Amusing Ourselves to Death
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postmanby Neil Postman
Hacker ApprovedRanked 2 of 152 nonfiction books by recommenders
Readers recommend this short critique of how TV and visual media reshaped public discourse, saying its ideas still apply to social media and phones.
Readers recommend this short critique of how TV and visual media reshaped public discourse, saying its ideas still apply to social media and phones.
36 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 36
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 9 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Owned for 1 year
Median of the 3 owners who said how long they have had it.
Each square is one year.
Why it carries the badge
- 36 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 9 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Still relevant to social media and phones
“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.”
Comment from 7 Sep 2026 in “Doomscrolling ourselves to death” “A very good and short read that I find continually relevant applying the same ideas to social media.”
Comment from 6 Jan 2026 in “Vienam Bans Unskippable Ads, Requires Skip Button to Appear After 5 Seconds” “trying to figure out how the lessons of TV might inform the lessons of social media”
Comment from 21 Aug 2026 in “Television to the Rescue Camille Acker on the Craft Potential of TV” - Comment from 26 Jan 2026 in “Television is 100 years old today”
- Comment from 28 Dec 2025 in “How we lost communication to entertainment”
- Comment from 28 Dec 2025 in “How we lost communication to entertainment”
- Comment from 8 Jun 2026 in “Anti-social: It's fads, not friends, which now dominate social media feeds”
Explains how media shapes thinking
“He makes a compelling case for how our culture has changed in many ways, often for the worse”
Comment from 29 Sep 2026 in “Ask HN: What are you reading?” “TV as a medium is fundamentally incapable of producing anything other than entertainment”
Comment from 26 Jan 2026 in “Television is 100 years old today” “Shout out to Amusing Ourselves to Death which develops ideas around how visual mediums”
Comment from 5 Oct 2026 in “Jonathan Haidt: AI Is the 'Neutron Bomb for Education' [video]” - Comment from 16 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: Thought-Provoking Books”
- Comment from 26 Mar 2026 in “OpenAI set to discontinue Sora video platform”
- Comment from 14 Jun 2026 in “Measles surge in Utah sparks fears US could undo decades of progress”
Strongly recommended by readers
“It has more and better insights into stuff like this, and I seriously believe everyone should read it.”
Comment from 28 Apr 2026 in “Talkie: a 13B vintage language model from 1930” “Seriously though, if you haven't read amusing ourselves to death you need to.”
Comment from 28 Dec 2025 in “How we lost communication to entertainment” “I highly recommend the book Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman.”
Comment from 8 Jun 2026 in “Anti-social: It's fads, not friends, which now dominate social media feeds” - Comment from 28 Dec 2025 in “How we lost communication to entertainment”
- Comment from 26 Jan 2026 in “Television is 100 years old today”
- Comment from 28 Dec 2025 in “How we lost communication to entertainment”
Changed how people think
“Amusing ourselves to death was such an eye opener for me when I was 19.”
Comment from 28 Dec 2025 in “How we lost communication to entertainment” “It helped my mental model a lot at the very least.”
Comment from 14 Jan 2026 in “FBI raids Washington Post reporter's home in 'highly unusual and aggressive' act” “I can think of a lot of books that gave me that”
Comment from 29 Mar 2026 in “Nonfiction Publishing, Under Threat, Is More Important”
Other nonfiction books people recommend
The four most recommended other nonfiction books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Cuckoo's Eggby Clifford Stoll | 40 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Amusing Ourselves to Deathby Neil PostmanThis page | 36 | 0 | 100% | 9 | 1 yr3 owners | Approved |
| The Anxious Generationby Jonathan Haidt | 24 | 12 | 67% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Bullshit Jobsby David Graeber | 20 | 12 | 63% | 8 | — | — |
| Enshittificationby Cory Doctorow | 19 | 1 | 95% | 9 | — | Approved |
What people said
35 of the 40 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Shout out to Amusing Ourselves to Death which develops ideas around how visual mediums”
“A very interesting thinker.”
“He makes a compelling case for how our culture has changed in many ways, often for the worse”
“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.”
“trying to figure out how the lessons of TV might inform the lessons of social media”
“so it particularly resonated with me at the time”
“to understand the concept of Information Action Ratio - how to best target your curation.”
“It is the single most informative book on politics I've ever read.”
“40 years old now and as relevant as ever.”
“I highly recommend the book Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman.”
“It has more and better insights into stuff like this, and I seriously believe everyone should read it.”
“is an excellent book about polluting your brain”
“I can think of a lot of books that gave me that”
“nothing within the pages is extraordinary anymore”
“shift from print media to TV has caused us to trade critical thinking”
“There are some good books on the subject if you're interested”
“when read along with Amusing Ourselves To Death by Neil Postman, might put a lump in your throat”
“Amusing Ourselves To Death was written in reaction to the societal changes brought by the TV”
“After reading some of Neil Postman's books (notably Amusing Ourselves to Death)”
“TV as a medium is fundamentally incapable of producing anything other than entertainment”
“Neil Postman's excellent book Amusing Ourselves to Death”
“Neil Postman's theory still holds up and is extended to the Internet”
“It helped my mental model a lot at the very least.”
“A very good and short read that I find continually relevant applying the same ideas to social media.”
“read Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death and then feel good about disconnecting from the outrage machine”
“Seriously though, if you haven't read amusing ourselves to death you need to.”
“I found where Postman's book really excelled was in its presentation of the historical changes in literacy in the US.”
“I recommend Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman”
“I'll always upvote a recommendation for Amusing Ourselves to Death.”
“the core observations are also applicable to modern cellphones”
“Amusing ourselves to death was such an eye opener for me when I was 19.”
“I read it last year and IMO it's still as relevant as ever.”
“Only much later did I read Understanding Media, Amusing Ourselves to Death, etc, and understand that”
“visual media is fundamentally different from writing and that impacts society”
“am amazed by the apparent accuracy of his analysis”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.