The Tangible Experience (2 blogs long)

For two of my blogs (just consider two blogs of commentary and info compiled into one extra long, yet more comprehensive blog) I've decided to share an essay I wrote in English 101 this quarter about Internet text versus text in books/textbooks/letters/etc., or "tangible text". Although I'll also be writing a blog after this from the devil's advocate perspective, a lot of these concepts and sentiments ring true for me personally. I still believe that although the Internet is fun, engaging in certain aspects, and a fair line of communication, there's nothing better than curling up with a good book, holding the next page up with anticipation for what's to come when you flip it, or a long letter that you can hold and feel and see the person's handwriting. Call me old-fashioned, but I like the intimacy.

In an age where society depends on the Internet for everything from paying bills to providing daily news, the tangibility of text has diminished greatly. Books are now downloaded onto electronic gadgets and computers. Letters have become outdated; now e-mails and public websites like Facebook and Myspace dominate the social aspects of our lives. Instead of interacting and creating a personal relationship with what people read, they now only come away with a “pseudo-relationship” of sorts. The sanctity of the written word no longer lies in the pages it lives on, but the website on it appears on. Because of the epidemic shift from paper to pixels, people are no longer able to cultivate a relationship with what they read, and moreover no longer able to interact with and experience writing. Due to this decline of interest and attention to tangible text, society in general no longer has intellectual depth, nor seems to possess the interest of working to gain such wisdom.

The concept of interaction can be explained through the examination of the term resonance, used by Sven Birkerts, a critic and book reviewer. In his use of the word, resonance is the time and attention given to a thought or fact to be pondered, turned, and played with by the mind. Resonance implies that the reader not only takes away from a piece the simple facts and general gist of the text, but spends time savoring the ideas presented. This idea of resonance is the essence of interaction. How the Internet has hindered interaction with text can be explained by this idea of Birkerts’. The Internet supplies so many facts, so many articles, stories, blogs on any one subject or idea, it has come to require and therefore provide conditioning to the masses, changing the way we read. Because of the massive amount of information pushed on us, we have had to learn to skim text at a fast, almost passive pace. Since interaction requires time and deep thought, the Internet cannot provoke the kind of resonance that books can.

Before the Internet became the mainstream source of text, books were collected, read, re-read, and cherished with a companion-like loyalty. They were most often seen as rather intimate possessions, loved and treated rather like a child’s blanket or adored teddy bear. Because of the tangibility of books, they can actually be interacted with, whether by bringing them out to discuss and share with a friend, or even sitting at home writing notes in the margins to document personal musings and thoughts. The magic and importance of books, or rather text in general, therefore lies in tangibility. As Birkerts says in his essay, “The Owl Has Flown”, by giving up tangible text for that on a screen, “We are experiencing in our times a loss of depth” (32). In my generation alone the Internet has grown from a novel toy to a life force. Through this time the need for books as a place for information or an entertaining pastime has diminished, and they have been cast to the wayside. Because of this, society is undergoing a transition from what Birkerts labels “vertical” knowledge to “horizontal” knowledge. Vertical knowledge is the kind of wisdom one can only attain from deep interaction with a text, producing the outcome of gaining a detailed view of the whole picture, being whatever subject the book or article may have been about. Horizontal knowledge implies an extensive amount of knowledge, but lack of depth or detail in any one area, which is what the Internet fosters. The Internet does offer a plethora of information to review and learn from, but as Birkerts claims, the sheer amount of the texts available inhibits readers from being able to read intensely or for purpose, and leaves them meaninglessly scanning the piece. Without the intense analysis of a text, one cannot gain the deep knowledge necessary to achieve vertical knowledge.

