The Charm of Print

Seeing your writing in print has a certain charm—a charm that words published on a computer screen cannot match; and I just can’t help but constantly claim this point. I may be naive in saying this, but I think that people still believe this, and for this reason, print will never die; it may decrease, but it won’t die. Bolter also sticks to this optimism—he says writing in print is more comfortable—it’s easier to read (not distracting to the eyes like a computer screen) and can more comfortably be read in bed (a computer may be quite more difficult), not to mention a book more easily fits into a purse over a laptop.
Before reading Bolter, I formed black and white opinions about the mixture of technology and the art of writing (that it takes away from the writer)—but what I didn’t realize is there is a huge grey area, where my opinion now lies. Writing and technology work together, and it always has—Gutenberg’s printing press was a massive technological advance, as was the word processor and the computer.
A culture shifts along with technology—an advance in technology changes culture, and the writing itself describes and characterizes the culture. All forms of technology, from the earliest from of engraving on a stone to today’s computers, were, in some form, seen as a threat to writing itself. The printing press caused mass production and distribution of works and now computers now reach more audiences. How has the computer-aged era and World Wide Web threatened our culture in a different way than other technological advances? Are we threatened the hyperlinks, hypertexts and hyper-readers? Or is it that we have trouble adjusting to the new medium where work appears (just as, perhaps, those who witnessed the adjustment from papyrus to paper)?
Perhaps writing in a digital medium can improve a writer’s work—make it that much more suitable for publication. Editing on a computer and using the World Wide Web for research, are just two examples how an improvement in technology can improve a work of writing.
The addition of advanced technology to our culture improves writing, and improves that the charm of seeing your own writing in print. I believe we’ll always have books—what would our culture be without books?