Três eras nos meios de comunicação

"Over the past few decades, as indicated earlier, it has become evident that, in terms of communications media, cultures can be divided conveniently and informatively into three successive stages: (1) oral or oral-aural (2) script, which reaches critical breakthroughs with the invention first of the alphabet and then later of alphabetic movable type, and (3) electronic."

--Walter Ong, The Presence Of The Word. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1967, p. 17.

"America is, in fact, the leading case in point of what may be thought of as the third great crisis in Western education. The first occurred in the fifth century B.C., when Athens underwent a change from an oral culture to an alphabet-writing culture. To understand what this meant, we must read Plato. The second occurred in the sixteenth century, when Europe underwent a radical transformation as a result of the printing press. To understand what this meant, we must read John Locke. The third is happening now, in America, as a result of the electronic revolution, particularly the invention of television. To understand what this means, we must read Marshall McLuhan."

--Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves To Death. New York: Penguin, 1987, p. 145.