Introduction
Neil Postman and the topic of technology and communications has been on the mind lately. He is a sharp thinker and has a lot of interesting things to say about technology. Technology in the Greek, literally means "art" and "the study of". Technology these days revolves around scientific innovation. In fashion, designers are now able to sketch their designs on a tablet-like computer and upload their sketches into a program. This is really a phenomenal innovation and has been helpful in the process of stirring creative juices in the fashion world.
Theories for Thought
Postman ultimately believed that technology is destructive for a society. He utilized an argument called the Faustian bargain to lay the foundation for his belief system. The argument claims that in order for one to get what they want on the earth, one must bargain with the devil. This sufficient and necessary argument laid the brick and mortar for the moral dilemma that Postman believed the media embraced. He claimed that in order for an individual to take part in something, the individual must give up something else. According to Griffin (2009), “Postman argued that television is detrimental to society because it has led to the loss of serious public discourse” (p. 319). This could be seen in the public debates aired on television where people are entirely unable to be completely honest because of the large audience the group is performing for.
Postman also argued that the Faustian bargain applies to all people who are influenced by the media. While some people may be helped by the media, others are not. This enforces a problematic dichotomy between those in power and those not in power. Those who are not in power (the audience) are getting bombarded with advertisements and propaganda, while those who are in power are making money. Postman argues that this tradeoff means that there will always be a winner and a loser in the world of technology.
The major argument that Postman makes in most of his books is the fact that behind every statement that is made on the television, there is an idea that is being promulgated. This means that people change what they value because of new technologies. According to Postman in Amusing Ourselves to Death (2005), "Television is our culture's principal mode of knowing about itself. Therefore -- and this is the critical point -- how television stages the world becomes the model for how the world is properly to be staged. It is not merely that on the television screen entertainment is the metaphor for all discourse. It is that off the screen the same metaphor prevails" (p. 92). An example can be seen in the way people value the quick access to communication now and the admiration to memorizing things are not as valuable. Television helps determine the things that people think are important.
Conclusion
Technology and media’s normalcy in society concerns Postman. He believes that media can be ideologically dangerous and should be regulated, but if it is a part of the norm, then people are less likely to think that it is important to regulate. Postman discusses this in Amusing Ourselves to Death (2005), "Our culture's adjustment to the epistemology of television is by now all but complete; we have so thoroughly accepted its definitions of truth, knowledge and reality that irrelevance seems to us to be filled with import, and incoherence seems eminently sane. And if some of our institutions seem not to fit the template of the times, why it is they and not the template, that seem to us disordered and strange" (p. 80). Technology should not control every single part of our lives because of the reasons above.
However, I would argue that technology is like its meaning, it is the study of art and can be extremely helpful in all areas of the arts as long as it is used properly. Fashion could only benefit from the use of more technology. Perhaps this use is a bit too far, but is definitely on the cutting edge of what is going to be refined, perfected, and made chic in the fashion world: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoyNqCsksdg&feature=related
References
Griffin, E. (2009). A First Look at Communication Theory (7 ed.). New York City: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages.
Postman, N. (2005). Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (20 Anv ed.). Boston: Penguin (Non-Classics).
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