Ebooks have taken over the traditional form of reading. Where once we needed a nightlight to see, now we have a screen that glows in the dark, bringing to light the once obsured words at 11 P.M. on a Thursday night. The sound of a page shuffling in the middle of a bus ride is now a rare occurrence, instead we see children poking at screens and giggling as the next image pops up on their tablet. Many call this an innovation, progress, a step forward in technology and life as we know it.
But is this all merely the sweet tasting frosting atop a badly made cake?
Reading in depth is losing its value and attention deficit disorder is said to be on the rise. Is this because we were too greedy? Is it because we have latched onto technology to tightly? Predictions have been made that books are eventually going to disappear. That in time people will find no comfort in socializing, unless it's through the cloaked identity provided by the internet. There are rumors going around that language is changing and not for the better.
My belief is that language has changed. Internet talk has spread into the real world, into actual conversations. My sister has a tendency to say 'brb' as she walks away from me. Another good friend of mine blurbs out 'lol' from time to time. Still, I do not think we are deteriorating as a society. Instead readers are growing in number and many aspire to read more after that last series is finished. Yes, the people who desire to string together a sentence enmeshed with complex words and hidden meanings are now part of a dying breed. But progress is progress, change is change. What comes will come and all we can do is ride along.
Hi Katherine, thanks, this is great. I just had to go ask a colleague what brb was. You are absolutely right. Language is changing, and with the technology it is changing rapidly. I think we are starting to use more TextSpeak in conversation, and images in texts. Good insight. dw
ReplyDeleteHey Katherine, I think a lot of your points are valid; language is changing and will most likely continue to change as our generation depends more and more on technology. I am scared sometimes about the future of reading and the technologies my children and their children will grow up with. I have seen more and more kids carrying around iPads, when all I carried around as a little kid were books and coloring books. However, something I have been talking about in another class is the intrinsic need humans have to interact with each other; we find joy in communicating verbally and physically with each other. This opinion might be a little skewed because it was part of a discussion during a dance class, where human contact is an absolute necessity. But I truly believe that the need for human contact and interaction will always be part of our human DNA. Sometimes I have to make a conscious effort to get away from the computer screen, but as long as my will to it is still there, I know that humans will not completely block each other out with technology.
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