A Study On Neil Postman’s Medium Criticism Theory

As the greatest master and guide of Media Ecology, Neil Postman introduced the idea of media environment into the field of communication study. Postman’s three works, namely The Disappearance of Childhood, Amusing Ourselves to Death and Technopoly:The Surrender of Culture to Technology, still have a profound influence in the field. In The Disappearance of Childhood, Postman retraces the origin and development of childhood in sociology seriously and profoundly, states the facts which could verify the disappearance of childhood and discusses the reason why childhood would disappear. In Amusing Ourselves to Death, taking television as the research object, Postman analyzes the modern media environment and points out that the mode of transmission which taking television as the main entertainment will lead to the entertainment of human’s social life. Postman discusses and criticizes medical science and computer technology respectively in the book. Postman considers that technology has been far beyond a kind of tool and become the dominator to human’s life. He puts forward that the one and only solution to such situation is school education. Specifically, curriculums and teaching methods should be changed and students’ media literacy should be cultivated. Besides, based on the media critical theory of Postman, the author of this thesis also deconstructs mobiles which are popularized nowadays, analyzes the metaphor behind mobiles and tentatively proposes some solutions.