Dis1

Chapter 2 of “World News Prism” (p. 33) introduces us to David Shenk’s book, Data Smog, Surviving the Information Glut. In this book “Shenk argues that the well-known global village (Marshall McLuhan’s theory- know his name!), created by mass communication, is at the same time growing increasingly fragmented and fractionalized as people, despairing of being able to master a grand overview, retreat into their own special interests.”

Define fragmentation and fractionalization and fictionalization. Comment on Shenk's statement, giving examples from your own life that relate to this fragmentation and fractionalization. Do you “retreat” into your own personal interests at times? Do you think we could add to this statement that we often get a “fictionalized view of our world” as we access the sources from which we choose to get our news? Do you think you or people you know sometimes have a fictional view of an issue or event? Give examples.