Tecnology and our Illiterate society

Its no doubt that technology is changing the very way we live and exist. The last decades have experienced an exponential growth in technological expansion. From the way we wake up, to the way we communicate, almost every aspect of our life is in some way affected by technology.

Technology in an of itself is not sinful or bad, but  it is a mixed blessing. We should consider the effects of technology, just like we look at the symptoms and benefits of medication. While bringing imminence convenience to our world, technology is almost certainly making us(humans) dumber. Our society is becoming increasingly dependent on images rather than text.

A look at the progression of operating systems(OS) makes this point very clear. The newest operating systems feature a myriad of icons and images over the traditional text buttons. We are bombarded with commercials boasting of simpler and easier to use OS. This move to "easier more and convenient" looks like a great leap backward. In their studies scientist have found that monkeys can understand and respond to symbols. If the monkey presses the banana button he gets a banana. This is the case in most modern operating systems, "press the picture to get what you want." Another great example of this is ancient cave pictures and hieroglyphics. Before writing this was the main way to record information. Is technology leading us to a less literate society?

It sure looks like it is. This is easily seen by comparing the way we write to the past. Language is getting simpler as we know it. The lengthy eloquent conversations of the past have been replaced with short blurbs of abbreviations and half words. Just look at any one persons text messages, im, or twitter. Our society is encouraging, perhaps unintentionally, that we express ourselves with as little effort as possible.

This is a dangerous thing. As Christians we are called to examine ourselves 2 Corinthians 13:5, a practice that obviously requires a fair amount of thinking. Christians should strive to be more literate. After all the Bible is a book and not a set of images.

Relearning to read(and write) with you,
-Roman

My take on "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman

Walt Whitman is one of the most famous poets in American history. He redefined poetry, and created a uniquely "American" voice. I believe that he changed the world of poetry not for better but for worse. Whitman ventured away from traditional rhyming and rhythmic poetry to a style that would eventually become what we know as free verse. He striped his poems of what I think truly makes a poem a poem. Answering Emerson's call, Whitman wrote explicitly on many controversial topics (e.g. sex, Communism, homosexuality, and war).

One of his longer poems "Song of Myself" (its 1345 lines) is one of the most selfish and immoral works I have ever read. Whitman was clearly a Godless man who had no problem celebrating immorality. Reading his poetry for literature class has not been an enjoyable experience, and I would not recommend him to anyone.

The Way to Wealth

In reading for my American lit class I came across some interesting quotes from Benjamin Franklin.

"the taxes are indeed very heavy, and if those laid on by the government were the only ones we had to pay, we might more easily discharge them; but we have many others, and much more grievous to some of us. We are taxed twice as much by our idleness, three times as much by our prid, and four times as much by our folly"

"early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise."

" 'tis easier to suppress the first desire, than to satisfy all that follow it."

" 'tis hard for an empty bag to stand upright"

Quotes taken from "The Way to Wealth" aka "Poor Richard Improved" aka "Father Abraham's Speech"
Anyways  I found them interesting.