| Technology has undoubtedly made many aspects | | | | morass to unravel every conceivable feature. |
| of our lives easier. The Web provides access to | | | | They know how to locate any piece of |
| billions of bits information, handy ways to shop | | | | information. I just wonder how they process it all. |
| and compare, easier ways to make reservations | | | | Do they really comprehend what they are finding? |
| and plans. Cell phones, text messages and twitter | | | | Our minds might be evolving, like everything else, |
| have evolved to make people more accessible. | | | | but conscious thought still moves at a relatively |
| Even with these our hunger for speed is insatiable. | | | | archaic rate compared to electronics. |
| We don't even use sentences any longer, | | | | Have we gone from thinking to reacting? Has |
| preferring to crop what we say to phrases, single | | | | everything turned into a quest for further stimuli? |
| words, anagrams or even code. I guess it only | | | | I still remember when calculators hit the big time. |
| makes sense since there are a lot more people | | | | As students we couldn't understand why they still |
| saying a lot more things. | | | | wanted us to actually learn the math when a |
| With well over a billion websites out there (since | | | | machine could do it for us. Now nearly every |
| no one can say for certain, this is a widely | | | | student has a lap top. |
| disputed number), statistics say the average time | | | | As a writer, my concern is practical (and maybe a |
| spent on any site is less than a minute. How much | | | | little selfish). With our growing need for speed and |
| can anyone convey in sixty seconds? If we don't | | | | wavering attention span, what should I be writing? |
| find what we want immediately we move on. And | | | | I can easily believe that the printing of books will |
| even if we do find something interesting will we | | | | one day cease. I also wonder if in this world of |
| still take the time to check out the rest of the | | | | blogging, texting and twittering if we will lose that |
| site? Move or die: it's like a video game. And in | | | | old mainstay of distraction - the novel. In the |
| this race for speed, obsolete has become the | | | | future, will people have the time or desire to slog |
| new key word for us - nothing lasts forever has | | | | through five hundred pages or will they find their |
| been replaced by nothing lasts a year, or maybe | | | | distractions in other forms? Perhaps the time is |
| even a month. | | | | drawing near when we will stop expending the |
| By my generation's standards, the young people | | | | effort to write novels and focus, instead, on how |
| of today are all technological geniuses. There is no | | | | to syndicate our blogs. If so, I think you could |
| piece of equipment they can not quickly learn to | | | | argue that advancement isn't always for the |
| use; within minutes they siphon through the | | | | greater good. |