M.E. Monday #3

This week, here's a little gem from Neil Postman:

"New technologies alter the structure of our interests: the things we think about. They alter the character of our symbols: the things we think with. And they alter the nature of community: the arena in which thought develops" (Technopoly, 1992).

Essentially what Postman is getting at is that as we embrace and add technologies our environment is totally altered, and the result is that our ideas, how we think about and see the word, becomes altered too. But not only that, the communities in which ideas blossom and grow become changed.

Don't believe him? When was the last time that a great idea you had come across your path was in a book you read? Or in a journal article? If you're like most of us, the majority of ideas that get bubbling with you come through blogs, vlogs, internet snippets and the like. This is what he's talking about.

Whilst Postman is mostly quite reluctant to embrace this shift, I'm more interested is seeing it for what it is, and unpacking how it is altering our communities, our symbols and our interests.