尼尔·波兹曼媒介依赖忧思及其当代境遇

On Neil Postman’s Anxiety about Media Dependence and Its Contemporary Situation

波兹曼很关注人对媒介的依赖,在他看来,媒介依赖是贯穿整个媒介发展全过程的,印刷媒介依赖塑造了相对理性的主体,而电子媒介依赖却在深度控制人的主体意识。波兹曼认为电子媒介依赖将造成一系列后果:文化观念与风格的成人化,人类主体正在消亡于感官化的媒介之中,我们的世界因为媒介依赖逐渐被媒介所垄断等。在当前的新媒体时代,波兹曼忧虑的媒介依赖后果,不仅没有大的改变,反而在视域窄化和非理性化维度上有所加重。需要重视重建媒介环境与提升媒介素养,改善人们的媒介依赖现状。

Neil Postman is concerned about people’s dependence on the media. In his opinion, media dependence runs through the whole process of media development. Dependence on printing media shapes relatively rational subject. However, dependence on electronic media deeply controls people’s subjective consciousness. Postman believes that dependence on electronic media has resulted in a series of consequences, such as the adultization of cultural concepts and styles, the disappearance of human subjects in sensory media, and the gradual monopoly of our world by the media. In the current era of new media, the consequences of Postman’s anxiety about media dependence have not changed significantly. But rather, they have exacerbated in the dimension of narrowing horizon and irrationality. We need to rebuild the media environment and promote media literacy, so as to change people’s media dependence.