Michael Wesch's video challenged me to think about technology and its place in society today. I do not believe writing is technology. Technology aids writing by allowing anyone to re-type and rearrange words in countless ways, changing the meaning of the writing every time. Writing is powerful. Writing allows people to freely express themselves, whether in an online blog, through poetry, or in the form of a novel. The presentation and arrangement of words can redefine what a person means, believes, or even wants.
Technology, however, overpowers writing. Technology controls writers, giving them the resources necessary to master the art of rewriting and editing. Before computers, students may have spent a week hand writing the perfect essay. Today, students spend five straight hours typing, editing, re-typing, re-editing until they compose a final draft. Technology sped up the writing process, making it more accessible to amateur writers. Authors no longer need the perfect vocabulary, with one click a thesaurus now appears in a word document, allowing for any author to sound as well educated as an English professor. Take a minute to think, is writing more powerful than the technology it's written on?
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