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In Chapter 4, while discussing the debate of Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas, Postman tries to focus on the audience and tries to get the reader to figure out what kind of audience they were. While stating that the debates were lasting up to several hours, Postman recounts that nobody would be able to pay attention for that long; conveying that the message that the debaters were trying to deliver should have been done within at most and hour. Postman recites, "What kind of audience is this?" (Postman 56). This was also followed by his thoughts of why people today can't pay attention for too long. In today's society, debates are relatively short, and always have good points being made, so that the audience can retain information better and decide who makes a valid point. This is part of the reason why news headlines, whether they are real or fake, sound so intriguing. If the audience is intrigued enough by the headline, they would read the news report, such as: Abraham Lincoln was a woman. This headline immediately grabs people's attention so that they would be interested enough to read it.

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In Chapter 5 of Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman describes how the newspaper was a pool of knowledge held to a high standard by educated people. You had to exercise your reading ability in order to draw value out of the newspaper. However Postman also describes the start of the "dark age" of news. He states, "Advertising was ... intended to appeal to understanding, not to passions ... In the 1890's that context was shattered, first by the massive intrusion of illustrations and photographs ..." (60). Here is a perfect example of this dark age mentioned. The pictures of the bright red Dr. Pepper take up about a third of the board's surface. After capturing your attention with the massive picture board they lure you in with tempting pictures of the soda. Instead of just including the can, the advertisers give a high quality image of the soda in a cup in order to stimulate passions. Also the words contain no reason like advertisements from much older newspapers did. It's a simple phrase that is also meant to stimulate passions in someone by believing Dr. Pepper is an entertaining experience. This represents a "dark age" in advertising and discourse because the message and strategies appeal to our base nature and do not stimulate our rational mind of decision making. When people make decisions all the time based off of their emotions and passions they lose skill in reasoning and rationalizing which is apart of our modern definition of intelligence.

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In chapter 4 Postman discusses the lengthy debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. Rather than discussing the debates themselves in detail, he talks about the audience that these famous men were debating in front of. He explains that these debates were very long and could last up to several hours, and how the average person today would not be able to sit through this. On page 56, Postman says, "What kind of audience is this?" He says this because today's audience is not capable of being attentive for this long. He indicates that today, our lifespan is much shorter than it used to be (it's probably even much shorter now than it was when this book was written). This reminded me of the app called vine. This app allowed people to post funny 6 second videos to entertain others. The app grew greatly back in 2012-2014 and even my own mother said that this "vine" app, along with social media in general, has ruined people's attention spans. This chapter also reminded me of the article by Time Magazine about how humans attention spans are shorter than a gold fish's attention span.

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Rosello-Snapchat

In chapter 5, Postman talks about what makes information relevant and how does the relevance of the information cause a direct action to happen. He starts by talking about how "the telegraph gave a form of legitimacy to the idea of context-free information; that is, to the idea that the values of the information need not to be tied to any function it might server in social and political decision-making and action, but mat attach merely to its novelty, interest, and curiosity," (Postman 65). Postman is arguing that the idea of the information will get people to act but in reality it is not guaranteed that an action will happen. An example in which valid information caused an action would be the recent school shooting. In the screenshot below, the people that were victims of the school shooting began to rally for gun control.

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In chapter 5 of A.O.T.D, Postman talks about how social media is always talking about topics that are usually meaningless. On page 68, he says, “it gives us something to talk about but cannot lead to any meaningful action” (Postman 68). In social media today, people like to talk about topics that don’t have any real impact or useless conversations. An example of this today is when Snapchat updated. Everyone was complaining about the app not be easily operated. Snapchat was the main conversation on most apps used by today’s generation. It was a useless topic of an app that has taken over our generations lives. Everyone was so mad about the update being not easily operated because they use it every single day for streaks that have no real meaning to them. Which is why the topic of the Snapchat update was meaningless; it had no real impact on our everyday lives.

