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Colonists had a high literacy rate (men 80-90%, women 60%). English men have always had high literacy rates. First American printing press was in 1638 from Harvard University (which was 2 years old at the time). Americans read so many newspapers that we didn’t have as much time to read actual books. Until 17th-19th century there was no other form of discourse and entertainment besides typography.

Decline of the age of typography and the increase in the age of television. Went from word centered to image centered. Moving from magic of writing to the magic of electronics as a culture. Our language creates our media, and our media creates our metaphors, and our metaphors create the content of our culture.