No Sense of Place: The Impact of Electronic Media on Social Behavior: The Impact of the Electronic Media on Social Behavior

How has television affected our everyday experience? This
question has generated endless arguments and speculations,
but no thinker has addressed the issue with such force and
originality as Joshua Meyrowitz in ^INo Sense of Place.^R
Advancing a daring and sophisticated theory, Meyrowitz shows
how television and other electronic media create new social
situations that are no longer shaped by ^I where^R we are or
who is "with" us.^L
While other media experts have limited the debate to
program content, Meyrowitz focuses on the ways in which
television has rearranged "who knows what about whom,"
making it impossible for us to behave with each other in
traditional ways. He shows how television has lifted many
of the veils of secrecy between children and adults, men and
women, and politicians and average citizens. The result is
a series of revolutionary changes, including the blurring of
age, gender, and authority distinctions.