Essays+in+Blue+Ink

Amy M Reed Editor Steven Schaber BTMM 4497-401 January 27, 2010 Weekly Response Paper

Essays in Blue Pen Sonia Livingstone states on page one of //Young People and New Media// (2002) “We can no longer imagine living our daily lives - at leisure or at work, with family or friends - without media and communication technologies.” This sentence sums up completely, my thoughts on media technology. I understand times change, but they have changed in an enormous way in a short period of time.

School was a lot different for me than it is for my little cousins or children today. There were no computers or printers; typewriters, sure, but they were for adults. I would have to hand-write three or four page papers, a technique that seems dead. In the fourth grade we were officially allowed to use a pen instead of a pencil, and that was a cool thing. However, erasable pens were not invented yet so it was a painstaking process to write these papers.

I remember like it was yesterday: I reread the rough draft I had spent all week putting together. I went to the library and spent a couple hours researching and even checked out two books to bring home with me so I could be sure of the concepts.

There I sat, at the head of the table, with my back to the bay window and the sun shining in, warming me up. I had all my lined paper, two blue pens, and my rough draft in front of me-ready to work. I wrote my name, the first paragraph, the second paragraph-and then it happened. Ahhh! I forgot I wanted to move a paragraph I had originally put at the end to the beginning. I started over. The first page was beautiful to me; my first paper written out in blue inked cursive. Then the second page comes, another one almost complete until the last paragraph where I either spelled something wrong or skipped a word. I wanted to cry. This was ridiculous. It took me longer to write the paper out then it did for me to come up with the entire essay. I took a deep breath. It didn’t help. I crumpled up the paper and squeezed it as hard as I could. I wanted to go outside and play but here I was writing this stupid paper, my life was awful.

Now I use my computer for anything that has to be turned in to my professor especially since my handwriting is extremely hard to read. If I mistype a word I can use backspace. If I spell a word wrong a red line comes up, offering multiple suggestions once right-clicked. //I have no idea what I would do without it.// It has definitely allowed me to be lazier on research since everything is at my finger tips. And honestly, I probably would feel lost and overwhelmed in a library, trying to find one quote in a book with hundreds and hundreds of pages. I can “Google” almost the exact phrase that I’m looking for and it will conjure up multiple hits. How easy! I don’t even have to read the entire article or chapter-it will italicize or bold the words that pertain to my search. As a procrastinator this is fantastic.

I compare my early experience to children in the fourth grade and their essay experiences today. They all have access to at least one computer. Writing an essay is a million times easier in Microsoft Word than putting a pen in your hand and having to focus. Spell-Check and Grammar-Check allow the kids to not have to know how to spell; or when to use ‘is’ even though it sounds like you should use ‘are.’ Sure, most things during their school day are written out, but writing isn’t fun. It’s almost a punishment. Why learn: the computer can basically do everything, even your homework. In Google, you can type in the math equation and it will spit out an answer in a matter of seconds. It might not help you pass the test, but at least you’ll have the right answer for right now.

//I// //do// like to write-I write short stories, poetry, ideas, anything. I buy a notebook every year for me to just write in and spread my ideas across a page. I have tried to do it on the computer and save it all in a folder, but it’s not the same. It’s not as personal. It’s not as real.

I don’t remember where I saw this particular scene. I think it was a comic strip or maybe in South Park. Monks were lined up in what appeared to be a classroom or at least that type of setting. They were writing down everything the head monk was saying-he was reading an original book or what not. That was how copies were made. One monk turns to his fellow monk and says “I wonder what they did before this.”

References Livingstone, Sonia (2002). //Young People and New Media.// London: Sage Publications.