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Chapter 4 of Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death discusses the hour-long debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. The debates were not anything spectacular, but it didn't change the fact of how many people would watch/listen to these debates actively. "What kind of audience was this?"(56). The author says that in modern times, things like this cannot happen because people have lost their attention spans. Postman concludes that being able to get news and other supposive necessities of life incredibly fast has shortened our attention spans.

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In chapter 4 of AOTD, Postman talks about attention spans and how they have changed dramatically. He gives an example of when people sat for hours upon hours during a debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. He tells us how long they would sit and listen, back when people had a very long attention span. He tells us how in today's society,  we have a very short attention span because of our media. We get news much faster than back then and hear about something almost right after it happens. This could be due to the fact that we have all they technology at our disposal at any time and we don´t like waiting for things when we can just search it and know the story within minutes. Although we get the news faster, it isn´t always accurate. There are many different news companies that have a slightly different story on the same topic.

For example, I had a few friends in a fatal car accident this past weekend and there were 3 different stories on what had happened during the crash. The news mixed up the story and didnt have all the information before they posted it.

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Part of Postman's argument against the discourse inspired by television is that it does not allow an audience to truly judge whether its content is accurately presented or not. Postman explains, Whenever language is the principal medium of communication - especially language controlled by the rigors of print - an idea, a fact, a claim is the inevitable result" (50). Televisions do not make any claims, but instead deals in symbols to entertain us, often for the sake of psychologically influencing us to buy products. Because television does not favor discourse that makes claims, we have grown accustomed to no longer being skeptical of what is given to us. A commercial that merely presents an image and no claim of a product that can be dysfunctional, but it cannot be refuted. The discourse inspired by television shies away from actual content, so that the public loses the capability to judge whether it is being advertised accurately and truthfully.

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Throughout chapter 5, I noticed how much of the chapter was dedicated to how much our news feed can effect us. A good example of this today is all the stories about the recent mass shooting in the Florida high school that scared and also scarred so many people. But because of the multiple details and news companies writing about it, we are unaware of the real details because so many news companies add extra details or make up a number that they think sounds reasonable, in order to stand out and reel in an audience. So because of the nature of how news companies alter their facts, people are unaware of what the real truth is.

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In chapter 3, Postman discusses the importance of literature. He elaborates further stating it can improve literacy rates. The most prevalent book in household was the bible, amongst other books. In England they had a lower literacy rate than America, but ironically the books that were in the U.S. were printed in England. Postman states, "Aside from the fact that the religion of these Calvinist Puritans demanded that they be literate, three other factors account for the colonists' preoccupation with the printed word" (Page 32). Bibles were the most popular book among others within households, our present day representation would be Netflix on our phones and computers. On Netflix there is a show called 13 Reasons Why and there was a book that was based off it. Netflix is our modern representation of books.

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Within chapter 4, Postman brings up America’s attention span. While talki about the debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, Postman discusses how the audience would sit through hours and hours of debate and people talking. In this time period people had very long attention spans and were able to pay attention with no distractions. When looking at today’s society, people can not sit around for hours on end without losing focus. Postman makes us, as the reader, question, “Is there any audience of Americans today who could endure seven hours of talk?” (45). People today have short attention spans and the cause of this may be technology at our fingertips. An article published this year discusses how phones have slowly been ruining our attention span. Catherine Prince, the author of this article, points out the differences of reading a newspaper compared to reading stuff online. Prince claims that there is so much to click and look at on our phone, this makes it harder to concentrate and affects our attention span. Postman also claims and states that people today would not be able to sit and listen to seven hours of conversation. Today there are more distractions in our society and this decreases our attention span.

