In Sven Birkerts’ collection of essays, The Glutenberg Elegies, he argues that reading and writing have become two mediums, which have lost their place in the present, modern technological society. In my experience, similarly I have found that in this changing society there has been a definite shift in the importance of reading and writing in the modern day. As a kid growing up in the 90’s, technology and the onset of new technology has always been part of my life. I can just barely remember the early days of the Internet where surfing the web would tie up the phone lines, as dial-up was the only way to connect to cyberspace. In consequence, since an early age, the media, whether it was the television or computer, were my main sources of information. Although I did read as a child, and all the way through my school years, acquisition of information through the media became the easiest way to stay in touch with the world. It is for this reason that I believe the importance of reading and writing has undoubtedly faded over the past 20 years.
Throughout his book, Sven Birkerts asserts his opinion on the recent drastic changes in society regarding how people acquire their information. He explains how back in the days before the technology of the phone, television, computer, Internet and even books the main method of the dispersal of information was by word of mouth. He goes on to explain further that word of mouth soon was recorded on paper and eventually was mass produced and printed and made available to those that could afford this luxury. Before this time, where books were few and far between due to the labor involved in hand recording information, men read “only a few books- the Bible, an almanac, a devotional work or two […]” (Birkerts, pg.71). By the 1800’s after the invention of the printing press, Birkerts explains, “men were reading “extensively.” They read all kinds of material, especially periodicals and newspapers” (Birkerts, pg. 71). He gives these examples of the drastic change the invention of a printing machine produced in order to convey his belief that the same drastic change is occurring once again. It is his observation, with which I firmly agree, that the same cultural change taking place in the modern day as the presence of the media in people’s everyday lives becomes harder and harder to escape.
In one section of his book, Birkerts recalls his experience teaching a college class on American literature. He explains how he picked books for them to read which he “thought would appeal to the tastes of the average undergraduate and felt relatively confident” (Birkerts, pg. 17) about it. He found however, as the students read through the books, which he, himself, thought were great, the students found “the story over-long, verbose, and a chore” (Birkerts, pg. 17). Thinking that it may just have been the book he selected, he received the same type of response to one of his similar selections. Most students could not pinpoint their disinterest. It was not that they couldn’t understand the language or the vocabulary; it was more due to the fact that the books were old. The students had trouble reading the story because it wasn’t about something relative to the here and now. The stories were too antiquated for the young generation to understand. Having had this experience myself, I completely understand why reading such books was so arduous for the students. Throughout middle school and high school reading for school became much more of a chore than reading the latest Harry Potter book or Twilight book. Throughout school, teachers always chose the classics to read, a few of my least favorites being The Awakening, Jane Eyre, Emma, and Great Expectations. Reading these books because of their antiquity and because they seemed so far-removed from my modern life, became very unpleasant. It is in this way that I can relate to how Birkerts’ undergraduate students may have been feeling in this class. It was not the language of the books or the vocabulary that caused my dislike; it was simply that I was disinterested in the “old times.” With all information being thrown at us from a computer or television screen, who wants to take the time anymore to read and book and contemplate how its meaning could relate to life? I firmly believe that the exposure of our generation to technology and the media has caused this disconnect with the past.
In the same way, writing had become much of a chore for me throughout middle school and high school. Whenever there was the slight chance that I would enjoy the certain books that teachers chose for projects and class writing assignments, I experienced much of the same feeling Birkerts experienced as a college student. He explains that during his time in college, a time where he was so obsessed with reading, he says that “the classroom setting did not kindle my imagination; if a book was on a syllabus, I lost interest” (Birkerts, pg.49). In a similar way, I felt the same about most books I read in school and then was instructed to write extensively about. For me, being forced to follow strict guidelines while writing about a book that I may have had a slight interest in, both exterminated my interest in the book and also my interest in writing about it. Despite losing interest, I would always go through the motions and adhere to the task that was assigned, more out of the necessity to do well than anything else. It was experiences like these throughout my school career, which totally took the fun out of writing for me. Once again I believe that this rebellious attitude of mine relates to the fact that I have grown up in such a technological age where writing and other forms of expression have become so easily shared, whether over the internet or on the television. This sense of freedom which I experience everyday through various forms of media has caused the youth of my generation to wonder about the necessity of adhering to guidelines. I believe that this is the way in which most youths have come to resent conformity imposed by teachers and other authority figures. Students have become confused between what they experience through the media and what they are asked to do in the classroom. Therefore, like Birkerts explains in his book, it seems that the media has caused a definite shift in the way writing is viewed by the youth our generation.
Undeniably, through the example of both Birkerts’ experiences and my own experiences, it has become clear to me that there has been a distinct change in the emphasis of reading and writing in the modern day. With the increased use of the media as a main source of information, it seems that many people are, in the present day, more likely to search the Internet for the latest news or gossip than to pick up the morning newspaper or the latest magazine. It is clear that this disconnect, which is irrefutably attributed to the sudden plunge into an almost purely technological era, is greatly affecting the way in which students view and experience reading and writing.
