Form and Content in AOTD

One of Postman’s main arguments is a claim about the form of the medium takes (television, spoken, and written) and the content to where it’s the information the medium communicates.  There is a big relationship between the two. The form of a media determines it’s content. Certain kind of media are for different kinds of information or communication. He argues that television is not at all suited for rational discussions or any kind of “serious” content . He then believes typography is the correct form of “seriousness,” and is not really entertaining. Then spoken language also has it’s own content, where primarily information is communicated by the spoken word.

Postman believes this relationship between form and content is of vital importance for people to understand. He feels that we think that we can get the same out of television of what the information  we once got in reading books and different kinds of print. The difference between print culture and television is culture that is with reasoning and culture with entertainment.

-Deja McClanahan