Culture Of Time And Culture

Culture of Time and Culture

By: Stephen Kern

As a better understanding of Mass Communication and Society we were encouraged to read the book The Culture of Time and Space by Stephen Kern and analyze the information given from the book and express our ideals and outcomes from it. I believe that the ideas given to the readers from the book were very appealing and interesting, especially when combining the ideas of technology and culture. We are usually accustomed to not relate culture with technology; instead we separate to make sure that one is more valuable than the other. In addition to that many of the other concepts and ideas are blended and paired up in a way that many of the people in society have used for years but with a different intention. It was very interesting to read and point out consequently many fascinating theories.

Stephen Kern’s studies and focuses on the concept of time and space and how these two are united and working as a team. It is very interesting how technology is constantly revolutionizing each time to make things a lot easier and with less work we get to do “more things done”, ironically this would give us more “time to live” because we are not supposed to be under much stress. But then again, if we reduce actions and deprive our capability that will slow us down and not have a beneficial outcome. Many perceptions were used and related to time and space and played a significant role just like cubist painting, impressionist and expressionist music, psychological novel, among many other things. Kern’s studies were pretty much clear and direct and it explained how much he was against the existing political, social, and technological emphases on relating to telephones, wireless, watches, clocks, standard time and how all the other great machinery and technology around us was constantly used to regulate time and space of the actions; and how all of this would help to get things organized. At one moment things can get too regulated trying to make sense of everything, and that is going to be the moment were we, as the people, and humans are not going to be able to control the surroundings in which we like.

Technology has been able to provide new experiences and sensations (as the airplane with Gertrude Stein) may be used to question and reevaluate the classical canon of objects and events in rhetoric by mixing both classical and modernist modes.