Invention of telegraph := ~immediacy of information, minimal context -> incredible boon for society! Essentially the beginning of modern technology, dare i say. The ability to CREATE networks as technology! ooo the power of (high bandwidth) networks!
Invention of Television := immediacy of visual information, lots more context, modern entertainment -> oh the theories abound for what this caused. I like to consider televisions pacifying effect on modern society. This subtle lie about what it claims to be: a window in a room. Oh but of course we know much of it is fictitious! But do we? All the more confusing with "reality TV" and, as discussed here, modern news-tainment.
Just some of my thoughts!
meta, on this comment section: I'm a little surprised this article is getting so easily dismissed. Its simply an attempted synthesis and application of media/normative/critical theorists' work. That is, this is philosophical at heart and I appreciate the author's attempt (it brings to mind David Foster Wallace's constant questioning of entertainment and the effect of entertainment's reflexivity). I think many hackernews readers (like myself) are scientifically minded and so this sort of thesis, i.e. not empirically verifiable, can lack the thrust that we want. But that said, I think it provides a valuable ontology for thinking about modern society and provokes some questions that actually may inform my behavior.
Much more difficult to parse out the noise with these types of articles, I grant you.
(Edit: grammar/spacing)