nicholas Carr’s article “Is Google Making Us Smarter?”, argues how technology doesn’t make people any smarter. Carr mentions how people’s literacy is being overthrown by technology. People tend to read whatever interest they want by using a search engine rather than reading books. Another