And now for something completely different...
An Ode to Print
Bookstores file for bankruptcy. DC comics released digital comics the same day as print ones at lower prices. Schools delete pens and paper from supply lists and replace them with Ipads. And if you don’t have some version of the Ipod, people ask what rock you’ve been living other.
So the question remains: Is print dead?
Oh I hope to God not or we are SCREWED.
Print is indeed dieing but not dead. It’s a slow, painful death, as we continue to bring print in and out of it’s coma every time our wireless stops working or our phones go missing. When we are forced to reach out for these nostalgic and mysterious things called “Bo-ooks” and “Pen--cils”.
I like the way these lonely things feel in my hand. It may take longer to use, and there’s no search option, other then the long alphabetical list at the back.
But is works just as well. This orange stick reminds me of my tablet pen! Glad for the lack of loading screens! Or virus checks that take two hours long.
And then I look at my pencil. Then my computer. It hits me.
Crraaaaap.
When did I forget how to do first grade math? Or memorize a sequence of seven digits? Customers waiting! Where’s the phone book? Thank God mom pack me a map! Digital book won’t uncorrupt! Mp3 player on the fritz again. Where’s my watch? Tossed it away years ago!
WHAT IS GOING ON!?
...
...
*Takes a breath*
“Digital is convenient”, they say.
Until a power outage. Or a maintenance check. Or until your digital device decides to commit cyber seppuku and takes all your files with it.
“I have several back ups”
“Life has Gravity, magnets and Murphy’s Law”, I say.
“I don’t want so much paper.”
“You’ll be thankful during the next battery shortage” I say.
Digital is not the devil!
True. My Mac. My photoshop. My camera. I love them!
Especially during mail strikes.
But I also love “pa-per” and “C-Ds” . They’ve crapped out on me less then my USB’s and MP3s.
I’m not saying that we should stop moving forward or improving our tech. I’m saying that print needs to be permanently resuscitated immediately. Even as a back up. A real backup.
Or we are scoowd.
...
Sorry, spell-check’s broken.
Seeya peoples,
Tegan Dumpleton, aka SlugLady28
Technically speaking, I don't see why people complain so much about pencil and paper. I had to use it because I was "poor" and we couldn't afford a fancy-smancy computer like all of the other kids at my school. I still got good grades (A's in biology when everyone else failed), but I don't neccesarily think it was my lack of technology, I was more concentrated on what I was working on, rather than the superfiscial. I will still using typewriters up until I asked for a computer for Christmas, and I got an old desktop, but it was better than nothing. Now I do almost everything, from art to jobs on a computer, but I still love print. Why? It's just better in my opinion. It won't go on the fritz, I can carry paper anywhere without risking somebody stealing it or having it busted if I drop it. And there is something you get from reading a graphic novel or a book that you can't get with kindles or off of a computer screen. Besides the fact, I do get headaches and I get astigma from computer screens time to time. So yes to print, it may be dying, but it won't freak out if a power outage occurs.
ReplyDelete"CloudSampson said...
ReplyDeleteTechnically speaking, I don't see why people complain so much about pencil and paper. I had to use it because I was "poor" and we couldn't afford a fancy-smancy computer like all of the other kids at my school. I still got good grades (A's in biology when everyone else failed), but I don't neccesarily think it was my lack of technology, I was more concentrated on what I was working on, rather than the superfiscial. I will still using typewriters up until I asked for a computer for Christmas, and I got an old desktop, but it was better than nothing. Now I do almost everything, from art to jobs on a computer, but I still love print. Why? It's just better in my opinion. It won't go on the fritz, I can carry paper anywhere without risking somebody stealing it or having it busted if I drop it. And there is something you get from reading a graphic novel or a book that you can't get with kindles or off of a computer screen. Besides the fact, I do get headaches and I get astigma from computer screens time to time. So yes to print, it may be dying, but it won't freak out if a power outage occurs."
I don't think people hate print. More like people see it as our species evolving and that "technology is the future!" But a lot of people are going over board with it, trying to make us jump fully to tech before we're prepared for it.