The other day I heard a young woman utter these words, in
this order: “Oh my God, I literally could not be more tired if I tried.” My
style does not normally feature debasement but seriously? That was a full-fledged
declaration by a twenty-something. Please let that soak in. We live in a time
where saying these things is totally acceptable to most people. (I make
declarations like that every now and again.) I continued my walk down
University and heard the following:
“Holy shit, Kate, how could you even?” Even what? What’d she do?
“Haha dude she said she was gonna name her kid Valencia,
after the Insta filter.” This is a joke.
“Well she’s basically a genius. You literally can’t deny
that I’m prettier though.” This is an
even bigger joke. I’m appalled.
“Stop. I’m dead.” Jesus?
Is that you? Has to be, how else would you be talking after death? Or am I dead
too? *checks vitals* Phew, okay it’s Jesus.
Isn’t more access to information supposed to make us more
intelligent? Why then are our colloquialisms becoming even dumber (and more
annoying)? I think the biggest issue is that our generation values technology
for what it looks like and what the trends are rather than what it can offer.
Is is sleek? Is it sexy? I mean, how many of you have an iPhone and regularly
use the Health app? The Compass? Tips? People see commodities in items with
aesthetic appeal and unfortunately sometimes it has nothing to do with the
function of the thing itself.
* * * *
And so God granted unto us the next generation of reading
and exclaimed, “Let there be light… shone through the monitors of your
Kindles!” or something like that. The debate surrounding the question
about whether or not print is dead/dying has been around for quite some time
now; eBooks and eReaders have created a new wave of readerism and consumerism
that is continually morphing into a seemingly unstoppable entity. This new wave
is keeping everyone in the technological world on their toes, thus initiating a
movement of convenience and bite-sized information. The result? Mass
intelligence.
Or so you’d think. (Actually it's seems like a plague of
distractedness is upon us, but that's for a different conversation.) The
synapses of the hive mind are hard at work trying to link together the pieces
of, what we’ll call for our purposes, the technology project. The problem is
that everyone wants different things; expectations wildly vary from company to
company, publisher to publisher, even person to person in some cases. This is
creating tons of confusion. Should we take the plunge into the future and
accept the possibilities that eReading has to offer? Or should we press on in
the fight for hardbounds and brick and mortars? Are we too focused on trying to
conserve the past that we can’t let the future in? Or is it the opposite: are
we too jaded by and anxious for what could be to keep what was at
the forefront? Is this an argument worth winning either way?
eBooks are beginning to gain more
ground in the book industry now that they have some exposure. Personally,
I like actual books better. There are a lot of benefits that come from both
hardbound books and eBooks though. I think it makes most sense to live in the
present and allow books and eReaders to work together rather than against each
other. I have a collection of around 200 or so books, but I also have an iPad
which has a Kindle on it which I happen to read from every so often. The focus
shouldn’t be on whether or not print is dead but whether or not books are
dying. People don’t want to read full texts anymore regardless of the medium on
which they are presented; they want convenience, they want bite-sized
“microchunks” of information, they want a sexy product that can do provocative,
revolutionary things...even if they don't utilize half of those things.
This post made me giggle. I have often had the same thought, "Isn't all this technology supposed to make us smarter?" Over much thought I have come to the conclusion that this technology does NOT in fact make us smarter. I would agree with a statement that it makes members of society more tech-saavy, but it does nothing to improve the level of intellect. If anything, it harms it and makes us more lazy. Instead of going to the library, looking for a book, and searching for an answer to a question, we simply pull our phones out of our purses or pockets and hit the Google app. Or if we are feeling really lazy, we will hold down the home button for a second to ask Siri and get frustrated when she doesn't understand us the first time. Technology has its perks, and I would not want to live without it, but it does not help the intelligence of our generation.
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