A pen and paper; the greatest love story ever told? There's something that is way more personal about a pen gliding along the blue lines as opposed to fingers falling heavily upon a keyboard. I'm not old fashioned, in fact some would say I have no fashion at all (topic for a different time), I love technology as much as the next person, however, when it comes to writing, all I want is a pen and paper. All I need is a pen and paper. Oftentimes I'll be typing up an essay for school and be having the most difficult time getting started.
Computers come with so many distractions built right in and I fall victim to these traps almost 100% of the time. I can get lost looking through old photo albums, listening to music, or randomly find myself scrolling through a social media site for the third time in five minutes reading updates about topics I could care less about. However, if you give me a notebook it's mine to infect with ink. Sure sometimes I will still get distracted and end up doodling the strangest pictures but even then it's my own creation. It is a design that is all mine. I think that's what I appreciate the most about this whole pen and paper love affair.
In fact, I am currently writing this post to put off my research paper about Fahrenheit 451 written by Ray Bradbury. Coincidentally I think the book has inspired much of this rant. The novel is all about a futuristic society where technology has alienated almost all of its citizens. If you've read it, you know that the book went to extremes because it had "firemen" intentionally set fires to homes that contained books. Bradbury had the right idea about the influence of technology deeply impacting everyone, however, he foresaw it differently than what is actually happening right before our eyes. Nonetheless I believe it's important to maintain intact with the non technological aspects of life as well.
This isn't me asking you to move to the middle of nowhere with no electricity or chuck all of your devices into the ocean, but to merely understand that we survived without all of this stuff. That's all it is. Stuff. I'll admit we need some of this stuff but what we really need are people. The anonymity that technology provides distances us from these personal relationships that are vital to our survival. More face-to-face conversations, less facetime. More hands with pens, less fingers on keys, more sharing your humor, less sharing a link. When we lose ourselves so deeply in technology we miss out on real life opportunities to connect. It's kinda terrifying if you think about how often people text others who are sitting in the same room as them. Forget your phone at home once in a while, I promise it won't be the end of the world. Atleast not yet.
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| I mean my cousin even has the right idea and she's six here. |
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