Response 1

Hey guys! So my name is Folayemi Akinbolaji, Fola for short. I was born in New York City but my parents are from Nigeria so that is also my home. I have three sisters and we are all very much different. I’m considered the smart one in the family but I love English, fashion, and biology. I attended Midwood High School in Brooklyn where I was in the humanities program. I was a part of the cheerleading team, Key Club and a member of the prom committee. Ultimately, my end goal is to become a pediatrician someday. As for why I am taking this class, this is different from the realm of science and math courses I’ve taken and I’m intrigued by how much there will be to learn in this course. I’m looking forward to it as well. Looking at the syllabus, I know this course won’t be easy but I am definitely up for the challenge as I have my work cut out for me.

In the first chapter The Judgment of Thamus, Postman is depicting how two men come to disagree upon the invention of writing. Theuth the inventor, claimed that writing would be a great accomplishment for the Egyptians while Thamus the king thought otherwise as he believed the ability of writing will only recollect history therefore, Egyptians would fail to utilize their memories.

Both men are sticking to their opinion and that’s okay because all technology comes with affordances and constraints. Today, writing is a major tool when it comes to an education and because that is so, textbooks have become a technology that people use to refer back to history. People no longer have knowledge of history from their minds but from books. Technology is most certainly not just digital but it is anything used to complete an action. Writing is a technological tool in order for people to act on reading. Postman takes it upon himself to remind his readers that, “it is not always clear, at least in the early stages of a technology’s intrusion into a culture, who will gain most by it and who will lose most.” For instance, take the wristwatch: a technological tool used to tell time while attached to a person’s arm. The advancement of the wristwatch made it easier for people to tell time without the use of the sun but as mobile devices came about, wristwatches were no longer useful. Not all people rely on their phone for the time but not all people rely on their wristwatch as well to tell time either. So what Postman is making a point to say is that the emergences of technology and its usefulness depends on the people. Not everyone will like or hate a tool that arises. I’ll admit that I only use my wristwatch for fashion purposes and I use my cell phone to check the time. Everyone can agree to disagree when it comes to technological tools and so can Theuth the inventor and Thamus the king.

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3 Responses to Response 1

  1. I agree with what you say about how everyone views technology differently. It is up to us to decide whether or not it is useful or it is a nuisance. As for the invention of the wristwatch, I do believe that it helped to make things more convenient for us when we`re on the go but like you said for some people, like you, it is a fashion choice.

  2. Rownak says:

    I think you have a very good understanding of the reading in it’s simplest forms. You feel that you should detach yourself from the debate of whether technology is good for us as a civilization or bad because many of the technologies we use on a daily basis are taken for granted. And it is difficult for us to objectively separate ourselves from the civilization that we’re in to decipher whether a piece of technology is productive for us or unproductive.
    That is essentially what Postman writes in this chapter as well. That is the reason why I feel that you understand what is meant by Postman here…and you reiterate it in the simplest form.

  3. Fola, This is a good beginning. The summary section is much shorter than the response section. Try to flip it around so you give a more complete summary.

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