Our reliance on technology alters our way of communication

Consider technology for a moment. This editorial was written on a laptop that uses a series of dome-switch keys to complete a circuit and tell the processor which keys to type. It will then be sent over e-mail, using the Internet (a series of tubes), to The Mirror office where it will be formatted for publication using a program that can simulate a newspaper layout. Once the entirety of the issue is formatted, it will be sent to the printers. Only once printed will it ever exist in a physical, malleable form. If this is read online, then from me to you, this article was never held by either of us.

But expand these considerations. I wrote this article while in Boston, and transmitted it across the country through the Internet. Yet, when transmitted, the origin of the data won't matter; it will arrive through the series of tubes just as quickly as if it was sent from next door. The same could be said if it was transmitted from Europe or China. Some airlines even offer Internet in flight; perfect for the obsessive businessman or Internet addict.

Our reliance on technology is a very recent development in the timescale of human evolution, but extends back some generations to industrialization. Although a small percentage of the human population was in touch with technology on a regular basis then, it eventually intruded on a greater percentage of the world, bringing newfound joys like printed books, electricity and plumbing.

So, the old way of this transmission of an idea would have gone something like this. A few days in advance, I would type this on a manual typewriter (or even write it out by hand), check it for spelling errors, retype it if there were any (rather than just using spell check), then eventually send it to a printing press, which would set printing blocks, along with printing blocks for the rest of the paper, and eventually issues would be printed.
Through that technology, this idea would always exist in a physical form: ink on paper. It could always be held, would never rely on electricity or motherboards to be understood, and would survive an electromagnetic pulse.

But before all technology, how could we transmit this idea? If we were in a technological void, I could walk up to you and begin discussing this idea I have had. If you were interested, you would pass it on to a friend or colleague. The idea would never be held by anybody, but it would still exist.

— Forrest Bowlick is a senior geography major and a columnist for The Mirror.