Talking to Your Television

The Media Equation: How People Treat Computers, Television, and New Media Like Real People and Places
Authors: Byron Reeves & Clifford Nass
Genre: Academic
Readability: Good

Two researchers, Reeves & Nass, did an interesting thing: they took a number of established theories from the social sciences and tested them on computers. Or rather, they tested them on people who dealt with computers, televisions, and other types of media.

Their finding was consistent: people generally treat media as if they were other people. For instance, they found that people are polite towards their computers.

More generally, The Media Equation explains the many different ways our human nature affects how we deal with new and old media. Interesting book – check it out if you are curious about how we interact with computers, televisions, radios, etc.