On Sunday made a couple of points I’d like to elaborate on.
First, he correctly points out that there’s some deeply entrenched problems in this country and the best way to counter these anti-democratic forces is to “re-ignite our sense of civic engagement.” Recognizing the problem is relatively easy, figuring out how (as Kirby notes) is slightly more challenging.
Second, he writes that “[n]o reasonable person even casually observing politics today thinks that the media we have now is doing what it is supposed to be doing.” I agree.
For a moment, however, I want to disentangle television from “the media.”
The word “” comes from the Greek “” meaning “one’s own; private; not engaged in public affairs; commoner; uneducated person.” In classical Athens it was used derogatorily for people who did not engage in civic life, but kept to themselves and their private affairs.
The “idiot box” is a slang/idiomatic expression for a television. I don’t know the origin of the term, but I think it fits nicely with the Athenian insult version of the word idiot. The problem with television is not that it makes you dumb, it’s that it isolates you from your community, and from civic participation. Watching documentaries might actually help you learn something, but watching the local news is not civic participation. Watching cable news is not participating in the public debate. And yet, for those who ritualistically watch “the news” there’s the comforting feeling that you’re having a conversation with the talking heads, that you are taking an interest in the world around you.
But, when you’re watching television, you’re actually only taking an interest in television. When you are watching television you are actively isolating yourself from the world around you.*
I don’t mean this to be an anti-TV post. I love TV. I like watching re-runs of Lost in Space and I’m eagerly anticipating the new season of Breaking Bad. But watching television to learn about public policy is like watching professional wrestling to learn about ballet.
The good news is that people are getting more information from the Internet than newspapers, and television will soon be following newspapers into the world of dead media. The good news about this good news is that the Internet provides the opportunity for a wide spectrum of debate and analysis. The bad news about this good news is that people on the Internet tend to read only those they know they’ll agree with.
The other bad news is that the Internet is in real peril of taking on the worst aspects of our current media ecosystem. As caps are introduced, and special privileges are granted to commercial interests, the Internet will be in danger of losing its independent flavor.
But, I’m optimistic that the post-television generation will be more engaged in civic life than the several generations that grew up suckling at the glass tit. They’ll be more engaged because they’ll be more social. Rather than isolating themselves at home alone they’ll be deeply immersed in a world of social media we’re only starting to understand.
In addition to this new found reconnection of society they’ll bring new meaning to “gaming the system.” Right now “gaming the system” means rigging something so that it pays off in your favor. Soon, however, gaming the system will come to mean adding game-like components to the tools of civic participation to entice people in the community to level-up, and accrue “points.”
Kirby said he didn’t know how to improve civic engagement. Here’s an idea. Make a game of it. Call it Public Policy Florida and allow people who participate to earn points. They earn points for locating problems and locating solutions. They earn points from their peers for most creative solutions, or most clearly defined problem. As you earn points you level-up. And then, embedded in these sort of practical games are more game-like games. You earn the points to level up from apprentice to journeyman, but you have to complete a puzzle first, or answer a question held by a gatekeeper. It’s not enough to simply adopt some of the trappings of game design, you have to adopt the fun of games to make it compelling.
In a few years a new generation will be maturing and they’ll be trading in their Dance, Dance Revolution for Vote, Vote Revolution. As the influence of the idiot box starts to fade so will the idiots.
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* If you want to read more about television and its effects on civic engagement and political participation check out Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone and Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death.
