Writing and Technology

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Writing and Technology

"The fact that we do not commonly feel the influence of writing on our thoughts shows that we have interiorized the technology of writing so deeply that without tremendous effort we cannot separate it from ourselves or even recognize its presence and influence (Ong, 317)."

In this modern age of computers, disposable pens, and mechanical pencils, it is easy to forget that at one time writing was not so simple or convenient. Most of us have ". . . become so used to composing virtual prose at a keyboard . . . (Baron 36)," that the thought of writing anything out by hand with a pencil, or any other implement, would not even cross our minds. The experience of trying to invent my own writing implements has given me a better appreciation for those who came before and the steps that brought us from hammer and chisel to keyboard and monitor.

I began my search for writing implements by heading to my apartment complex's "wilderness area," also known as the dog-walk. My first idea was to find some flowers. I figured I could smear them onto a rock or piece of wood like a kind of paint. Flowers being in short supply around my complex however, forced me to look elsewhere. I did find a shrub with some berries so I tried to use those instead. I got a handful of berries, found a rock and got to work. The berry idea proved to be very impractical. It was extremely messy. My hands became gross and sticky and the words I wrote looked like nothing more than a bunch of unintelligible smudges. Another problem with this idea was that any rock with a surface big enough to write on was too heavy to move anywhere. It is not an impossibility that some of the first writing was recorded on large rocks or cave walls in this wa...

... middle of paper ...

...rmation for posterity. Why spend many painful hours carving away when you can just have an oral tradition? It is the business world and man's desire for monetary gain that has been the driving force behind the development of writing technology. Thank you business world! It has been great typing this paper on the computer. I don't want to think about how long it would have taken me to etch this entire thing onto my branch.

Works Cited

Baron, Denis. "From Pencils to Pixels." Writing Materials. Eds. Evelyn Tribble and Anne Trubek. New York: Longman, 2003. 35-53.

Baron, Naomi. "The Art and Science of Handwriting." Writing Material. Eds. Evelyn Tribble and Anne Trubek. New York: Longman, 2003. 54-61.

Ong, Walter. "Writing Is a Technology that Restructures Thought." Writing Material. Eds. Evelyn Tribble and Anne Trubek. New York: Longman, 2003. 315-337.

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