In class and our readings, I have been thinking a lot about the application of technology in our writing. "What are we so scared about?" is my main question. And I recently watched one of my favorite movies, "You've Got Mail" with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks (in attempt to not go totally crazy on too much work and too little sleep..) -- beyond the half-a-box of tissue it takes to get me through that movie and the glass of red wine, it occurred to me (our best thoughts sometimes come from the lack of inhibition?) that people have been literally afraid of the technology that develops around us further every day, and continues to define our lives, for a long time. While the 90's was really not that long ago, the fear of technology-driven Apocalypse has been a serious issue in the mind of society for a long time. In "You've Got Mail" the fear is the "corporation" and one character is actually obsessed with typewriters for the purpose of its archaic value in society, a treasured piece of history he believes is being lost in the sands of time and the fast-paced New York style life.
The thing we are forgetting is that typewriters themselves changed the way people interact: publication, instant and unchangeable publication. Oh no! I can't believe humanity survived such an awful development.
But seriously, people will certainly still interact with each other: we cannot survive (proven by many-a-Biological study-- prove me wrong if you want, I'm not all that fired up about it) without interaction; we are a social group of mammals (my ability to apply that to a compact word has completely diminished: species?).
So, the larger point is that since we are notably visual and notably social at the very least, why should we fight it? I know this may be beating the dead cat, I really think it is important to realize that the things we are learning in this course teaches us to do exactly what we have been taught to do since Elementary school (especially in humanities-based classes): Paint A Picture With Your Words. But instead of worrying about not being able to actually explain what you're looking at, you can show a picture of what you're looking at and talk about something that really matters: Why you're pointing out what you are looking at.
If technology is going to be the end of humanity as we know it the news to you would be: it is too late: life as you know it has been altered previously by technology. And my best guess (as I am not the Omniscient Universe controlling being) is that there is something else (humanity itself?) that will be the end of life as we know it -- Heaven forbid.
Sorry about the rant: I really like what we have been learning about and I really think technology is a really important application of writing :) Pictures + Writing = pretty cool.
(also, sorry this is so long and maybe not so relevant)
Your post IS relevant, don't think otherwise! You may be "beating a dead cat" by saying get used to it, but those in opposition are doing the same by fearing it and attempting to ignore it. You can't. Technology is everywhere. And people that oppose one aspect of technology (ie computers and new forms of writing) probably don't oppose it in other manners (I bet they all have cellphones).
ReplyDelete-Sidenote: What was the name of the song you used in your video? Loved it, by the way.
It must be a proven fact that humans can't survive without inter-human interaction. Only really weird people would try to replace other humans with computers; they're more likely to use computers as an aide in human interaction.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm not afraid of technology, people are people and they never really change. This is a relevant post, in my opinion. Everybody loves pictures!
Dude! Not relevant? Try, like totally relevant, dude! (hear stoned surfer voice in that last sentence--just for smiles!) Trudi, in all seriousness, I love this post--more importantly, I think it is really smart and says very well the heart of what we have been talking about.
ReplyDeleteI especially like your bluntness throughout the post, and the forcefulness with which you point out that if we are freaking out about how technology is going to change/ruin human interaction, then we must only blow the dust off the typewriters sitting in our basements, because, NEWSFLASH: technology already changed everything--and has in fact, created the world we inhabit, in this moment.
I heard this little thing a long time ago--I never researched to see if it is true, but I've been chuckling about it ever since--especially when I hear people do the techno-freakout (Dude! it's a new dance! the Techno-freakout! Ahahaha--love it! Hopefully that dance hasn't been around forever and I'm hopelessly uncool...). Anyway, the story goes that when people were trying to invent trains, everyone was freaking out because the theory was that going over 15 miles and hour would cause blood to spurt from the human nose, and trains were going to go just slightly faster than that. Oh my god, 20 mph, what ever will we doooo???(next time you're doing 80mph on the freeway, check you nose!) I have to laugh at that--and I should research it to see if that was an actual theory...
Thanks for posting--it didn't sound like a rant to me--I thought it sounded smartly assertive. I enjoyed it.
This was in no way irrelevant. Technology has advanced human interaction in millions of ways we would have never thought possible (even though some people refuse to accept and realize that). Social Networking, Online Dating, Texting, etc. If people were going to stop interacting with others and stare at screens for the rest of their lives, that would already be happening. With the exception of a few cases, I don't see how technology has impeded our chances for social interaction and the learning process (examples to the contrary may include World of Warcraft and Pornograpy, maybe).
ReplyDelete