# Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman

36 Hacker News commenters recommended Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 1 years (3 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Readers recommend this short critique of how TV and visual media reshaped public discourse, saying its ideas still apply to social media and phones.

## Why people recommend it

- Still relevant to social media and phones (7 comments): "Read "Amusing ourselves to death" for exemple; written as a criticism of TV-media in the 80s but even more applicable on the short-form content of today." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49598469)) "A very good and short read that I find continually relevant applying the same ideas to social media." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46516486)) "trying to figure out how the lessons of TV might inform the lessons of social media" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49389196))
- Explains how media shapes thinking (6 comments): "He makes a compelling case for how our culture has changed in many ways, often for the worse" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49899825)) "TV as a medium is fundamentally incapable of producing anything other than entertainment" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46771495)) "Shout out to Amusing Ourselves to Death which develops ideas around how visual mediums" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49968440))
- Strongly recommended by readers (6 comments): "It has more and better insights into stuff like this, and I seriously believe everyone should read it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47933421)) "Seriously though, if you haven't read amusing ourselves to death you need to." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46413756)) "I highly recommend the book Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48445558))
- Changed how people think (3 comments): "Amusing ourselves to death was such an eye opener for me when I was 19." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46407290)) "It helped my mental model a lot at the very least." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46617561)) "I can think of a lot of books that gave me that" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47567225))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [The Cuckoo's Egg by Cliff Stoll](https://hackerapproved.com/p/cuckoo-s-egg.md): 40 recommend
- [The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt](https://hackerapproved.com/p/anxious-generation.md): 24 recommend
- [Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber](https://hackerapproved.com/p/bullshit-jobs.md): 20 recommend
- [Enshittification by Cory Doctorow](https://hackerapproved.com/p/enshittification.md): 19 recommend
- [Sustainable Energy without the Hot Air by David MacKay](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sustainable-energy-without-the-hot-air.md): 19 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0136006469?tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Bookshop.org](https://bookshop.org/a/130825/9780136006466) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman", https://hackerapproved.com/p/amusing-ourselves-to-death/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).