Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Blog: second half of Ong

The point about criticisms of writing when writing first started being the same as some people's criticism of computers today was really interesting to me.  A lot of what was said hit home with me.  It is always interesting to look back in history and see what people thought at that time compared to today.  Today I feel that people would argue that the ability to read and write strengthens the mind rather than hurts it.  I feel like the same is true about computers.  People worried that if calculators were used, students wouldn't learn math the same way anymore.  That could be a downside, but think of how much further math has come since the invention of the calculator and how people can do things in seconds that would take hours by hand.

That said, there are benefits to oral and literate cultures.  It's true that a piece of writing or literature places a boundary between the person reading and the information.  In an oral culture, if someone is telling you a story about the history of your culture and you have a question, you can just ask them.  In writing, you have to look it up elsewhere or find someone educated enough to answer your question.  This reminds me of text messaging or emailing someone instead of calling them.  Texting may be faster or easier than calling someone, but oftentimes people get confused and things can be taken the wrong way.  I've seen many situations where someone is offended by a text message because there's no context.  If you had been able to tell them the same thing they could have heard your tone or maybe you could've explained yourself better and avoided confusion and hurting the other person's feelings.  However, texting is fast, easy and much less disruptive and distracting than making a call.  Oftentimes adults are upset by people texting in their presence, but I can often focus on a text message and what the other person is saying at the same time.  In verbal communication, all attention must be placed on the speaker and the listener.

Another example of short text changing communication is Twitter.  Twitter combines text and computers to spread messages fast.  I found out about Patrick Swayze's death as well as a tornado warning in South Central LA where my sister goes to school all within minutes of the announcement.  However, Twitter has limitations such as message length and some other downsides.

Overall, communication is changing all the time.  it's funny that a long time ago Plato thought writing might be the be all end all of the human mind when I think many would argue today that it actually helps and allows people to learn more.  Any new technology has its downsides and most people are reluctant to change, but oftentimes the upsides are worth the process of changing.

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