Media as a Surrogate for Reality
September 30th, 2005 | Published in Quotes, Technology, Television
Media may now be serving as a surrogate for reality, and a preferred one at that. At stadiums throughout the country, huge TV screens have been installed so that spectators can experience the game through TV because TV is better than being there, even when you are there. Conferences and other group meetings are videotaped so that participants may look at themselves to see what “really happened.” Tourists travel everywhere with still cameras so that they can document their vacations. In the end, the photographs are the reality of the experience.
—Neil Postman, Teaching as a Conserving Activity (1979), p. 84