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Within chapter five of Amusing Ourselves To Death, Postman discusses how our daily news is basically pointless. Postman states, "...How often does it occur that information provided you on morning radio or television, or in the morning newspaper, causes you to alter your plans for the day, or to take some action you would not otherwise have taken... But most of our daily news is inert, consisting of information that gives us something to talk about but cannot lead to any meaningful action" (Postman 68). In stating this Postman is trying to tell his audience that the news that we see and hear nowadays isn't going to help us take action in our lives for the better, or to view something in a different way but rather to just have meaningless conversations with our peers. The reason for this is probably because it's probably what the people of America want to hear, and our news rather becomes entertainment rather than informational news. That connects to my world because whenever I'm on my phone scrolling through Instagram I find more news about celebrities, sports teams, and music artists than I do about world problems and subjects in which people should put more of their time and concerns in. All things considered, the more that social media broadcasts subjects, the most important ones such as world conflict become less important.

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In chapter three of A.O.T.D., Postman discusses the grand amount of viewers. Postman states "The only communication event that could produce such collective attention in today's America Is the Superbowl" (35). This displays the oddness of a large amount of views. One would think that with all of the news and all of the events occurring all over the world, that something else would be a lot of views like the Super Bowl. The connection I had with this quote is that a lot of people do in fact watch the Super Bowl. However, this reveals what most of America holds as important versus what should be held. I reflected back on it and thought that the entertainment factor in our culture is overtaking all of the tragedies. For instance, when a tragedy happens, people on social media just say that their heart goes out to people. However, tragedies don't really phase anyone any longer. We are so used to it now. But information about a celebrity will be the new gossip for a longer period of time versus a tragedy. Our culture is so celebrity obsesses that the Hollywood life will be on our mind longer than the loss of some lives.

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Within chapter 3, Postman speaks of a time when literature was at its prime. Postman writes about how it was the dominating source of entertainment and information that people resorted to. The influence that literature had on the people can be seen on page 41 when Postman writes, "The resonances of the lineal, analytical structure of print... could be felt everywhere." This quote explains that as a result of an over saturation of literature, people began to write very well. People wrote a lot better back when literature was at its prime. The connection I managed to make to the world now is the fact that the internet and social media is dictating everyone's writing. With the prevalence of unrevised speech and writing in social media, people's writing discourse has become a lot worse. An overexposure to social media will cause one to write with worse grammar and sentence structure. As you can see below, even the president of the United States has been effected by social media's grasp.

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In the beginning of chapter 4, Postman talks about the debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. Rather than talking about the debate itself, Postman gets into depth with the audience the two had. During that time, the audience was able to sit through hours and hours of talk while giving their full attention. They had very long attention spans and were able to pay attention. Postman talks about how people today wouldn't be able to sit through hour and hours. On page 45, “Is there any audience of Americans today who could endure seven hours of talk?”, (Postman). People today have a lifespan of 8 seconds and people are blaming the media. Now, we are so used to getting what we want so quickly and then stop paying attention. Also, Postman talks about how people today wouldn't be able to understand the language that was used back then. Postman states, “People of a television culture need “plain language” both aurally and visually…”,(46). We simplify everything so it is quicker and easier to understand. We simplify to be more efficient, resulting in shorter lifespans. For my source, I used New York Times for my platform. In the news article, it talks about how the “digitized lifestyle” has created shorter lifespans for people. The article states, “...they’re more easily distracted by multiple streams of the media”, (New York Times). I used this source because it compares people to a goldfish. When I think of goldfish, I think about how it doesn't do anything and doesn't have a purpose other than to be food for other animals. But when being compared to something so useless, it really makes me think. No one wants to be compared to a goldfish, especially when a goldfish has a longer attention span. This article wants to show people that the media has a toll on the mind while trying to compare us to a goldfish. Both the book and article talk about how the media affects our attention spans. Our "lifestyle" is making us lose attention faster. If we use the media as much as we do, our attention spans will continue to get shorter and shorter.

