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April 9, 2008
Forum 3: Conformity and Knowledge in the Mechanical Era
I read Reading is Bad for Your Health by Roy Porter and Mark Twain's The First Writing-Machines. Porter's essay was a satirical piece about how reading was harmful and gave real, historical quotes and excerpts that encouraged people not to read.
- Has reading left you with any medical problems?
- Are we afraid of information overload in the same way that they were in the 18th century?
Twain's essay was about his experience of being one of the first people to own a typewriter. He eventually gave it up because it "degraded his character." I think he meant that all the defects annoyed him that he was in an unpleasant mood all the time. He pawned the typewriter off on someone else and his "morals improved" (p. 502). Then typewriter didn't have the same owner for very long. It went through many different sets of hands.
- Do you think Twain and the others gave it away out of frustration? People tend to think that each new technology will be easier than the previous, but sometimes you have to put in the time to learn it. Maybe they felt unintelligent because they couldn't get it to work properly?
- Or maybe they didn't like how the typewriter made them feel? It turned them into a short tempered person?
Posted by Kayla Sawyer at April 9, 2008 1:56 PM
Comments
other than a couple paper cuts and emotional issues (yes, I cried while reading the last book of a certain series), reading hasn't really done me harm.
It takes time to adjust, so I do think that Twain was a little hasty. It took me three months to learn how to use my digital camera and after valentine's day to learn how to use my N64 (which was already nearly obsolete when i got it). As a perfectionist, I undertsand how it feels to not be able to grasp something right away.
I have definately sworn at my computer and game system. In fact, there is a computer in the Penn manor HS library with a large foot-shaped dent in it.
Posted by: Daniella Choynowski at April 9, 2008 11:42 PM
I like your last question, Kayla.
My family knows not to bother me much when I'm on the computer, because it usually means I'm writing or working on a design project that requires concentration and freedom from interruptions.
Sometimes I feel bad because I get snappy if I become too deeply involved in a project on my computer. It takes time for me to draw myself out of that mode of intense focus.
Posted by: ChrisU at April 10, 2008 8:21 AM