'REAL' VS. DIGITAL PART ONE: BOOKS
It amazes me how readily we accept technology into our lives. And I am only 21 years old. Lord knows what the world must look like to someone's of my grandmother's age (84). And yet, she owns and uses an e-reader and I do not. Not because I could not operate one, but because I cannot bear to use them. There is something about reading a physical book that I find it impossible to part with. Holding the book, I get a real sense that somebody else wrote it, somebody spent months, if not years, pouring their energy into creating this something. You also have a clear idea of how long a book is when you are dealing with a physical copy - which for me is very fulfilling. I like to prepare myself for the end of a book. I do not like it being sprung upon me. And while some e-readers and tablets have features which indicate things like page numbers to remedy this problem, for me it isn't the same. I have a memory of being about eleven years old and having an epiphany wherein I understood how books are escapism. I won't pretend that I understood the word 'escapism' when I was eleven, however! I had been sent to my room for some sort of argument I had with my brother, and I had this tendency, when sent to my room, to lie on the floor near my bookshelf and pull out my old picture books. I was lying there, totally engrossed in Emily Eyefinger or something similar when my mum yelled out that I was 'free' to come out from my room, but by then I had totally forgotten that I was even 'in trouble', and I realised then that I had my books to thank for that.
This semester at university I decided to try using a tablet for required readings. I downloaded heaps of different apps that would allow me to edit the documents and add notes, but I had barely reached the end of the first page when I gave up. My attention waned. It occurred to me that I could be on Facebook or any of the entertainment sites I regularly visit and I just could not concentrate. My first interactions with the family computer was through video games. I think I must see computers as primarily for entertainment, not work. This idea is further evidenced by the fact that I find it near impossible to write an essay on a computer. I have to print out everything I need, sit in the library with my phone switched off and just write. Even when typing up and editing my work I find I need to close all other programs, and sometimes even deactivate the clock, so I cannot be distracted by anything else on the screen.
I feel very lucky to have known life both with and without the internet. For while it is true that ARPANet had been around since the 1960s, the internet as we know it was not a part of everyday life the way it is now. Consequently I associate an internet-free world nostalgically with my childhood, and the internet with high-school, growing up, study and responsibility Whenever I read text on a screen I digest it in a totally different way to how I digest information in a book. I skim for what I'm looking for, read that and move on. I don't think I've ever read anybody's entire online news article or a Wikipedia entry. However if it is a book (with the exception of skimming academic books for information) I will read every word, often more than once, ensuring I'm taking in everything. I have forged this association between screens and reading and paper and reading and I just do not seem able to break them. I wonder if there are many other people of my generation who feel this way?
This semester at university I decided to try using a tablet for required readings. I downloaded heaps of different apps that would allow me to edit the documents and add notes, but I had barely reached the end of the first page when I gave up. My attention waned. It occurred to me that I could be on Facebook or any of the entertainment sites I regularly visit and I just could not concentrate. My first interactions with the family computer was through video games. I think I must see computers as primarily for entertainment, not work. This idea is further evidenced by the fact that I find it near impossible to write an essay on a computer. I have to print out everything I need, sit in the library with my phone switched off and just write. Even when typing up and editing my work I find I need to close all other programs, and sometimes even deactivate the clock, so I cannot be distracted by anything else on the screen.
I feel very lucky to have known life both with and without the internet. For while it is true that ARPANet had been around since the 1960s, the internet as we know it was not a part of everyday life the way it is now. Consequently I associate an internet-free world nostalgically with my childhood, and the internet with high-school, growing up, study and responsibility Whenever I read text on a screen I digest it in a totally different way to how I digest information in a book. I skim for what I'm looking for, read that and move on. I don't think I've ever read anybody's entire online news article or a Wikipedia entry. However if it is a book (with the exception of skimming academic books for information) I will read every word, often more than once, ensuring I'm taking in everything. I have forged this association between screens and reading and paper and reading and I just do not seem able to break them. I wonder if there are many other people of my generation who feel this way?
