Pencils to Pixels

In his piece, Denis Baron talks extensively of the leaps and bounds technology has made in regards to communication. From the advent of writing and cuneiform, to our modern age of computers and telephones, Baron discusses the implications and responses to these technologies. In the process of covering all this, Dennis Baron seemingly to “shrug” at the idea of technology changing the fundamental shape and nature of writing. His overall thought seems to be that new technologies have come and innovated our means of writing and communication time and time again, and yet writing is still writing. Honestly, I have to agree. Whether it comes from a pencil, typewriter, or computer word processor, writing is still fundamentally the same as it was years ago. The advents of “backspace” and “spell-check”, for example, have helped to aid in the creation and revision of writing, but they have not fundamentally changed how it is done. Baron does point out that technologies, as they become outdated, also become “automatic and invisible”. He points out that we incorporate older and established ideas and methods as we take on the new and “cutting edge” of technology. One could potentially make a case that this could be the aforementioned fundamental change, but I feel that it is actually just the process of absorbing established tools and methods into our everyday use.