American reality was there before the screen was invented, but everything about the way it is today suggests it was invented with the screen in mind, that it is the refraction of a giant screen.

"Just as the public space has become diminished as a civic site, the home has become, in many senses, a more public, open forum. The public world comes into each home as it never has before through television, radio and personal computer. So that rituals that were once shared conspicuously in a group are now still shared - but in isolation."