Is Literature Being Driven From Our Lives?

After reading The Gutenberg Elegies by Sven Birkerts, my thoughts and ideas were shifted a great deal throughout the book. The novel discussed various aspects of the affect that this electronic era we are living in has on literature. I was born into a time when technology was quite prevalent. It plays a large role in the structure of my life as well as the structure of our world. After reading the introduction only, I thought that this book was going to denounce technology and all of its users. Strong statements such as, “The object you hold, an instance of counter-technology, is built to resist the cataract of distraction engulfing our lives,” caused me to think this way (Birkerts XV). I was put off by statements such as these because all my life I have been a supporter of technology and all it has done. However, as the book continues my opinions began to change.
I was constantly wondering what this strong willed author was trying to say to me. Why was he so harsh on technology? How could technology possibly be a bad thing? However, as I read on and entered in to the central theme of the essays, I began to realize something. This book was not written to attack the existence of technology, rather to preserve the art of literature. As the novel progresses, Birkerts discusses the negative effects the electronics have brought onto reading and writing. The predominant theme of the novel discusses the manner in which humanity obtains knowledge. The ways we find it, the ways we read it, and the ways we understand it have all changed. Birkerts brings about the shift that has occurred in our culture from “intensive” reading to “extensive.” Birkerts tells his readers, “In our culture, access is not the problem but proliferation is” (Birkerts 72). Technology has swept across our world providing almost endless possibilities for knowledge.
Technology has developed a lazy society. For one to achieve any amount of knowledge all one has to do is type in a few key words into any popular search engines such as, “Google” or “Bing.” Years ago, prior to the development of the internet, knowledge required work to be attained. Since it was difficult for a literary work to be copied and spread around, many people read that work intensely and grew a great understanding of it. Nowadays, texts are so readily available that everyone reads such a vast amount of topics that they never truly learn about a topic in depth. Times have changed and the way that technology has developed the art of literature is very ubiquitous.
I never imagined there being anything wrong with what technology was doing to the world. Electronics have always been a part of my life. Ever since I was a child I had a television and a computer. It never occurred to me that this electronic era was replacing the literature era. However, after reading The Gutenberg Elegies, my eyes were opened. I hope that we can claim a realization that technology has a detrimental effect on our lives and that caution needs to be taken in the future.