The Changing Viewpoint

When I saw the book list for my English class I had no idea how powerful and life-changing the book The Gutenberg Elegies by Sven Birkerts, would be. Originally when our class read the book I found that I didn’t agree with Birkerts’ views, but this changed as I read Feed by M.T. Anderson.

From reading the prefaces I knew that reading the book wouldn’t be easy. Birkerts’ word choice was broader than the words in my vocabulary, and I struggled to comprehend what he was saying. But as I deciphered the difficult wording I realized that Birkerts and I shared very different viewpoints because I grew up with technology and have no idea how to live without it. For instance, I disagreed with his view that technology weakens the imagination because it was people with amazing imaginations who created these technological advancements. At the time my guard was up and I didn’t want to consider that imaginations are weakening in people who easily use technology to imitate pieces of work.

Needless to say, the prefaces didn’t leave me excited to continue reading the book. It wasn’t until I read the novel Feed by M.T Anderson that my viewpoints changed. The novel made me contemplate how technology would affect the future. I hated the idea of living in a world where technology ruins nature, and harms people. The characters didn’t seem to care or notice the adverse effects that technology had on their lives, which frustrated me. For some reason I was more accepting of Anderson’s work than I was of Birkerts’, and I think it was because Anderson shared his views as a fictional story. This indirect style of writing didn’t make me automatically defensive because I couldn’t sense that my views were being challenged.

After reading Feed I reconsidered Birkerts’ message, and found myself agreeing with him. I began recognizing how the effects of technology occur in everyday life. For example, in “Coda” Birkerts’ stated that “we [have grown] accustomed to the idea of parallel realities- one we lived in, the other that we stepped into whenever we wanted a break from our living” (214). Technology acts as an escape from reality for many people. People have become so good at escapism that they can escape anything they want, whenever they want. Students often try to relieve their stress by going on the Internet, but this only hurts them: they stay up late, lose sleep, and stress more.

While I found myself able to agree with and relate to the effects Birkerts wrote about, there were still times when I felt targeted. I sometimes skim pages, I procrastinate, I multitask, and I use media to escape reality. I assume that “if a technology is connected with communications or information processing that it must be good, we must need it” (221, Coda). I’m not perfect, but now I will be more aware of how technology is affecting me, and will not be as willing to make the Faustian Pact.