I didn’t have a telephone in my room as a child. To hear a different voice, I sang into the blades of the electric fan. If I could write that bit of nostalgia into a pop song, I’d be happier with it. Instead it lies here flat. We’re knocked down, supine, staring up at stars but never able to reach them. A writer believes words are a form of eternity, but our cell phones are removing the need for written language. We will do it all with interactive voice command so we can continue driving in circles across the city, learning about Thai restaurants in this neighborhood.
If all information can be queried, and all replies spoken, why do we need a written language? It is a transitory medium, much like BetaMax. Penmanship is going the way of the do-do bird, which went the way of the homing pigeon, and all we are left with is chicken McNuggets and an Iphone.
October 18, 2011
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But you can send text messages on an iPhone!
Comment by Winston — October 19, 2011 @ 2:33 pm
But you can speak the message into the phone and it converts it to text for you. That’s the whole new thing. But as I drove down the street this morning, I realized how text heavy operating a car turns out to be. But then again, a gps on your phone can tell you the names of streets, rendering reading redundant. It won’t be long before the names of stores send ads to your phone asking you to stop in as you drive by.
Comment by Rolston — October 20, 2011 @ 5:32 pm
I’m pretty sure that’s already happening, actually. In fact, they’re starting to use ads to lower the cost of phone service altogether. For instance, flip phones with a screen on the outside so that the company can advertise to others while you talk on the phone. For real!
Comment by Lyle_S — October 20, 2011 @ 6:29 pm