Technology and the Literary Society

Technology has changed the way I read...

Law students stopped reading books during law school long before the Internet, as you can find easily enough by looking at the memoirs of paranoid law students, like One L. Anxiety, and the bad mental habits of law school, shorten attention spans, as does television. I read books on electronic devices more than I read them on paper nowadays, but I read just as deeply as I always did. If we're going to use mere personal introspection to determine whether fundamental cognitive changes are occurring in human beings, the score is tied. If we're not going to be absurd, of course, no evidence of any weight has been adduced so far for this astonishing proposition you're all but taking for granted.

...and also the way that I write...

My writing has also undergone a significant change over the years. Back in the days when pens and papers were still in vogue, every sentence that I wrote was painstakingly thought out to ensure that it was as well-said as it could be. That is no longer the case, as I have now become a more carefree, and maybe lazier, writer. Knowing that I can add, delete, or change anything simply with a few keyboard strokes, my writing has gotten more experimental and less planned. Instead of thinking and then writing, many times I find myself writing first and then looking back to see how good it sounds. My writing is also less florid and much tighter than before, perhaps a reflection of the fact that the writing process these days involves far less thinking that it once did.

So the less thinking one does the clearer and less florid one's writing? Surely you can see at a glance that's bushwah. Your writing is tighter because you can edit it when you do it electronically, while longhand writing can only be edited at the cost of recopying. But you aren't a good self-editor yet, either way, as the rather slipshod writing of this essay shows.

My attention span when writing - although better than when I am reading - is also not what it used to be. Sometimes I find myself repeating statements or reusing words because I had forgotten that I said those things already.

...but should I be worried?

Without a question, the <span style="background-color: #cc6688; color: yellow; padding-left: 3px; padding-right: 3px">glitters of technology and the internet have led to a shortening of my attention span, causing changes in my reading and writing habits. I am frustrated with my inability to finish the novels that I begin, and find it disturbing that my writing has turned more technical and, in my opinion, less eloquent. Am I becoming less literary because of technology?

That is the question I struggled with after reading Carr's article. On one hand, I am reading just as much , if not more, than I ever did. I read the newspaper everyday (thanks to nytimes.com), I read several extremely well-written blogs on a daily basis, and I read free online versions of magazines that I would never have subscribed to otherwise. In terms of writing: I have a blog that I use to keep my writing sharp, and I was never one who would have kept diaries. I email frequently, the kinds of correspondences for which I cannot imagine writing snail mails. It is technology that has afforded me the opportunity to engage in these activities. On the other hand, there is the shorter attention span...

Changes? Yes, but not necessarily bad changes.

Ultimately, I decided that - at least for myself - while my habits have certainly changed, the changes have not necessarily been for the worse. I have a much better eye for picking up information quickly, and being less deliberate with my writing means that I can now write faster and am more focused on conveying information than delivering eloquence. Given the profession that I am about to enter into, these changes may even prove practical.

What if these changes are impacting a wider segment of society? I often wonder about that and think about the ramifications for our literary future. Will we lose eloquence? Or will eloquence be redefined? Will novels continue to be the bedrock of literature? Or will novellas and essays shape our literary future? I do believe we will see a shift in our literary habits, but I feel that it will be a change that reflects people's needs and preferences. Technology will not bring the end of literature, but will simply reshape literature into something that resonates with tomorrow's society - and that might means novels with shorter chapters or a proliferation of short stories like never before. Perhaps more dramatically, magazines will be the new novel. In any case, I do not believe that technology is making us less literary, because being "literary" is a fluid concept whose definition changes as society changes, and what form it ultimately takes is a fascinating question that might not be answered until well after our lifetime.

I'm glad to hear that technology will not bring about the end of literature, and I wish you well with whatever's crufting your brain, which is probably law school but at any rate isn't the Internet or the availability of electricity and running water in your apartment. If you want me to believe the Net is making people do less reading, show me some actual data.