Writing Discussion 6

I find myself confused. These two articles were eye-opening concerning the effect of computers on traditional writing. I tend to romanticize concepts of things in my life. Usually, I find myself thinking of things considered antiquated as better than modern conventions. Before reading this article I found myself in the same boat: traditional writing has to be better than the current writing paradigm. Concerning traditional writing, my opinion was that computers and the Internet Age have somehow detracted from it. It seems like these two would be at odds: traditional writing vs. electronic writing. These two articles helped to break me out of that preconceived notion. In order to grasp any effect that computers have on traditional writing, I feel like I must first attempt to define traditional writing.

When I hear the phrase traditional writing, I think of a desk, a pen, and a page. How computational writing was changed the action of a human sitting down with a pen and a page? The first thing that has changed is the use of traditional writing utensils. They simply are not used as frequently these days. Instead of paper, desk, and pencil, we have USB memory storage devices, Microsoft Word, and cheaply made computer desks from China. Do you remember the days when each classroom had a hand-cranked pencil sharpener? Electronic writing has made its tools the only ones used in work places, schools, and homes. In one case it seems to have done away with certain aspects of the written word. I heard, anecdotally, that the Georgia public school systems are refraining from teaching their children cursive handwriting.

So there are some traditions that are being done away with, in lieu of a more efficient and easier means of communication. Computers have definitely made the written word travel faster to and be read by more people. The utility of the electronically written word is great and needs not to be mentioned. The convenience of a computer can be detrimental to a writer as discussed by Foden. The writer does not only write, he fiddles with page margins, fonts, images, and hypertext. There are other distractions for writers. Facebook, twitter, and other “time suckers” can detract from a writer’s productivity. We live in culture of increasing distraction; this must affect writing on some level today, compared to ten years ago.