Using Technology

The move to the digital form of books would be like, in my opinion, making a human clone. Sure it'll do the job, but does it have a soul? Perhaps that is a bit much but I am a bit more old school so I do tend to favor the hardcovers myself. An e-reader is easier to transport and the accessibility hundereds of book at your finger tips does make life smoother when your on that train ride to Boston. In the fast paced world we live in today, the digital books reign supreme and rightfully so. These digital copies can be downloaded to a laptop or something as small as your phone. Mobility is something that we, as humans, always try to improve. Much like the advancement from horse and carriage to automobiles and aircraft, are the hardcover books the next to fall to the digital titans?



There are inherent problems with going completely digital, however. The constant connection to the internet can be a viable source for distraction for not only the perpatrator but those around him. The collateral damage may not be worth the risk of going digital. In May of 1998, Dave Gelertner writes to Time Magazine "But the push to net-connect every school is an educational disaster in the making. Our schools are in crisis. As a college teacher, I see the sorry outcome: students who can't write worth a damn, who lack basic math and language skills." Dave continues on to make an excelent point, "With an Internet connection, you can gather the latest stuff from all over, but too many American high school students have never read one Mark Twain novel or Shakespeare play or Wordsworth poem, or a serious history of the U.S.; they are bad at science, useless at mathematics, hopeless at writing--but if they could only connect to the latest websites in Passaic and Peru, we'd see improvement?"



While sitting in that comforatble chair, reach over and get aquainted with a good book. It's like conversing with an old friend over a cup of coffee. There's a sense of personality; a relationship with the object you hold in your hand. Lighty caressing of the pages as you continue on wondering if "he made it out alive."The fact that the book is tangible makes all the difference in the world. It can be easy to get carried away the climactic events can be in books of high adventure but the reassuring weight of the tome will keep you safely grounded. Liz Vezina, a librarian at Cushing Acadamy was interviewed by David Abel of the Boston Globe (2009). She said “I’m going to miss them. I love books. I’ve grown up with them, and there’s something lost when they’re virtual. There’s a sensual side to them - the smell, the feel, the physicality of a book is something really special.’’ It almost sounds as if Liz was losing an old friend from her childhood.

In July 2010,A cartoonist by the name of Dave Walker posts an illustration in The Cartoon Blog. It depicts a haphazardly drawn figure of a phone/ipod/Gameboy. Multiple captions extend from the image that describe what this invention does. One section serves a healthy portion of sarcasim when he writes "Tiny buttons so that I get repetiative strain injury" and again with "Folding mechanism, so that the device has a natural place to break in two " Mr. Walker makes an obscure point in 2 other captions. "Compact and stylishdesign, which gives me a deep sense of inner wellbeing" and "Headphones, so that I can avoid contact with other human beings, and annoy them with my tiny drumbeat". With the vast amounts of information and the ability to connect with people the world over, technology can offer humanity many things but with it comes lurking diseases. Do we look to to our phones for that "sense of wellbeing" instead of our friends and family? Are we hiding behind headphones to avoid people around us instead of offering that smile and the "how are you" that goes along with it? Much like the e-readers are taking away the feel of books, is technology making us less tangible...less human?