#MargaretAtwood

All the arguing about media formats these days can drive you crazy. Or at least it drives me crazy. The reason? The suggestion that one form of communication is “better” than another—that one will “kill” the other.

I think every technology has its time and place. You can fight it, but what’s the point. Sometimes, I feel bad for formats that don’t have defenders. Like scrolls. Or cave painting. No one ever gets nostalgic for that stuff.

As the iPad sneaks up on us, this whole book/paper vs. screen debate is reaching a kind of fever pitch. Here is where I stand: If you want to read on paper, read on paper. If you want to read on a screen, do it. For the moment, we still have these options—if future generations want to eliminate paper, that’s their problem. They’ll certainly make some friends who are trees. In the end, it’s all still a form of reading and exchanging ideas, right? Does it matter how we do it? 

This quote I just read in this piece by Margaret Atwood, a Twitter fan, echoes my feelings. 

So what’s it all about, this Twitter? Is it signaling, like telegraphs? Is it Zen poetry? Is it jokes scribbled on the washroom wall? Is it John Hearts Mary carved on a tree? Let’s just say it’s communication, and communication is something human beings like to do.

Thanks for backing me up, Mags! 

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