Typography refers to the appearance and style present in printed matter. It also relates to the skill of arranging to ensure that published sources appeal to the readers. Neil Postman uses his book, ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death,' to analyze different ideologies like how the television acts as ‘the way of knowing’ and how it uncompromisingly acts hostile to the typography techniques. The media objects’ ‘Knowing’ process entails how they obtain information, the means they use, and how they present it to the public and therefore, the television’s mentioned procedure is more identifiable with the public compared to the topography one to the extent that it is uncompromisingly hostile.
According to his writings, Postman argues that the televisions have had an uncompromising hostility on the typography’s manner of knowing (Postman 80). When Postman uses the statement ‘way of knowing’, he seeks to highlight the techniques that the Medias in context employ to gather information amid the shift in technology. The author also uses the statement to mean how the media presented their information and how it appealed to the public.
Postman uses his book to explain the gradual shift in the methods employed by the existing media forms over time. According to him, he notes that individuals in the colonial America found it easy and comfortable with the written words compared to the oral ones. The author mentions that this state took prevalence in the said era because of the developed culture of reading in the society. People viewed reading as a moral obligation because it freed them from the confinements of their communities, thereby, making it easy for even the poorest individuals to engage in cultural conversation that was afforded by the print.
A typographic America obtained popularity in the 18th and 19th century following the high levels of literacy exhibited among the public to the extent that it enjoyed the monopoly for a great while. This idea is true considering that the print sources of information were the only channel of thought present at that time (Postman 41). Additionally, the print monopolization made the people develop a typographic mind and influenced the manner in which they expressed themselves during their daily interactions.
As it is evident, the written sources obtained information through an organized system. It was essential for the printed sources to be relevant enough if the writers desired to create a significant impact on the people. They relied on the rationality of the readers. Thus, every effort was geared towards obtaining detailed information and convincing the intelligent individuals. For instance, advertisements in the typographical era expected the audience to be rational and literate rather than deal with emotions (Postman 59). They composed of lengthy paragraphs and long sentences, which had a simple claim. These features made the advertisement enterprise grave and rational. However, the introduction of television shifted it to a spectacle and entertainment industry. This idea is correct because the imposition of images, slogans, and jingles created a de-contextualized experience in the advertisements and became a prominent way of understanding the truth regarding a particular claim (Postman 72). Images placed next to claims that did not connect them subjected the audience to aesthetic and psychological forces. This idea marks the difference in the two media epistemologies, which makes the people adopt the televisions as a valid source of information and not the existing typographies.
Another way in which the television’s ‘way of knowing’ affected the old typography was by using technologically improved techniques to transmit information. It is worth noting that the televisions have remained to be the most dominant source of information given their fast and approachable means utilized by the concerned bodies. The inception of electricity made it possible for the people to obtain information all over the world in the form of videos and images. This move makes the public solely shift their focus on the message and view it as some entertainment in the society. This type of signal transmission is faster compared to the reliance on written sources because they are short and do not focus on the rationality of a person. Additionally, it removes the seriousness in the acquisition of information and introduces entertainment because it highly focuses on the visual aspect and shies away from the lengthy readings.
The instant shift exhibited in the manner in which the media sources obtained information and laid them out to the public makes the typography way of gathering data look irrelevant. This idea is true considering the adoption of new technologies, like electricity, to aid in the information acquisition process. The move makes the image culture, irrelevancy, and the de-contextualization that takes charge of the people’s daily lives go unnoticed. Additionally, he notes that the televisions have a pernicious effect in the sense that they make something that is strange appear natural.
In the contemporary setting, Postman’s statement ‘way of knowing’ is relevant and means the manner in which the media sources appealingly present information to the common public. It also relates to the current techniques employed to transmit information to the public. For instance, the inception of the social media resulted from improved technology. Improved techniques of transmitting information make the users utilize variable web fonts and styles to ensure that their information appears entertaining and eye-catching (“The Power of Internet Typography” par. 13). Such a move alters the intentions of the message and makes people view it in fun rather than a serious perspective. This rise in technology makes the people rely on the information that they obtain from the social platforms as the truth rather than the actual state of affairs. For instance, internet advertising in the contemporary setting focuses on designing their images and forgets about concentrating on the written perspective like the printed sources in the 18th century. They usually focus on logo design to ensure that they establish their businesses as brands. The concerned bodies also rely on the improved internet technologies to determine a large, responsive design. This idea comes in light of the existence of Google web fonts, which grant an individual the power to do non-imaginable things on his or her website to ensure that it is accessible anywhere in the world (“The Power of Internet Typography” par. 15). Given the mentioned reasons, it is worth stating that the specified circumstances alienate the people from the truth and uncompromisingly shows hostility to the old typographies.
Postman’s meaning of ‘way of knowing’ appeals to the current setting as stated above. Improved techniques of transmitting information and the urge to create appealing forms of presenting information make the users utilize variable web fonts and styles to ensure that their material appears entertaining and eye-catching. Such a move alters the initial intentions of the message and makes people view it in an entertaining rather than a serious perspective. Many of the people choose to use the techniques as a source of truth for non-identified claims to the extent that they ignore the televisions and printed communication forms. Following the discussion in context, it is clear to state that Postman’s assertion is accurate and conforms to the current internet epistemology.
Works Cited
Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. New York, N.Y., U.S.A: Penguin Books, 2006. Web.
“The Power of Internet Typography”. Propel Marketing, 2014. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. <http://propelmarketing.com/blog/2014/power-internet-typography/>
