Tech age questions the definition of writing

Blogging, tweeting, texting, status updating – the list goes on. Whatever happened to long, handwritten notes to friends just because they were on your mind? And what about printed publications? Where are the stacks of magazines that once cluttered the coffee-tables all across America, or the poorly refolded Sunday paper that would still be on the kitchen table come Monday morning?

The advent of web communication suggests to many that printed publications are a dying art. We can download an app to our iPad to swipe through The New Yorker, or subscribe to an online edition of the morning paper. Soon we will categorize a black-and-white newspaper as vintage just because it lacks an interactive hyperlink or an embedded video on the front page of a section.

It is not just the means of delivery that is changing, but the content is as well. We no longer have to wait for the anchorman of the 6 o’clock news to deliver the day’s update on the world. Instead, we are constantly getting new stories pushed to our phones. It is as if every story is so important that we have to know about it the instant it occurs or else we are suddenly behind the curve.

What even constitutes as breaking news nowadays? Sometimes the headline of CNN online is about Middle East diplomacy, and sometimes it’s a slideshow of Miley Cyrus twerking at the VMAs. It truly is hit or miss.

It is not just the inconsistency of the news that’s startling. With the growing popularity of blogging and tweeting, we now turn to the individual voices of celebrities, politicians, athletes, classmates, and strangers as contributors to expository journalism. The united front of opinions that used to form the found the foundation of media no longer exists. Everyone has the equal opportunity to enlighten the world with their individual two-cents.

With the rise of social media, our feelings and thoughts are instantly uploaded for everyone to see (often without filtering before posting). There is nothing stopping us from making our fleeting thoughts permanent phrases. The invention of smartphones allows us to stay connected to the rest of the world throughout the entire day – if we want to publish something for the online world to see, we are no longer chained to a desk and an ethernet cable. And this instant gratification comes with detrimental ramifications.

“Words, words, words,” in the words of Hamlet, are not to be taken lightly. Too frequently are they abused and used for malevolence. The privilege of expression is being taken advantage of in this Generation Y. There are so many stories of cyber bullying, be it through Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, or Twitter. Scrolling through a newsfeed on Twitter, everyone is bound to find one or two subtweets within the first few scrolls of their finger. Nasty comments and hateful words that cannot taken back.

Are these 140 character messages writing?

What is writing, anyhow? If someone uses their iPhone to have Siri take a verbal note and then transcribe their voice into text, is this writing? This is a question that was addressed on the first day of Expository Writing: Welcome to a Strange New Place taught by Professor Will Miller. Will challenged the definition and significance of writing in today’s modern world. We are surrounded by new technology and a new mentality.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines writing as: “n. the action of one who writes, in various senses; the penning or forming of letters or words; the using of written characters for purposes of record, transmission of ideas, etc.”

But is writing only the static action and the linear expression? Or can writing be any form of characters depicting a feeling, a thought, an occurrence on any surface? Is writing any less significant because of its method or medium?

For instance, a common topic of debate is whether or not blogging is a respectable form of writing. Respectable to whom and in what context? Still to be determined. However, it is evident that there are sides to be taken on this issue. Is eloquent prose any less brilliant if it is uploaded to someone’s Tumblr instead of being ran through a publishing house? We are forced to contemplate if all words carry equal weight in the literary world, no matter how they came to be.

While the hyper-connected world around us allows for speedy and convenient communication, it also challenges the way we live and interact with other people. The cultural shift in our Generation Y is astounding and a bit disappointing, but, nonetheless, is something that deserves to be continually addressed and revisited. There is no official conclusion that one can draw. We can only observe and monitor the transformation of writing in relation to modern technology.