Study On Neil Postman's Media Ecology Theory

Neil M. Postman's media ecology theory emphasizes the study on the structure and interaction of media, and tries to make clear how the interaction between media and human affects the balance of culture. Hence, he doesn't pay more attention to the specialty of the given form of some media, and the zoology here is not the balance between all forms of media. The study and discuss on Neil Postman's media ecology, to some extent, can exploit the field in which we can take stock of media, human and society systematically. At the same time, in the course of study on the formation of Neil Postman's theory, we acquire the further cognition on the media ecology question in our country, and endow the theory with a new significance in different environment.Neil Postman defined the media ecology as "media as environments". Therefore, in this thesis, we just begin with analyzing the content of media ecology. At the same time, we cast back the history of media ecology and analyze its humanism tradition.Neil Postman's media ecology deals with technology, social history, culture and so on. While he pay more attention to three topics: technology, media and education, which construct the core of media ecology.Neil Postman devoted much of his career to an investigation of contemporary technologies and how they function in our world. His own term "technopoly" is a combination of the words technology and monopoly, which refers to the exclusive control of technology over our world and life today. According to the effects of technology on culture, Neil Postman suggested that cultures may be classified into three types: tool-using culture, technocracies, and technopolies. He stressed the representation of technopoly: information overload, "data shows", expert and symbol drain. He pointed out that technology change is ecological and that a new technology does not add something but changes everything. Since every technology has a particular "ideological bias" or disposition to action that is not typically considered by its makers and users, therefore, it will control our cognition and comprehension on the world. The most outstanding representation of technopoly is that our defenses against information glut have broken down. We invented machinery to solve the problems of information scarcity, which created a new problem of information explosion. When information immune system is inoperable, we suffer from a kind of cultural AIDS(Anti-Information Deficiency Syndrome).Technopoly always creates some technology fable: technology can solve all unhappiness, humiliation and brawl. This dissertation tries to catch on this fable on the analyses of advertisement.In the third chapter, we discuss the media theory, especially the theory on TV. "The medium is the metaphor" refers to that media's form is important, which implies a definition of the real world, because the given form is inclined to embody some given contents, ultimately shapes the characters of the whole culture. Television is opposite to the conception of democracy. All discourse on television is amusing, and even serious politics discourse and religion logic are cleared up by it. Neil Postman considered that the media environment that is dominated by television eliminates the idea of childhood cultivated by the printing press. As a result, the borderline between children and adults is disappeared. On one hand, television reveals the secrets of adult life, so children and adult are exposed to the same media space. On the other hand, to the extent that the written word is moved to the periphery of the culture and the visual image takes its place in the center, there would be a natural decline in what we might call intelligence or intellectual thought.Neil Postman, at the same time, is an educator. In his theory, education is brought into the media ecology, which embodies the humanism thought of a media scholar. As Postman is concerned, education is facing a series of problems. Television is taking the place of school and classroom, and is going to be the "First Curriculum". Influenced by the information environment, which is shaped by the electronic media, traditional education has to be confronted with the danger of coming to a close. Postman, therefore, points out that we must train a balance value of education, and school not only should exert its conservation function but also should offer a critical thought. School should carry through the technology education and media education. Furthermore, Postman considered that we should provide a narrative for education, and provide sense for schooling. Consequently, school can help student resist the influence of electronic media culture, and provide (?)uidance for their action.Neil Postman's media ecology can help us understand the media environment that we live in, and expand the theory category of communication ecology in China. Thus, in the fifth chapter, we try to put forward several ideas, with the expectation to provide struggling direction for the further research.Base on this study, we notice that Neil Postman is somewhat a old-style humanist, who insists the traditional value of print all the time. He keeps alert to the changes of technology. The ideas of "technopoly" and "information environment" may lead him to the danger of techno-determinism, though, to some extent, he is not a radical techno-determinism. In the course of study and analysis on Neil Postman's media ecology, we believe that to control media, information technology and communication is not the best solution to obtain a healthy information environment. However, we should try hard to pursue a wise and responsible employment of technology and media.