The Phantom Itch 

Click on this link for the talk delivered by Neil Postman in Denver Colorado March 28, 1998 on the 

Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change*

Today’s discussion was based on an essay by Neil Postman called Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change*. These five things were expressed as ideas starting with the idea that technology comes with a price. Barath cited examples such as how the telegraph killed the idea of space; how with the arrival of automobiles also brought along with them pollution; the decline of manners among most people who use cellphones (he’s asked us to look up the meaning of a P2P Call) and local shopkeepers who lose out on business because of e-retailers.

The second idea also speaks along similar lines in that there are advantages as well as disadvantages to technology. For instance, the idea of a Smart Classroom – a concept which Barath said he would never put to practice. He went to the board and drew what I erroneously thought at the time looked like an alien grasshopper’s head but others guessed correctly as being a set of kidneys. This was to demonstrate how such drawings on a board, and the simultaneous explanation of them by the teacher, were how students used to learn about the human anatomy. However, nowadays we have colourful diagrams of the same presented to us in the form of PowerPoint presentations and these distract from what the teacher is actually trying to explain.

The third idea is about how technology dictates certain prejudices in us as a culture. For instance, Barath gave us the example of how we would look at a person who would come to class carrying a typewriter as someone who was more than a little odd; but we would not judge someone in such a way if they were carrying one of Samsung’s latest phones which when you think about it, are quite large. Barath has also asked us to watch the film The Lives of Other People in relation to this matter.

The fourth idea speaks about how technology does not adapt to an environment; rather, it actually causes changes in the environment in which it exists. Barath cited the example of when a drop of red dye (technology) may be dropped into water (environment). In the end, it is the water which is altered by the drop of dye. Similarly, it was with the arrival of television that our perception of certain incidents change. Some issues are turned from mole hills into mountains, thus inciting cultural violence. It becomes difficult to take a stance on any issue when it comes to television. Because of its reach to millions, there will always be someone, or some group of people, that will take offence.

The fifth and last idea speaks about how we have evolved into accepting the intrusiveness of new technology and viewing it as an extension of ourselves without really questioning its consequences. However, there are consequences and with the arrival of new technology, there has also arisen the need to protect ourselves from it. For instance, there is the need in most people to always have their phone with them, to the point that even if they don’t, some have instances where they think they can hear their phone ringing.

In the end, Postman warns that we must be careful that we “use technology rather than be used by it.”

*Please get your copy of this reading from Beautymorn. 

                                                                                                  - Article by Aimesha Kurbah