"It's Complicated": Meditations on Media

Can you imagine how people wrote research papers pre-Internet? They actually had to look in books! Can you imagine how time consuming that would be?! When I need the definition of word? Do I pick up a DICTIONARY? No. I Google it. BTW, there is something to be said that the name of a company is now a verb! But why do I Google a definition instead of picking up a dictionary? One word: Accessibility.  I don’t own a dictionary and I probably never will (lets be serious, that $10 or so could go towards a nice cold brew). I can hop on my laptop, IPad, Iphone, what have you and look up the definition in 10 seconds flat. BOOM.

However, I do and will always have an adoration for print. I love books and absolutely cannot read a novel electronically. And think this stems from my passion for literature. Great works of literature where not accessible on an IPAD when they were written. Books, words on a piece of paper, should be cherished like they were back in the day. And I am someone who enjoys sharing a book with someone else, and well, I am NOT going to let someone borrow my Ipad. I also love a handwritten letter. When someone writes you a letter, you know they took the time and the effort it takes to actually write with a pen or pencil. There is something visceral about it, like there is a part of that person on the paper.  An email with the very same words seems stale and too formal. I also take notes the old-fashioned way with paper and pen. To me, writing is more fluid. I can listen and write easier than I can type and listen, even though I type faster. I feel like when I am handwriting notes, I am digesting the information better than if just I typed it.

I see the various benefits and pitfalls of media, particularly social media platforms.  I’m pretty sure I recently saw an article title (I didn’t actually read the article) comparing Facebook to a drug. I hate to say it, but it’s true. Social media is addictive. When I wake up in the morning, the very first thing I do is grab my phone and check my email, Facebook,  Instagram, and Snapchat. Do I feel particularly excited when I wake up and check these sites? No. It just seems like another part of my daily routine like brushing my teeth. I use these sites to keep in touch with family and friends and as a way to share aspects of my life with them. Social media provides us with this sort of detached way to share our lives; it is not the same when you tell someone the same exact thing over the phone or in person. That is too intimate. Face to face interactions are reserved for those closest to me. And I think that it is extremely important to recognize that there are connections that must be valued outside of social media.

 

Wow, I haven’t really reflected this much on media; I feel like I could write a 20-page paper on it!