Cyberculture and the Future of Print

The technology that is available to the public today is mind-blowing. In my lifetime alone, I have seen astounding technological progress: from the home computer to the DVD player, to truly surreal medical breakthroughs. A new era is taking hold of society. We are faster, better educated, richer, and livelonger. All of these things can be attributed to the technological advances that have occurred within the last fifty years. Thanks to the “modern marvels” of our time, we can watch big-screen quality movies in our own homes, brew an awesome cup of French espresso without leaving the kitchen, and cooler still—communicate with someone in China, without ever picking up the phone or using a pen.

Although electronic mail (a.k.a. email) is mainly used, at least in societies perception, for “quick” (and therefore not terribly important) conversations, I believe email has an important role precisely because it gets rid of the quick and unimportant details before face-to-face communication can take place. Allowing the face-to-face communication to focus more on significant issues. Erin Karper, a graduate student at Purdue University, writes this about an interview she conducted with a fellow student:

Yes, I think [email] is important. I think that it allows us to prepare in advance for face-to-face meetings by allowing people to enter the conversation in a written mode, perhaps more carefully and well stated compared with the time-limited, real-time, face-to-face group discourse. So, what I am saying…I think email is important because it allows for pre-meeting communication that is of a different nature in terms of turn taking, temporality, and so forth. This different nature allows for more participation and more diverse modes of communication centering upon a given issue.

I am not a knowledgeable user of technology; nor can I even claim to be an efficient one, but some technology I admit I can’t live without; such as: Microsoft word and, my best friend, email—though I use it for personal and educational correspondence; not nearly as fancy as Erin and her colleagues.

I’m a busy person, and don’t have time for face-to-face communication with my friends and family, and I definitely don’t have the time to write and mail a letter. Email is an excellent alternative to face-to-face meetings, phone calls, and letters. I can describe important details of my day to people who mean the most to me, or I can update a classmate on upcoming assignments.