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In chapter 5 of A.O.T.D it discusses how as a social media community, people often are concerned with news topics that aren't really meaningful or useful in our everyday lives. Postman goes on to say,  " it gives us something to talk about, it cannot lead to any meaningful action" (68). The power of information can lead to useless conversations between each other, which changes the discourse that is created. That change influences how people think and apply themselves in society. An example of topics that are popular, and have no direct effect on the users of social media are headlines like this. Lately celebritie's pregnancies are talked about a lot on a daily basis. These discussions are rather meaningless. Postman gives several examples of how the information of the "news of the day" does not have the power to inspire action in us. Therefore viewing and concerning ourselves with these topics do not benefit our lives at all, but rather it diminishes our thought process and how we set our priorities. We are continuously blinded by the fact we don't have actual conversations, but rather we are fixated on these stories that we aren't even certain are true or not.

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Chapter 5 of A.O.T.D. opens by discussing Samuel Morse, and his telegraph machine. It discusses how the telegraph "... erased state lines, collapsed regions, and , by wrapping the continent in an information grid, created the possibility of a unified American discourse" (Postman 65). In this sentence, Postman is talking about how the telegraph is creating a new possibility for diffusing information across the continent, much more rapidly than before. However, Postman follows up by quoting Henry David Thoreau, who said "We are in great haste to construct ... a telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate" (65). This connects to the modern world, because the invention of mediums of news sharing such as Facebook and Twitter have helped diffuse some of the most ridiculously useless news coming from regions so far that it doesn't matter to many individuals. For example; I, a teenage boy living with his parents in a suburban area of Colorado, gets a Facebook update telling me that people in Brooklyn are paving driveways. Very relevant.

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In chapter 4 of A.O.T.D., perhaps the most interesting quote that I read was "The shapes of written words are not especially interesting to look at. Even the sounds of sentences of spoken words are rarely engaging except when composed by those with extraordinary poetic gifts. If a sentence refuses to issue forth a fact, a request, a question, an assertion, an explanation, it is nonsense, a mere grammatical shell" (Postman, 50). In this excerpt, Postman's argument is that there is nothing significant about the words themselves in a sentence-- whether they are spoken or written-- but what they are trying to say or argue. I thought that this was interesting because it made me think about times where people have used large words and multiple sentences to make a point that could have been made using only a few words and sentences. When somebody states an argument, they technically only need to state it briefly and directly; otherwise, they're using many distracting words which, as Postman writes in chapter 4, are unnecessary and disengaging. I compared this quote from A.O.T.D. to tweets about Trump, because some of them are incoherent and excessive while others are short and to the point. Regardless of whether or not tweets are supportive, humorous, or sincere, arguments that are concise and "to the point" are more readable than using more words which makes arguments otherwise unnoticeable.

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Out of the three chapters I have read Chapter 5 in A.O.T.D, was the most interesting and it was the best I could relate to today. In chapter 5 on page 68, Postman writes, "...occur that information provided you on morning radio and television...causes you to alter your plan for the day, or to take some action you would not otherwise have taken...". I can truly relate this quote to an event that I watched on the TV, which was the Florida HIgh school shooting. This event had changed my whole mindset and actions and still have. I can say for most other high schoolers that this news has affected them to to be more aware of our surroundings in school and outside of school. What I am trying to relate to the book is that the book is trying to tell us that the things we hear, or see form our social media or television, will somehow affect our actions and change the way we think for the day. I can relate this statement from the book to today after reading the article form the New York Times, about the shooting and it definitely changed my actions.

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Throughout chapters 3 and 4 I didn't relate as much to the text. I really became interested once I got to chapter 5. I enjoyed chapter 5 more because it spoke about modern times and technology. Something that really caught my eye was on page 69 when Postman writes, "It brought into being a world of broken time and broken attention..." In the quote, "it" referres to telegraphy which is another word for technology. What really stood out to me in this sentence were the words "broken attention." Something that has been studied for a while now is how attention spans are being affected by technology. I read an article about studies done by Microsoft, and they discovered that technology has dropped peoples' attention spans to only 8 seconds, and that it overall hurts our ability to focus. I also found it interesting that the author didn't really talk about this much. It was more of something he just mentioned, yet it has had such a big impact on our society today.