Todd Gitlin Supersaturation

In “Supersaturation or Media Torrent and Disposable Feelings” Todd Gitlin writes of the fast moving media soaked environment we live in today. Gitlin begins with a description of The Concert, a Vermer painting from the 1600s, calling it proof of “amusements and news at once.” These paintings were hung in a house for many years because the modern styles would not change as often as it does now. Gitlin connects the painting to the different media outlets that are in homes now such as TVs magazines and radios. He did research on the amount of time spent watching TV and found that 40 percent of a person’s free time is spent watching TV. He continues to state statistical evidence of how these outlets are influencing a ‘disposable feeling’, emotional queues that fade through time. People are moving through life by the decisions influenced by the recurrent …show more content…
This invitation has liberated the mind to leave reality and experience people and places without leaving the comfort of their own home. In one week the average child will watch 1,680 minutes of television. (Herr) When watching a children’s cartoon there were x amount of actual show time; this gives x amount of minutes for advertisements to influence their products and ideas onto the raw mind of a child. Even 70 percent of child care centers use television as part of their daily routine. (Herr) In education centers the use of television has become more common; this use can lead to inability of think for one’s self. Technology has become one of the bigger socializing agents for American youth. This is leading a generation to believe in a false reality, as Gitlin stated “most of the faces we shall ever behold, we shall behold in the form of images”, we know more personal facts about others than we know of our own family members because they aren’t being paved across reality television shows or in