Is PowerPoint a Villian or is it a hero???

The title of the article that I was required to read was POWERPOINT IS EVIL. The author of this article is Edward R. Tufte. The thesis is “PowerPoint Corrupts Absolutely”, and it is stated in the article. I do not agree with the thesis however there are some points from the article I will agree with. He first starts off his point by comparing PowerPoint to a prescription drug that promises to make a person beautiful but didn’t. Instead the drug has side effects that will occur frequently. These side effects do the total opposite of what is promised by the company. PowerPoint presentations are used everywhere. They’re in business, government, and in education. Speakers use this because it outlines what they are talking about, but Tufte will say it can punish the speaker because there isn’t enough content and the speaker can lose their audience. In present day learning, people pay more attention to the decoration of the presentation instead of the content in it. PowerPoint presentations do not provide enough information. In my experience with PowerPoint presentations, I have had no problems with it. I have actually learned much more from them than having someone stand up there talking the whole time without any visual aid. Yes, the PowerPoint presentations are an outline of what the speaker is saying and does provide decorations, but it keeps the audience attentive. Now I’m not saying that all PowerPoint presentations have been this way, some haven’t. I have had some where they have too much decoration and not enough content. The presentation then doesn’t make any sense. Tufte would say in that situation that the information is “wrong” or “making them dance in color won’t make them relevant”. One statement that stood out to me that Tufte said was “Audience boredom is usually a content failure, not a decoration failure.” I totally agree with this statement. If a person doesn’t enjoy the content then the decoration can’t help them with that problem. No matter what PowerPoint presentations are used in our everyday lives. It can either help or hurt us.