eat+computer=not yummy

I'm not a fossil but I am archaic. I do own books and i dont subscribe to online mags, I borrow my dads laptop for my homework and I do own an ipod not because its uber cool but because carrying thirty to forty cds is just not convenient and I am liable to bust a gutt. So i am aware of technology and do use it on occassion, for convenience and simplifying my life, though if you left me alone with an iphone im pretty sure i would end up throwing it up against the wall and pulling my hair out.

So the Rushkoff article talks about the good and bad aspects of the internet and how it has effected books, sales, readership, etc. And I understand the convenience of reading books, articles, and mags online. I enjoy the easy accessibility. that means i dont have to lug my behind to the store to buy a book, or drive to the library to do a report, or even have to call a million bookstores to see if they carry a certain title (but i do it anyways.) Why? Because Im archaic. Because as easy as the internet has made aquiring information it has also eliminated that physical connection with words. Yes i can reach out at the computer and slide my finger down the screen but i dont get to feel the printed word. I dont get to smell the fresh or stale pages, the dents between sheets, the soft or hardness of the covers. I dont get to flip through and feel the weight and density of someone's work.

This fossil remembers when book reports were writen by hand with books from the library, when huge computers rested on 3/4ths of a school desk, when screens consisted of yellow letters and black background.

The internet does make it easy to aquire quick information without the hasstle and inconvenience of a physical and spacial search but it kind of eliminates the journey and the fun of holding a book in your hands. I enjoy the trips to the library and bookstores, i enjoy picking up the one issue of valley of the dolls sitting on the shelf. I enjoy sitting on the floor of the bookstore and reading the last page of a book before i flip to the first page, just so i know how it ends.

I know this response is all over the place but scatterbrains like mine, tend to jumble at the end of the day.

Basically, what im trying to say is that i grew up with books instead of blogs, with pens instead of keyboards, with oral storytelling instead of texting. but the advantage of internet is that ability to transfer information from one place to another without a physical journey. I'm archaic but Rushkoff reminds us all that though the internet isnt going anywhere it seems it is the responsibility of us all to maintain a balance between the old and new. So take advantage of the accessibility but dont forget a screen wont give you that stale book smell.