Text is not Dead

The Onion has posted a disturbing article. I just want to start by saying that I used to have a pet ferret. He was fascinated by anything shiny- a mirror, silver marble, or ball of aluminum foil. Cats are different; they lose attention quickly and become bored with both human and object. Ferrets, however, will remain captivated.

I haven’t decided exactly how to feel about what the Onion has reported. But, we as shiny-object loving humans, spend 90% of our waking time staring at glowing rectangles. These rectangles aren’t just the computer and the television, but it also includes the iPod, Blackberry, cell phone, and any glowing electronic billboard (Time Square).

“From the moment they wake up in the morning, to the moment they lose consciousness at night, Americans are in near-constant visual contact with bright, pulsating rectangles,” said Dr. Richard Menken, lead author of the report, looking up briefly from the gleaming quadrangle that sits on his desk. “In fact, it’s hard to find a single minute during which the American public is not completely captivated by these shining…these dazzling….”

“I’m sorry,” Menken continued. “What were we discussing again?”

According to the report, staring blankly at luminescent rectangles is an increasingly central part of modern life. At work, special information rectangles help men and women silently complete any number of business-related tasks, while entertainment rectangles—larger and louder and often placed inside the home—allow Americans to enter a relaxing trance-like state after a long day of rectangle-gazing.

We had to know this was coming. I stare at a computer all day at work. Then, I come home to my more friendly glowing box where I check email, pay bills, read my news, update my Facebook, and write. I actually feel different when I read a book with pages and a hard cover (kind of nostalgic). If I’m too tired for any of the above, I have been known to relax in front of my other glowing rectangle. I know I’ve fallen under the trance of the electric light. I manage to spend a great deal of time interacting with the three-dimensional world. However, I can feel the pull of the glow. Are we responding to an increasingly active and technologically advanced environment, or, are we ferrets getting lost in our play with the aluminum foil ball?