Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology

In Neil Postman's book, "Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology," he discusses the many beneficial and also consequential aspects that technology has brought to our culture. Over centuries our society has changed in drastic ways, through new inventions and revolutionizing ideas. Postman states that "Cultures may be classified into three types: tool-using cultures, technocracies, and technopolies. At the present time, each type may be found somewhere on the planet..." (pg. 22). All countries were tool-using cultures in the beginning stages of their development, and there are some still present today. The usage of their tools was more specific to everyday necessary tasks, such as tools in the use of waterpower, windmills, wheeled plow, and construction of castles and cathedrals (pg. 23). The difference between a tool-using culture and a technocracy, is that "in a technocracy, tools play a central role in the thought-world of the culture...they are not integrated into the culture, they attack the culture...bid to become the culture" (pg. 28). Technocracy was the beginning of an era where new inventions replaced old traditional ideas. For example, the mechanical clock allowed people to follow a new perception of time, and even the printing press with movable type got rid of oral tradition (pg. 29). As the American culture proceeded to advance in its technologies and inventions, it brought forth the rise of Technopoly, or as Postman describes it "totalitarian technocracy" (pg. 48). Our American culture has grown into this technopoly, where people in our society have become consumed by technology and machinery. One reason for this is that it provides convenience in our everyday lives. Looking at the modern world today, a very large majority of our population would not be able to survive one day without the use of technology. Our very existence and everyday lives have become dependent on cars, computers, cell phones, high-tech medical instruments, and so much more. These inventions have definitely created a comfortable and longer life for people today. However, as technopoly emerged, old customs and traditions dwindled away. "Technocracy also speeded up the world. We could get places faster, do things faster, accomplish more in a shorter time. Time, in fact, became and adversary over which technology could triumph. And this meant that there was no time to look back or to contemplate what was being lost" (pg. 45). In just a few sentences, Postman has accurately described what has happened to our American culture. How many of us have actually thought about how much technology has changed our lives? It has revolutionized the way we communicate with others, brought new teaching methods for education, caused advances in medicine, and so much more. However, on a different scale it has also changed how we think and act. A simple example would be if a student was given an assignment to write a paper on a certain topic, the first place they would probably look for information on such a topic would be the internet. Before computers had changed our whole world, "information" was found in books and encyclopedias. Technology has developed our country into what it is today, and there is definitely no going back. However, our culture does need to take a step back to think how this technopoly has effected us, and what affect it will have on our futures.

Texts From Last Night

Ben Bator and Lauren Leto, creators of the newly famous website Texts From Last Night (TFLN), were just a couple of average college students two years ago. In just a few years they have created a company, hit website, a book, iPhone application, and a television deal with FOX. The idea for TFLN came about when Ben and Lauren would both forward text messages they had received from friends to their other friends. After realizing how hilarious text messages out of context can be, they decided to make an online website to list them all. They showed the website to a few close friends, and then their friends had forwarded it to others. After getting a lot of positive feedback about the website, they had paid someone $200 to redo the design for the TFLN site. Just like any young entrepreneurs, Ben and Lauren knew they had to take a chance on this website. Lauren who was originally in law school, and Ben who was planning on applying to law school, had both decided to drop out and pursue their TFLN website. Now they are young and successful entrepreneurs, and marketing TFLN to the fullest.
To be completely honest, I didn't really find their success story that interesting. When it came to representing themselves as founders of a company, in my opinion, they didn't do a very good job at being inspiring entrepreneurs. Their success mostly just came from an idea that happened just by chance, and is now continuously fueled by the general public. It just goes to show that even the most simplest things, such as a funny text message, can turn into a phenomenon. The internet has become this world that doesn't physically exist, but people can create something successful from it, another example being Facebook. TFLN and Facebook are two websites that don't actually provide anything beneficial except entertainment and/or laughter, but our generation has become obsessed with them. Ben Bator had mentioned that the best way to gain success is to take a simple yet original idea and market it in the cheapest way possible. It seems our society has become consumed with the "get rich quick" idea. This is mostly because so many people have had success with it in the past, and will try to ride out their success as long as they can. TFLN is currently in it's prime of success, and I guess we'll just have to wait and see how long it will go on for until something else comes along.

this is strange...

Well, this feels kind of weird. I have never blogged before, and I'm not sure how I'm liking it. My friends have sent me links to theirs and I've read blogs, but I've never actually caught on to the trend. It does seem like a good place to let your thoughts and feelings out to your other friends who blog, or even complete strangers. Personally, I'm not one to write about what I'm thinking on some internet website. Maybe I'm just over thinking it, but either way here goes nothing.
So our assignment was to keep a technology log, and I have discovered two things from doing that. First off, what did any of us do before the internet came along? Between Google search, Facebook, Youtube, Grooveshark, and AIM, it's sad to say I must have spent about four hours glued to my computer last night. And yes, I still use AIM. It may seem slightly outdated, but it's one of the ways I keep in contact with old high school friends. I can have conversations with six different people all at the same time. How can you not love that? Amidst all of that, Google search has become something I can't live without. As I research for Optometry schools, I'm also looking up food recipes, finding song lyrics, shopping for clothes, buying books for school, and who knows what else. The possibilities of Google search are endless, and conveniently right at our fingertips. Grooveshark has been recently added to my favorites and most visited websites. It allows you to find and listen to all your favorite songs, and also create a library and playlists to your own account. The best part is, it's completely free. Such a great thing about these internet sites, everything that we love, and at no cost to us. Lastly, Facebook and YouTube are probably two of the worst yet greatest inventions to come about. The countless hours that I have spent watching pointless YouTube videos or going on Facebook just clicking through people's profiles and pictures, many of which I never see or talk to anymore, is such a waste of time, but we all do it anyway. Which brings me to my second realization, is that I mostly use the internet for 70% personal entertainment and 30% for actual school related work, or reading up on world news (which sadly happens on a weekly basis). This kind of makes me upset that I have become so dependent on my computer and the internet to keep me entertained and connected with the world. But that's just the way our society is moving, and technology along with all it's new inventions doesn't seem to be slowing down either.
On a final note, I guess blogging wasn't so bad. It's still going to take me a while to get used to. I hope I didn't babble on for too long and bore everyone. And finally, here's something that you will hopefully find as amusing as me and my roommate did:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4foOe9kUgY