I think it might be a stretch to say that Postman believes the printing press was ultimately negative, but I think what he finds to be the negative aspects of it are dubious. It's not that I don't see value in weighing the positives and negatives of technology, and the ways in which we use it, but I also think that going the complete opposite direction and rejecting ownership of a smartphone on principle, or worse judging those who do own and use one, is also unproductive. (Note that I can completely respect not owning any gadget for basically any other reason - financial, not finding it useful for yourself, not liking the interface or features.)

I think in this way, we agree - it's good to look at things in many different lights and be self-aware of our flaws, but we can't be so obsessed with the negative that we can't accept changes. There are a great many issues at play with culture here in the US, and I'd say that things like "looking down" are a symptom of other social realities, including but certainly not limited to our use of smartphones or other gadgets.

Consider the fact that Americans almost obsessively lock their doors, even in pretty safe neighborhoods, but in other countries (including Canada, as I'm given to understand) people don't always feel the need to be behind lock and key. They have the exact same technology available to them, but they use it differently - obviously there's something else at work. But it'd be ridiculous to say "I'm sick of everyone locking their doors all the time, so I'm not going to buy a lock for my door."

For your amusement, here's a highly relevant comic from yesterday: http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2873#c...