Someone told me back in the early 1990s that by the year 2000 we could eliminate filing cabinets because there would be no reason for hard copy. It is now 2008, and I am buried in paper, still.
It is my humble opinion that written text will absolute survive as a communication medium. Not everyone will join the computer age. I have many friends and a husband who balk at even turning one on. There is something very impersonal, not to mention unnerving, about having every single thing on computer.
Blogging for some is replacing journaling, but not for everyone. It is a great way for many to wind down before they go to sleep by writing the days events and observations in a little book that is exclusively theirs, much like Ann Franks’and Samuel Pepys’ diaries. I for one, am so glad that we have those documents to look back on.
Recently, a server blew up at work. A great deal of information was lost. Some was recovered, but not all. Most people see that as a distinct threat with electronics and technology. My grandson lost all the music he had taken great pains to download on his MP3 player because it developed a gliltch that wouldn’t let him listen.
How about sitting in church and hearing a preacher preach a sermon worthy of taking notes or any other orater, for that matter? Most people do not carry laptops or Palm Pilots to church with them. They take pencil or pen in hand and write on the back of a bulletin or in a notebook that they brought with them for just such and instance. This could happen in any situation, corporate or pleasure, where a speaker was speaking on a topic in which one is interested and wants to remember. I have never been in a situation where everyone had an electronic tool with which to denote important points.
Is art not communication? Granted, paintings, sketchings and etchings are not usually written words, but it is communication. Every artist has something he desires to express to his audience.
Poetry is another aft form that is communication, but it is usually hand written, because poems often come to mind somewhere other than one’s desk. Inspiration for poetry comes from the blue sky, an eagle soaring, a ship upon the waves, the death of a loved one, and/or any other thing that dredges up the kind of instant emotion that makes one want to jot down feelings right then.
There are a myriad of reasons why I believe that written communication will always be with us. These are just a few of them. It actually surprises me that a “writer” would ever write to the yes side of this question. I love my laptop, and I love my Palm Pilot, but I will never stop writing by hand.