Books, however, are not the only tangible texts disappearing from daily life. The social aspects of life today revolve almost solely around electronics. The personal, intimate facet of the letter has become a depthless and often abbreviated message of an e-mail. Social websites like Facebook and Myspace allow the user to practically post their entire lives on a single page. Diaries have essentially become blogs, where the whole world can view your most personal experiences or thoughts. These channels foster an illusion of depth, meaning, and connection that online relationships rarely actually attain. Marguerite Helmers, a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin, discusses public forums in the form of memorials to the late Princess Diana. She claims that the appearance of so many of the websites devoted to sharing condolences and reactions of Diana’s death show how the everyday person can now contribute to the vast amount of text hosted on the web. Furthermore, she makes a connection between these posts and their illustration of how the Internet creates intimate interactions between average people, which is her main claim.

I, however, believe that these websites simply illustrate the misconceptions of deep relationships and knowledge. Many aspects of the Internet, like this example, provide places for people to divulge information that deceptively connects people with seemingly similar tastes, lives, or feelings. However, many of the people posting on websites such as these, as well as social pages, pick and choose information about themselves that they believe will be best received. Therefore, none of the information provided can be taken at face value, or used to create deep relationships, because it doesn’t provide all of the information. Although Helmers defends the idea that sites like those included in the Diana webrings offer a place for people to share and develop their own personal feelings and issues with the princess’s death, she includes, “…the sites are probably not looking for interpretive commentary, since the texts are so formulaic and the restrictions on the site do not promote alternative viewpoints” (686). This jives with the idea that the Internet doesn’t necessarily provide all of the information, or in enough detail to understand anything as a whole. Like many people’s Facebook or Myspace pages now, information provided on the Internet, especially when it comes to personal descriptions or feelings, doesn’t convey the entirety of the person or their beliefs. Many people include only the sections and information of their life and likes that they believe will be approved of and accepted by their target audience. Although this does still provide others with information about the person, it is only a piece of them parading as a whole outline. The Diana webrings function very similarly. Many of the contributors write their pieces based solely on the restrictions and expectations of the page, giving the illusion that everyone involved is in the same boat, yet many of the entries may not encompass all of their true feelings and beliefs. This happening creates what I call pseudo-relationships, and create many misconceptions that inhibit real, comprehensive, intimate relationships. Whether it be television media, the radio, or the Internet, the establishment of pseudo-relationships has become a daily occurrence, and unfortunately an often overlooked and misunderstood feature of present-day society.

Society today is full of misconceptions and illusions. The decline of tangible texts has resulted in the decline of vertical knowledge, and therefore deep knowledge in general. Everything today is now shallow, solely on the surface. Whether it be what little information someone skimmed from the news articles they read online or the seemingly meaningful relationship with a new person on Facebook, there appears to be less depth around us every day.

"Desire is a distraction from duty..."

Many people argue about duty and what is involved in maintaining the expectations placed by it. Some say that if one has a duty, it should be simple to accomplish any requirements. As they are set by the duty, they must simply be completed one by one. It's a commitment, and therefore should be easy to follow through with. Others believe that even if one has a duty, it is very difficult to maintain. Some contribute it to procrastination, others laziness, but either way it takes a lot of will power. I believe that fulfilling any duty requires a large amount of motivation, like interest or desire.

In Dust by Elizabeth Bear one of the main characters, Perceval, believes that she should not be allowed to feel or give in to desire. She believes, "Desire is a distraction from duty". Although I can understand how desire, or any strong emotion or feeling of need, could distract from the requirements of duty in some situations, I believe that desire can actually aid in upholding duties. For example, a mother has a duty to protect and provide for her children. If she had no desire to do so, or felt anything toward her children at all, it would be very hard for her to want to attend to her duties.

I believe that desire is a strong motivator for accomplishing any tasks or requirements. In school I've found that I really have to push myself to complete any assignments or expectations if I'm not interested in or care about the class. In turn, if I have the desire to accomplish something, like volunteer to help people, it becomes rewarding and almost fun to put forth extra effort. Therefore, I've found that desire is an essential to maintaining a duty of any kind.

Bored and blogging with nothing to say...

"If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?"

~Alice